Zach of Note
- Zach can swing. It just clicked one day!
- Zach told us that he and Calla held hands twice at school. :)
- Soaps to his teachers and bus driver. He didn’t want to give them their gifts because he thought they wouldn't like them, and then he seemed surprised when they did like them.
- He LOVED his end of year party: gingerbread cookies, clementines, Doritos, and Pirates Booty
- Final week of school before his two-week break turned into three.
- The first week of break, he went to camp for four days and had a blast!
- We worried about omicron as concern got worse and worse throughout the week, and after 12/23, we all took tests, tested negative and spent Christmas together.
- For Zach, though, we decided to keep him home for the week between Christmas and New Year’s and then with snow, it ended up being 17 days.
- Zach sprained his ankle, but it was not severe. He was fine the next day.
- Zach had his 6-year appointment and was at 91% for height and >99% for weight and BMI. He's so solid and strong. It’s crazy that BMI is considered obese. That’s not legitimate as a measure. His pediatrician was not concerned because he's always been in the high percentile and strong and solid. She said kids are expected to grow 2-3 inches and gain 5-8 pounds in 1 year. He grew 3 inches and gained 15 pounds. I had issues with the whole experience and it’s my own work to do.
- We are trying to be aware of more veggies for him and more mindful eating. He tends to like to shove food in his mouth. He also wants to “win” and be the first to finish his food. Not what we want! Ultimately, I know this will be fine. We sit down to dinner and talk. We’re just keeping an eye on portions and also making sure he finishes fruits and veggies before he gets seconds. Also, at school he gets chocolate milk for lunch, so we’re doubling down on two treats per day, usually a breakfast treat of some kind and the chocolate milk. If he wants a treat for snack, he has to skip one of the earlier treats.
- He has decided he likes salad (baby spinach) with lemon juice, so that has replaced corn as his veggie of choice and on 1/14/22, he told me he had carrots at school. So proud!
- We watched The Polar Express, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Klaus, Encanto, and Vivo
- Zach’s library card! Woohoo! He has 42 books out!
- Back at school, after snomicron, Zach retrieved his hoodie that he left at school on the Friday before break.
- I love the way Zach goes down the stairs. He holds onto the railing and slides hands down
- Back to collaborative games: Castle Panic and Forbidden Desert
- Zach brought his laptop home and is ready for virtual learning!
- Cookie baking and the Christmas Eve Nosh - so good
- We all took COVID tests
- Klaus was recommended by work folks, and the timing was awesome. We watched the second half on Christmas morning, and it allowed for a nice holiday-themed activity early on Christmas morning
- Gifts
- Zach loved his socks from Santa. He said they were his favorite present from Santa
- Santa did a great job with Zach’s gifts and stocking. He got socks, booty, Clementines. Good stuff
- Lego sets were a hit: dock, Hogwarts train
- We took a family trip down to Sperryville and hiked on the Hazel River Trail in Shenandoah NP. We got pizza and took it to Pen Druid, where we sat outside in the 60-ish degree sun and enjoyed live music! Zach played soccer with another Teddy.
- Zach and Frank went to the zoo
- We decided not to take our trip to Longwood Gardens. Definitely a bummer, but omicron made us reluctant to stay in a hotel, and the drive was too long for a day trip. Zach took a morning walk with me because he wanted to do something nice for me! :)
- Lights at Meadowlark Gardens!
- Instead of a nature hike on Jan 1, Zach and I took a trip to the Mall for an urban hike in the rain. We visited the Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, and World War II Memorial
Zach’s Words and Songs
- Singing rounds: Kookaburra and Frere Jacques
- He brought his computer home one Friday because of snow in the forecast, and he wanted to work on his computer, play games, etc., and it was SO CUTE because he was sounding out words, etc.
- Also, I love how he counts in Spanish.
- Books: The Magic Treehouse! Some of the school library books he picks are so awful! He got out a Little Red Riding Hood from 1983.
Emotions/Empathy Corner
- He’s started doing dishes because he wants to be helpful. He's so helpful!
- And he will give me grief about having to set the table EVERY night.
- One morning we talked about being self-sufficient, but also caring for each other. I told him he would live alone at some point and have to take care of himself, and he said, “No, I’ll get married and live with that person and have kids.” (I did take the opportunity for mention that he might marry a man or a woman.)
- We also talked about values and I told him some of mine: kindness/caring, and I asked if they were also important to him, and he agreed.
- He and I both tested into the Gryffindor house, which was neat. Frank is Ravenclaw.
- We do loving kindness mediation together now, and he’ll remind me to do it in the mornings.
- Still sharing our roses and thorns for each day
- Since it snowed, we’ve been playing inside more, and we have a game called “fishy” that involves trying to score goals by throwing a fish stuffed animal, Fishy, (thanks, Kate) into a pop up cube. Other stuffed animals assist the defender. Frank and Zach play and I play with Zach too. One night when I won, he screamed in his pillow. That was a good way to feel and allow that emotion to move through him. :)
Sleep Update
He shockingly took more naps than expected over the week he was off school for snomicron.
