Sophie's World

9:15 AM (Central Time): So, we were having a pretty good morning and were ready to go at 7:45. Elisabeth goes outside and comes back in a panic saying, "My bike is gone! Someone stole it! I thought we lived in a safe place!" I said, "Well, ride the other one, and we'll figure out what to do." She said the other one was gone too, and then it occurred to her that perhaps the bikes were in the back yard where she and her friend left them on Saturday. Of course, that's where they were.

Meanwhile, I was gathering up Sophie's backpack and blanket (not THE blankie--just one she uses for naps at school), which I had just washed. As I picked the blanket up, it still felt damp, and I was pondering that as I closed the (locked) door. I realized, as the door was closing, that I hadn't grabbed the keys, so I was locked out. Just about the same time, I was thinking to myself that the blanket shouldn’t be damp if I had washed it the night before. As I started to explore it, I saw a lovely wet spot on the top of her backpack and found the slightly yellow spot on her blanket. One of the cats had peed on both of them. Lovely. Just lovely. Sophie can't take her blanket or her backpack and I'm locked out of the house. (Did I mention that Randall is out of town? These things never happen to him!).

So, Elisabeth is trying to say calming things to me, and I'm trying not to panic but just think about what my options are. The school has a phone and a phone book, and if I can't find someone at church who has a key, I'll call a locksmith. Perhaps feeding off my mood (which I was trying very hard to control), Sophie was completely freaked out all the way to school about falling off her bicycle. She couldn't have been riding more slowly (which meant I could keep up with her for once), and she fussed constantly. At some point, I just told her she needed to pull it together, because I was too stressed to handle the constant whining. She managed to either stop or do it quietly enough that I couldn't hear her.

We get to school, park her bike and walk over to the kindergarten building. After I get her settled, I tell my sad tale to her teacher, who was just wonderful. First she suggested that I could certainly take Sophie back home and have her crawl through the window I had left open, but that sounded like a last resort to me. Then she set me up with a phone and a phone book. There was no answer at the first place I called. Then I called someone else who was home, but didn't have the key, but she gave me cell numbers for a couple of people who probably would have a key. The first one I tried answered, had a key, picked me up at school, and gave me a ride home.

The key worked, and all was right with the world. Except for the nasty blanket and backpack. I put them both in the washer and just pulled them out--good as new. I think I'll drop both off to Sophie when they are dry. And as Sophie's teacher pointed out, the rest of the day can only be better!

Posted by Susan at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

9:05PM (Texas time) Just a quick post so that everyone doesn't think we've fallen off the face of the earth. We've also been meaning to get pictures of Elisabeth's kitten (Felix) online. A while back we gave Elisabeth our old digital camera, and she's had a grand time taking pictures of the cats. Here's a sample of her work:

This is Felix, trying to take a nap--not a common sight around our home--kittens have lots of energy!

This is a more common pose for Felix--curious, that is!

Here's Sophie posing with Felix--poor cat, never gets any rest with our two girls around!

These last two are for our friend Shelli, who let us adopt her friend Hannah several years ago. Hannah is doing well and a big part of our family:

Things are going well here in Texas. We're all very busy, it seems. Sophie and Elisabeth had their first grading period end last week, and they both seem to be doing well in school (Elisabeth made all A's--Sophie's grades are different, because it's kindergarten, but I'm happy with where she's at).

We go to Lubbock on Friday for yet another check-up. We have every reason to believe that all continues to be well with Sophie's recovery, as we've noticed no warning signs up to now. In fact, Sophie seems to be thriving physically, getting taller and more mature all the time!

Posted by Randall at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

4:00 PM (Central): The baton has been passed. I went back to NC for a quick work trip (was gone Monday morning through last night), and Randall left this morning for a church conference in Houston. We talked for about an hour last night, and that's about as much together time as we have had.

That being said, it's been another adventurous day for me (must they happen when Randall is gone??). Elisabeth woke up at 5:30 this morning crying about her foot hurting, so Randall gave her a Tylenol, and then she said her side hurt, and the next thing we knew she had thrown up the Tylenol (and some spit/mucous--no serious stomach content). She went back to bed, and I got her up to take a shower at 6:30, and during that, her side hurt and she threw up again (also all clear). So, I kept her home from school. At around 8:30, she was hungry so I made her some ramen and gave her crackers. She ate almost an entire sleeve of crackers and some ramen and never showed any sign of nausea, and she seemed to feel great--no fever. She REALLY wanted to go to school, so I took her in but made sure they had my cell phone number. I got a call at 1:50 that she needed to be picked up. Elisabeth was all teary and said her side hurt but that she hadn't thrown up again. But when she told the school nurse she had thrown up that morning, the nurse said she should come home because she might be contagious. I think mostly she was feeling sad not because she felt bad, but because she didn't want to leave school (she had a "music memory" practice session at 2:45).

