I don't know if it is a side effect of quarantine, or just that I am getting old, but the week went by so fast, yet Monday seemed so long ago. I know plenty happened and I'll try to remember at least the highlights.
We'll start with Tim. Poor Tim. I wish I had better news, but he is going to have a hard couple of months. The hospital continues to make changes daily in hopes of being prepared as possible. We are still in a holding pattern as cases continue to increase. There are covid patients at the hospital, but they are managing them fine. Some of the recent changes include asking all men to shave their beards, due to a shortage of protective gear for bearded people. There are lots of little changes concerning how to preserve masks, who is in charge of what patients and the list goes on. Tim usually ends his day trying to read the handful of emails sent out daily of all the changes. Perhaps the biggest change is that Tim is being "graduated" from an intern resident to a full resident. He was expecting to have three more months until he assumed more responsibilities, but thanks to covid he'll have to dive right in. This change also comes with a schedule change. From now until things calm down he will be on a five day rotation, five days of days, five days of nights, and five days off with every shift being 12 hours. He'll be back in the ICU for two weeks and after his five days off he will go to the cardiac ICU. So, basically really long hours, difficult sleep schedules, and rarely seeing the kids. He'll survive and be better for it...I hope.
The kids and I enjoyed being outside almost daily. We have had near perfect weather all week, except for one day of clouds, more on that later. Lila has found a love of dirt. She and Hyrum both got filthy every day. Hyrum has also been expanding Lila's understanding of the uses of sticks. This week we did a lot of fishing. Lila enjoyed sitting next to us as we waited for our big catches. It was funny to catch a pretend shoe and hear them laugh or when Hyrum said I caught a shark. Lila learned how to go down the ladder backwards. She has been attempting to do it for a couple of weeks, but she finally figured out how to slide back on her stomach to get a good footing on the steps. She also enjoyed plenty of time playing superman in the swing. Today she surprised me by clearly saying the word up. She was telling me I needed to put the shampoo up. She normally misses all ending sounds, but today there was a clear /p/. I was very proud! Another big milestone is that she said a prayer. In the evening we were helping Hyrum and we notice that she was repeating words. We kind of stopped with Hyrum and focused on helping her say a prayer and she did it! I always find it so interesting how fast kids pick things up. It seems identifying Jesus, the prophet, and praying always come early and easy.
Hyrum continues to do his thing, whether it's okay or not. We have been struggling a lot with prayers. He has always been very good with praying, but for the past while he complains of being tired or says it is a silly voice. He is also into switching songs that focus on being good and following the Savior to being bad and following Satan. Today during the hosanna shout (we had practiced and he knew what to say) he said, "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to God and the Banana." I let that one go, because I was feeling the spirit despite his banana. We mostly just ignore him (even when it hard) because he is asserting his independence and the fact that he has choices and by golly he's going to make it own! While most days he is exasperating, we do have some really fun/funny times. For instance, he discovered magic this week. Tim has a couple of tricks that he knows and after showing Hyrum, he was hooked. One trick was making a tissue disappear by rubbing it into your arm. Frequently, I could hear a rubbing sound from the bathroom and then a "Mom, I can't get it to disappear into my foot." For some reason he felt his foot was better than his arm. The best was when Tim put a shirt under a towel and made it disappear by pulling it up when he lifted the towel. Hyrum was enthralled. I also heard "Abracadabra, disappearo! Mom! It's still there!" Honestly, it NEVER got old. It was funny every time he lifted a towel or blanket and the object was still there.
We were on spring break from preschool. Instead of our normal routine, I had some games and art. One of the activities was a shadow drawing. We were supposed to do it outside, but of course it was the one day that week that was cloudy and rainy. We improvised with lamps.
It's a little tricky to see, but the black part is the bear. I thought he did a really good job. He also added some trees and water for his bear.
I have been doing really well with running outside. We usually go to the church parking lot, so we can find Hyrum a spot to play while I run circles. It is nice to get the blood moving. I also spent time getting some activities ready for the kids. Luckily, there was only about an hour that Lila needed to be entertained. She slept like an angel for the first session for both Saturday and Sunday. Hyrum did well during the first session coloring activities from the Friend or looking at stories, but the second was always harder. Lila was there and it was close to dinner. Speaking of food. We celebrated with biscuits and gravy for breakfast and pizza and lemonade for dinner. It was the first time Lila had lemonade and it was really funny to see her reaction. She loved it!
I continue to plug along. It really helps that the weather is nicer and we can get outside. It can be really hard being with the kids all day every day, without any breaks, but being able to go outside helps. I really enjoy conference and felt the spirit strongly with each session. It was a much needed boost. Here's to another week!
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