Adventures & Gratitude | Hot & Itchy

Zach of Note

• Visits to the National Zoo; mainly Zach wanted ice cream, but the sea lions completely distracted him from ice cream, which was awesome. We also saw the pandas!
• We put Ana Freya with her coffee mug in the cabinet with my coffee mugs. Teehee. 
• So much pool: Lake Newport, Uplands, Glade, and more; volleyball at the pool
• Sometimes with Frank, sometimes with me; Auntie Em; Logan, Cora, and Mary; Sacha, neighbors
• Lifeguard love and best friends: Alex, Johnny, Jack, etc. 
• Friends at the pool: volleyball, Anthony, diving, slides, etc. 
• Zach is, at times, so good at setting the table and cleaning up. He has put away the silverware, and he even served us pizza one night! :)
• Playing in the sprinklers at Fannie Mae!
• Cold on the last day of Bridge to K; took him to the doc and got him COVID tested - negative
• The Watermine, and “Ma’am, your son is a ray of sunshine. He made my day. You are blessed.” 
• Visit with Gamma and Daddy Bob = Woodstock pool and lots of diving. The lifeguards said, "We are watching him," but observing the jumps gave Daddy Bob joy
• The last day of tennis was very fun as they played Champ.
  

Emotions/Empathy Corner

• Starting the Bridge was a journey for all of us. Leading up to the program, Zach lost me a few times, "Mommy!" I'm trying to get him to learn my number: we’ve set it to the tune of 1, 2, 3, 4 by Alan Doyle.
• We'll figure this out, not it'll be okay
• Better to tell kids they are good helpers than God at helping. 
• Back into daily gratitude and the why behind it!
• Title
• What happened, including details about what anyone involved, including you did or said. 
• Describe how it made you feel at the time and how you feel now, as you think about it. 
• Explain how the event or circumstance came to be. What was the cause? What confluence of circumstance came together to create this moment?
• I learned from an interview with Adam Grant that it's better to tell kids they are good helpers than good at helping. 
• Talked with Laura who lives in Reston who is an emotions skills resource for Zach. Exciting!
• Zach said, “it’s the best thing ever to stay home and do art.” He did painting, collage, scissors and clipping pics and using the glue stick! Mixed media!

Bridge to K

• A few nights before the start of Bridge to K, Z flipped out and wanted to go running with Daddy because Frank had mentioned that Zach would be starting school soon, and Frank said, “I’ll miss you in the morning.” Then Zach started to worry about missing Frank and not wanting him to go for a run. At night, I have such a hard time coming from a place of compassion. I'm glad we figured out and told him what he felt was normal!
• The first day of the Bridge was definitely emotional for me!
• The bus was the best and school was a close second
• Friends: Ethan and Jonathan; Lillian is fast too!
• In Bridge to K, he's writing and drawing
• We learned that Jewel is June and Nina is Minha
  

Zach's Words and Songs and Curious Questions

• Molly from Denali show; they made up a game: used sticks to create a board, threw rocks for points and then there was a course to run that included things like jumping jacks. 
• Zach listened to Louisiana by Kate DiCamillo and he continues to enjoy by Lauren Wolk: Wolf Hollow and Echo Mountain, particulary Echo Mountain
• The Treehouse books are a huge hit. We've gotten them all from 13-story to 130-story
  
• Though when I look back at my diary, I see a lot of extremes with Zach this past 5 weeks; he's doing an amazing job of listening to stories and choosing reading. I love it! He likes video games and shows, but he chooses friends, the beach, the pool, reading, and listening to stories!
• He used the word “staggered” when he played in the sprinklers; he "staggered" backwards because of the force of the water!
  

Sleep Update

• Pretty much the same old, same old!
• With the rise of Delta, I've been working through that stress and have been a little more tired!

Good Food

• Before and After's savory scone and lavender shortbread. Yum!
• Auntie Em's shortbread jam cookies and blueberry and lemon curd muffins. Yum!
• Brushettas and pesto galore and grain bowls and bread salads. Yum!
• Kombucha from Federalsburg, MD (from demo at Lewes farmer's market)
• Lewes lunch of grilled cheese with tomato and basil, kombucha, Old Bay cheese curls, cultures, yum! 
• Auntie Em's baba ganoush
• Smashed potatoes with cheese!
• Lake Anne's brown sugar breve is also SO GOOD and even better iced! Made me happy!
• The veggie patties from Territory are delicious! 
• My iced mint green tea is so nice!
• Lake Anne's Briney chicken sandwich is so good with bacon and steak fries. 

Connection

• I took Zach to Sperryville for my birthday and that was fun!
• Trip to Lewes was definitely fun! 
• Dinners with Auntie Em
• Water aerobics with Auntie Em
• Visit with Kathleen; we went to a kids show at Wolf Trap and had a picnic lunch. She and I took a walk, always nice and chatting with her
  
• Video call with Rae: “Simon Says End the Call.”
• Zach visited Gamma and Daddy Bob and took in the Woodstock pool!

Fun and Not So Fun Stuff

Personal

• Hot, hot, hot weather that sucks my energy, and some really nice summer weather too! 
• Down to one therapist
• Self-compassion meditations from Kristin Neff. There is a "break" that is 5 mins long; the longer one at 18 mins had me visualize a place and person who is a friend, who is me. I pictured Sperryville. So beautiful.
• During the Bridge program, it was nice to have time to myself some afternoons and watch a show!
• Goodbye to Tommy Tomlinson
• Good music: Music at Glade American pie, backstreet boys, ABBA; Wade Bowen, Mat Kearney, Taylor Swift, Justin Michael Williams
• Possible bathroom remodel contractor is not vaccinated. Not him or his crew, and they have no plans to get vaccinated. 
• Rise of Delta has be HARD
• Read: The Final Reunion of Opal and Nev, reading Left handed bookseller and Black Magic
• Watching: finished Season 3 of Virgin River, watching Pose, and just started Firefly Lane
• Podcasts: 
• Good Ancestor with Leesa Renee Taylor and Ep054: #GoodAncestor​​ Pragya Agarwal on '(M)otherhood’
• Dare to Lead, Patrice Gordon and check emotions. When people are passionate about something, it shows with emotion, and that’s important. Take it in and add the emotion as data, but you don’t need to respond with inappropriate emotion and you should take it back and put it in context. 
• Simon Sinek's podcast, a Bit of Optimism and esp the episode on Extreme Listening
• Unlocking Us and the Gifts of Imperfection
• The Kingdom with Justin Michael Williams has some great stuff!
• Adam Grant w/ Krista Tippett on On Being lots of good stuff, but especially, data suggests that gratitude is one of the most important values overall and in general; therefore, it's critical to cultivate at work! 
• Session on being emotionally unavailable: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.marielbuque/video/6984404673948126470?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1
• Audio books: Inferior, Leaders Eat Last, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, The Four Tendencies

Professional

• My team won the Hack-a-thon!!!!!!!!!!
• Servant leadership work, reading, and listening
• Good continued work on DISC and active listening with the customer care team
• DEIB work and Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man

Health Corner

• Oak mites and poison ivy

I am reflecting. 

Responding to Life, Instead of Reacting to It, by Stephen Batchelor

This is what the Greek philosophers called ‘self-governance.’ It starts with a conscious decision to leave behind a life of reactivity and embark on a life of self-creation, in which we work towards becoming the kind of person we aspire to be, and toward creating the kind of world we aspire to live in.