(no subject)

Since Monday night, Delia's been crying at night. She says she's scared to sleep, scared she won't sleep, unable to sleep, unable to stop crying. She says she's afraid to sleep if Scott and I are in bed and the lights are out in the house. It goes on and on. Monday night, she was up every hour (every time her Little House CD ended), asking me what to do. Each time, I told her to restart her CD because she didn't cry while it was playing.

Tuesday, Scott picked up a new night light for her, one that makes her room brighter than I like but that seems to reassure her a bit. She woke up about eleven (I made the mistake of going in to check on her just before I went to bed). Scott managed to talk her down, but nobody got much sleep.

Wednesday night, I went in when she started crying. I managed to convince her that she could control her crying after all and got her more or less settled. I wasn't patient about it, I'm afraid. I don't think patient is what she needed. Then, before she could get to sleep, the thunderstorm started. I let her come into bed with us during thunderstorms. I'm pretty sure she slept after that, though.

Last night, wonder of wonders, she slept all night. She still cried at bedtime and kept coming out for hugs and using other delaying tactics, but she slept. I was really relieved. She was thrilled this morning to realize that she'd slept. Maybe she won't be so scared now that she knows she can actually do it.

(no subject)

Since Monday night, Delia's been crying at night. She says she's scared to sleep, scared she won't sleep, unable to sleep, unable to stop crying. She says she's afraid to sleep if Scott and I are in bed and the lights are out in the house. It goes on and on. Monday night, she was up every hour (every time her Little House CD ended), asking me what to do. Each time, I told her to restart her CD because she didn't cry while it was playing.

Tuesday, Scott picked up a new night light for her, one that makes her room brighter than I like but that seems to reassure her a bit. She woke up about eleven (I made the mistake of going in to check on her just before I went to bed). Scott managed to talk her down, but nobody got much sleep.

Wednesday night, I went in when she started crying. I managed to convince her that she could control her crying after all and got her more or less settled. I wasn't patient about it, I'm afraid. I don't think patient is what she needed. Then, before she could get to sleep, the thunderstorm started. I let her come into bed with us during thunderstorms. I'm pretty sure she slept after that, though.

Last night, wonder of wonders, she slept all night. She still cried at bedtime and kept coming out for hugs and using other delaying tactics, but she slept. I was really relieved. She was thrilled this morning to realize that she'd slept. Maybe she won't be so scared now that she knows she can actually do it.

(no subject)

Yesterday was my birthday. I ended up having to take a rain check on a lot of what we planned to do because things did work out.

The day started at 6:23 with a phone call from the school, saying that, due to a lightning strike and resulting need to clear debris, there would be no school for the day. I was glad to know but cranky about the timing. My alarm doesn't go off until 7:00. Of course, people whose kids take the bus may well have to be up earlier.

Scott got up with my alarm at 7:00. He needed to shower and eat so that he could take the car in for an oil change and tune up. That was scheduled for nine, and we'd been told that it would take two hours. Unfortunately, when
Scott got there, they told him that the woman doing the scheduling had been wrong-- Instead of two hours, it would take seven. They gave him a ride home.

Delia woke me about eight. She was a bit panicked at not having been awakened for school. I told her there was no school, and she wandered off. Scott did his best to feed her breakfast and to let me sleep, but I was awake, so I rolled out of bed and went to take my morning medications.

Delia spent much of the day feeling bored and missing school. She wanted someone to play with and no one was around. She made one foray out on her bicycle and came back soaked and mud spattered. She had to change her clothes, down to her underwear. The expected rain held off most of the day, but everything was soaked from the heavy, heavy rains of the day before.

A road near us, Plymouth Rd for those who know the area, was closed for a stretch because the night before the rain brought down some of the embankment along there, including some railroad track. It's a little scary to think that the rains were that bad.

Scott biked into town, midmorning. I had some paperwork that needed to go to my psychiatrist. We'd planned to drop it off once we got the car back, but we had no guarantee that the car would be returned in time. He says it was about four miles to get there and back. Since he's not used to that sort of bike trip, he was pretty exhausted and overheated in spite of it not being particularly warm (just humid).