Susan and Zach
- Zach and I haven’t done much hiking, just the two of us, which I miss, but we did go down to Sperryville and hike as a family.
- We have been doing A LOT of reading and going to the library, which has been super-fun.
- We played basketball and some tennis. We spent some time walking around the school, and he showed me around. We spotted his hoodie on a lost and found clothing rack. Yay!
- Bird feeder is back up!
- Dominos and listening to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I tried other musicals, but they haven’t gone over as well!
Health Corner
- Doctor’s appointments for me and Zach.
- Rapid tests - Auntie Em is on top of it!
- We all took the tests, and then watched Harry Potter and the ogre with a wand up his nose, so it reminded us all of how that is similar to a COVID test.
- Keeping a little better track of food to eat a little more mindfully
- Vertigo in bed, so checking in with doctor
- Mushroom and polenta dish with parmesan cheese and eggs sometimes. Delightful!
- Live kale salad
- Siga’s holiday Kringle was very tasty!
- Leah’s banana bread = so good!
- Auntie Em’s tomato soup
- Non-alcoholic cocktail as part of a work holiday celebrations
- Total Wine HH red wine and pretzels and cheese and salami
- I had several good batches of roasted romanescu broccoli
- Zach had fun with his hot chocolate bomb
- Soy glazed sweet potatoes
- Indian chilli with chick peas and garam masala
- Frozen holiday cookies warmed up in the toaster oven!
- Brioche French toast
- A visit to Emily R. before the holidays and kombucha tasting! We left her with some treats, and she brought us some Christmas goodies too. So fun!
- Family time at the holidays
- Auntie Em
- A couple of stop overs to Katie and Suji and Veronica (an ornament gift and Amphora goodies as they work through some tough stuff)
- Moved from a valued therapist to a new one
- Christmas brunch with The Shaheepskys
- Calls with Kathleen
- A visit with Kathleen before things go bad. She came and had lunch with us and then we went Banshee to hike and Zephania for wine. It was a lovely day, and we sat outside on their porch with heat lamps. On our way home, we picked up burgers and fries.
Personal
- Atlas of the Heart British business book club! So cool!
- Reading: Atlas of the Heart, See No Stranger, Unsheltered and Four Hundred Souls
- For Christmas, I bought access to Valarie Kaur’s Learning Hub, and it’s cool, but also a little challenging because you download the mp3 files, and they’re hard to keep organized on my phone to ensure I’m listening in order….
- Shows: 2 seasons of Gentifed! Station Eleven
- Station Eleven series quote: “This strange and awful time was the happiest of my life.”
- Podcasts: The Happiness Lab, Good Stuff on Unconscious Bias from Ten Percent Happier, some Simon Sinek on positivity, The Daily on Pauline Boss, On Being, Layla Saad had two good highlights of podcasts from 2021, which were excellent reminders of fantastic content
- A Bit of Optimism with Omar Brownson, I liked:
- When things change, be grateful for what you learned or how you had to grow.
- We need to work on ourselves in order to better understand others
- What are you grateful for for each decade?
- Brain is wired to dwell on the negative
- Audible: Sway
- Regular loving kindness meditation and more meditation in general
- I listened to a meditation Spotify Playlists by JMW at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4q9cf96A6CENVPKPAXFm9q?si=o5SEKNu_S7CxUp2sgFOVSg&nd=1
- Enjoying Taylor Swift!
- So fun to go for a walk in the woods of Lake Fairfax Park late one evening and listen to the Station Eleven podcasts!
- Tiktok videos of Celine Dion - Baby, baby, baby…. So good. https://www.tiktok.com/@ketchupwiththefreys/video/7044292618032844079?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en&q=celine%20dion%20its%20all%20coming%20back%20to%20me&t=1641133605644
- I’ve been thinking about attachment: “We can learn to mother ourselves.” - Audre Lorde
- I wrote: 2021 Recapped, https://docs.google.com/document/d/17lAgTup5S-yVUxC7Z4KFSiD0DaiD5019pwYgtFJnBbo/edit?usp=sharing and shared with friends who sent me holiday cards
- Shared a word/phrase for 2022 and mine is getting comfortable with discomfort
- Mindfulness activities shared with family and 5 Journaling Prompts with Emily
- Things that I’m proud of
- What I’m yearning for
- All the things that are causing me anxietyReflect on all the hard things I’ve gotten through and jot down the resources, skills, and practices that saw me through and that I can return to and rely on in the new year.
- Wild ideas list
- Georgia won the National Title!
Professional
- Sharing my mindfulness and mediation journey and maximizing the resources to share with family.
- A promotion and raise! Woohoo!
- Connections with Kelly and Connie
- Great DEIB discussions and supporting kids in knowing they are loved no matter what. Do you feel like a girl or a boy today? If/when you marry your love, either a man or woman...
Your life is not happening to you, it's happening for you!
-- said by many and a good reminder I read in LOVEE
Remember to ask people what support looks like for them!
No comments:
Post a Comment