After she got home, she watched some TV and then took a little nap while I went to pick up Sophie. Not long after that, it was time for cheerleading practice (about once in a blue moon, the little girls get to practice with the high school cheerleaders, and Elisabeth was miserable about missing it). I took her temperature (no fever) and decided to go ahead and take her with Sophie. She has dance class tonight too, and she really wants to go to that (not to mention that we left Sophie's whole dance bag there on Monday).

Ugh, am I the worst mother in the world? Did I do the right thing? Is she typhoid Elisabeth and I just unleashed her on the school (twice!!)? It's time to go pick her up. I guess I'll see how she's doing.

5:00PM update: After I picked Elisabeth up, she decided on her own to skip dance class, and her stomach has been bothering her again. I really hope she feels better soon--I don't like seeing her suffer.

Posted by Susan at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

11:45 am (Central time): Well, everyone seems to be happy and healthy in our household (I never did take Elisabeth to the doctor, since she was totally fine by the next morning). Well, maybe not happy all the time, because sometimes we're "mean" and don't let the girls have their way. Things are a little more hectic than normal, because our church is having a revival (guest preacher, special music--several nights in a row) that ends tonight. The person who is preaching is our former pastor (I started to say "old" but that didn't sound so good) from Albuquerque who used to be at a church over in Clovis. So he is seeing lots of familiar faces, and it's wonderful to connect with him again.

Randall is getting ready to head out on a week-long mission trip to Mexico on Sunday, so you can expect to see several posts from me about things I forgot or screwed up while he's gone. It's just a good thing he comes back to keep me straight!

Posted by Susan at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

8:30 AM (Central time): Halloween approaches, and boy are we excited about it! Elisabeth is dressing up as Scooby Doo (again). I bought that costume last year, and it was outlandishly expensive, and it was really too big, so as far as I'm concerned, she's going to be Scooby Doo for the next several years, and then Sophie can wear it for a few years (I hope). Sophie is dressing as Clifford (another somewhat expensive investment a while back). For her school, they are supposed to dress as a character from a book. It doesn't have to be a bought costume (although ours is), and they bring a book with that character. Luckily, we already had that costume from Elisabeth's younger days, and we have quite a selection of Clifford books. She is so excited about tomorrow. Our biggest dilemma is when to go trick-or-treating. They go to two churches on Wednesday nights (the Baptist church at 5:45, and ours from 7 to 8). I don't really feel like it would be good for the preacher's family to skip church, so I guess we're just going to go after that and stay up a little late. Plus, I'm not going to be home to hand out candy, so I guess I'm just going to put out a big bowl with a little sign asking each kid to take two pieces. This is the kind of town where I think people will be honest.

Randall is out of town this week. He and a church member are in Juarez, Mexico for a mission trip (building houses). They drove down right after church on Sunday, and it sounds like they'll get home late on Thursday. It's about a 5-hour drive to El Paso, which is right over the border.

This morning Elisabeth asked me start calling her Lizzy all the time (that's how she signs her name on her school work, and that's what all her friends call her). It's going to be a big adjustment for me, but I'm going to try!

Posted by Susan at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

12:00 PM (Central time): Oh, what a morning it was. As you will recall from yesterday's update, Sophie was supposed to dress as a character from a book (and bring the book), and we were all set for her to go as Clifford. Well, Sophie put that costume on this morning, and it was too small! She's tall for her age (with a mother who is 6 feet tall, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by that), and she turned 5 in May (whereas Elisabeth had turned 5 just one month earlier when she wore it). Anyhow, we really tried to make it work, but she was getting frustrated (and no one wants Sophie to be frustrated!).

So, with 10 minutes to go before we had to drive to school, I went into the garage (never a pleasant task) to find her recital costume from last year. Luckily I knew right where it was, and it still fit. The tutu was a little crazy, but we smoothed it out. I had Elisabeth go find a ballet book, and she found the Nutcracker--perfect! I put her hair up in a bun, found some pink slip-ons to serve as ballet "slippers," and we made it there with about 2 seconds to spare. She looks beautiful and was really proud of her costume!

We'll see how she feels about it when it's time to wear a costume to church and trick-or-treating. I'll report on that tomorrow....

Posted by Susan at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)