The paperwork is for my A-Ride bus pass. That expired yesterday, but I flaked on getting everything in on time, so I'm going to be back to the Fare Deal pass for the next month or so. The Fare Deal pass is still half off standard fare, so I can't complain too much. The A-Ride pass allows me to ride the fixed routes free and to access a program for getting to places where I can't use the fixed routes. My pass was conditional-- Either my starting point or my destination had to be more than a quarter of a mile (as far as I can reliably walk) from a bus stop. I got the pass originally when Delia had just turned five and I needed to get her to Safety Town at Carpenter School.

Our cleaning lady came an hour early. I'd hoped not to be home for most of her time here, but, instead, she had to work around three of us. Scott got in the way the most because it never occurred to him that he might need to move. He's not used to accommodating the cleaning lady.

The weather didn't cooperate with our original plans for dinner. We wanted to eat on the outdoor deck at Joe's Crab Shack and, with luck, have other people join us, but I'd said that it needed to be at least sixty degrees, which it wasn't, and not be raining, which it was. We're going to try Joe's again on Saturday, which promises to be sunny and warm. A couple of people have said they'll join us.

We went to the Asia City buffet again. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted, and Delia really wanted the buffet. I'm kind of amazed by how much she wants to go there given how little she's willing to sample. Of course, that's the only place she's ever seen lychee fruit, which she loves, and pork dumplings always seem to appeal to her.

(no subject)

Yesterday was my birthday. I ended up having to take a rain check on a lot of what we planned to do because things did work out.

The day started at 6:23 with a phone call from the school, saying that, due to a lightning strike and resulting need to clear debris, there would be no school for the day. I was glad to know but cranky about the timing. My alarm doesn't go off until 7:00. Of course, people whose kids take the bus may well have to be up earlier.

Scott got up with my alarm at 7:00. He needed to shower and eat so that he could take the car in for an oil change and tune up. That was scheduled for nine, and we'd been told that it would take two hours. Unfortunately, when
Scott got there, they told him that the woman doing the scheduling had been wrong-- Instead of two hours, it would take seven. They gave him a ride home.

Delia woke me about eight. She was a bit panicked at not having been awakened for school. I told her there was no school, and she wandered off. Scott did his best to feed her breakfast and to let me sleep, but I was awake, so I rolled out of bed and went to take my morning medications.

Delia spent much of the day feeling bored and missing school. She wanted someone to play with and no one was around. She made one foray out on her bicycle and came back soaked and mud spattered. She had to change her clothes, down to her underwear. The expected rain held off most of the day, but everything was soaked from the heavy, heavy rains of the day before.

A road near us, Plymouth Rd for those who know the area, was closed for a stretch because the night before the rain brought down some of the embankment along there, including some railroad track. It's a little scary to think that the rains were that bad.

Scott biked into town, midmorning. I had some paperwork that needed to go to my psychiatrist. We'd planned to drop it off once we got the car back, but we had no guarantee that the car would be returned in time. He says it was about four miles to get there and back. Since he's not used to that sort of bike trip, he was pretty exhausted and overheated in spite of it not being particularly warm (just humid).

The paperwork is for my A-Ride bus pass. That expired yesterday, but I flaked on getting everything in on time, so I'm going to be back to the Fare Deal pass for the next month or so. The Fare Deal pass is still half off standard fare, so I can't complain too much. The A-Ride pass allows me to ride the fixed routes free and to access a program for getting to places where I can't use the fixed routes. My pass was conditional-- Either my starting point or my destination had to be more than a quarter of a mile (as far as I can reliably walk) from a bus stop. I got the pass originally when Delia had just turned five and I needed to get her to Safety Town at Carpenter School.

Our cleaning lady came an hour early. I'd hoped not to be home for most of her time here, but, instead, she had to work around three of us. Scott got in the way the most because it never occurred to him that he might need to move. He's not used to accommodating the cleaning lady.

The weather didn't cooperate with our original plans for dinner. We wanted to eat on the outdoor deck at Joe's Crab Shack and, with luck, have other people join us, but I'd said that it needed to be at least sixty degrees, which it wasn't, and not be raining, which it was. We're going to try Joe's again on Saturday, which promises to be sunny and warm. A couple of people have said they'll join us.

We went to the Asia City buffet again. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted, and Delia really wanted the buffet. I'm kind of amazed by how much she wants to go there given how little she's willing to sample. Of course, that's the only place she's ever seen lychee fruit, which she loves, and pork dumplings always seem to appeal to her.