Last week I had a shortened list of goals because I spent the week with children who weren't feeling well. I pushed aside my usual list of ten goals and instead focused on what is most important. The children did a great job of resting and we read through an impressive stack of books. I'm happy to say that they are both feeling better now. Secretly I am hoping for another good snow so the children and I can go sledding! (We stayed in last week when it snowed.)
Here is my list of goals for the week:
Marriage, Mothering, & Family
1. Attend two therapy appointments with Evangeline this week.
2. Enjoy an at-home date with my husband.
3. Finish reading The Bears on Hemlock Mountain and five chapters of the original Winnie the Pooh. It is SO much better than the cartoon! I would also like to squeeze in a nice long visit to the library.
Homemaking
4. Sew two baby gifts.
5. Clean out Eli's closet and organize his dresser.
Personal
6. Continue learning to crochet. I have been having so much fun! Attending therapy sessions with Eva is much better with a ball of yarn and a crochet hook in my hand. (I am one of those people who just can't sit still.) Why didn't I think of this in July?
7. Finish reading one book.
Ministry & Friendships
8. Prepare music for an upcoming funeral on Saturday. I'm hoping to play a beautiful arrangement of Be Still My Soul with It Is Well With My Soul that needs a little bit of polishing. If time permits I would also like to make a complete binder of funeral songs.
9. Enjoy an afternoon play date with a friend.
Other
10. Write an update on Evangeline's health.
What goals do you have for this week?
I've just enjoyed looking through some of your past posts. You have a lovely family and I enjoyed the peek into your lives.
ReplyDeleteHang in there with the therapy. It is so hard to keep up an endless round of appointments--I think I am the queen of appointments, myself--but I've seen that they help so much. At this stage of my life, most of ours are counseling appointments, doctors, dentists, etc., but I've seen the good the OT, PT, and feeding therapy sessions have done for my niece when she was in them. Progress seems slow, but it is there.
I did notice that on one of your posts, you were struggling with the question of whether or not your daughter was having a true issue, or clamoring for attention, etc. If I could say anything to you, it would be to not listen to anyone who may suggest such an idea to you. I have had so much well-meant advice from so many people through the years about my children, but they just can't know how it really is, because they have never walked in my shoes, or my children's shoes. My niece would have starved herself to death, rather than eat, at one point in her life. My children have ADHD and other issues. They melt down. My niece and nephew melt down. They are often rude. They have social issues. Many people on the outside view all of their behaviors as naughty. Sometimes they are, but a lot of the time, they just can't help it. It took me a long time to come to that conclusion, but it's like they are on a roller coaster they can't get off of at times. It's hard to find that balance between "can't" and "won't" and I never get it quite right! We just keep trying, though, and give them lots, and lots of grace. I try to think of it this way: Pick the biggest, yuckiest, most awful job that I don't like doing, magnify that by 100, and that's how hard it is for that child to do the task that seems easy to me--like eating something for your child, or wearing a coat or socks for one of mine or doing schoolwork for most of mine. No wonder they want to avoid the task! That is why yesterday, at our family lunch, my niece cheerfully ate a buttered bun or two (and nothing else) while the rest of us ate our normal food. She was happy, she ate, and we all had a nice lunch. (She's 18 now). It's not how we were raised. We were raised to eat our meals, whatever they were. But, we have all learned a lot over the years and that's just not important any more.
Crocheting is a really good idea. It also sounds like you can play the piano and hopefully that relieves stress as well. Hang in there!
Dear Becky,
DeleteThank you for your sweet words of encouragement! I feel so blessed with the gift of my family. The feeding therapy appointments are exhausting but we have seen so much progress. I am so thankful at the progress Eva has made in the past six months. It does feel slow at times and then there are other times when I can see that she has taken a step back. Sometimes it's hard to come to terms with the fact that we are still in therapy. I thought for sure when we started in August that we would be almost completely finished by the new year. How silly! It's also hard because a lot of what we deal with our daughter are things that other people can't see as well. They might see her eat six hearty bites at a meal and think "Wow! She's doing great!" We are very thankful for those six bites but she is still such a long way from where she needs to be. Right now the stress level is okay. I just long for more time to spend at home.
I have a question--how do you take two young kids to the library successfully? I realize I have a special situation with two special needs kids, but wondering if you have any tips. I would NOT be able to look at books for myself at the library under any circumstances!
ReplyDeleteHeather,
DeleteThanks for your comment. I do think your situation makes it a lot more challenging. Perhaps you could meet a friend at the library and then you could each take 10 minutes to browse the stacks? A stroller might also be a good option. I don't usually take one with me anymore but I do when I have a young baby or toddler. It's so easy to just load up the basket on the bottom with books. When my kids are babies I also usually wore them at the library.
I try to set realistic expectations for my children but I also expect them to accompany me to the nonfiction stacks in the back of the library for at least a few minutes on each library trip. I find it helps if I look for "my books" first. I don't look very long probably only about 5-10 minutes for myself. I think my children expect it at this point. Depending on their squirminess I might require them to hold my hand the entire time or keep one hand on a stroller. I might also grab a book for them to look at while I am perusing a certain row of books (usually the craft section). For years we attended storytime often and I usually would try to arrive fifteen minutes earlier to look for my items before storytime. They were always really good then because they didn't want to miss storytime!
We are also blessed with a great library system where it is incredibly easy to ask them to pull books from the shelf for you. I don't have any problem asking them to pull a number of books for me. We also have three branches to our library and I am always asking them to send books from the other branches to my branch. I receive a text message when certain books are in. I would think about trying to put books on hold and then just pick them up at the desk as much as possible in your situation. Remember the library is a public service and you pay a good deal of
money in taxes! :)
We make a trip to the library almost every single week. Sometimes it's a quick 15 minute grab and go and other times I try to allow a good hour to explore and play with their toys. My children know that if they have bad behavior we will just go home. :)
I'm also such a big book lover that I sometimes convince Brandon to stop by after one of our date nights on the way home. :) Hope that helps!