Today was the last day that Ashby Park was open, so I packed a picnic lunch, and we put the girls in the trailer and biked over there. I biked there with them earlier this week, and they FINALLY decided it was an awesome place! I wore my suit, and I think Audrey liked sitting in the water snuggled next to me most of all, so it isn't really about running around crazy for them. But we all had a really nice time together. The rest of the weekend was pretty productive too, just getting things done here and there.
We also took the girls to the state fair last Monday, and we managed to do a TON of stuff in under 4 hours. Most of it was free, included with the ticket package that my workplace gave me in lieu of a summer party - rockstar!! Emily had been talking about the giant slide ever since she went down it last year, so she was pretty pumped to walk up every single stair by herself. She plopped down on my lap at the top, and said, "Mom... we're really up high..." and down we went! At the bottom, she was really uncertain, but Audrey went down with Travis and LOVED it. Then, I noticed that Emily had been actually chewing on her hands. I've seen her chewing on her knees, and her toes... I am starting to get a little worried about how anxious she seems to be. I'm trying to figure it all out, and take a more methodical approach to helping her out, without overthinking it and adding more stress. I mostly feel guilt, since it seems like the things she's battling are all things I had to battle too - having things in her mouth, fidgety, jumpy... poor girl. It's bad enough that she has my nosebleeds, sideaches, and crazy red face when overheated.
Speaking of stress, the girls started at Ms. Teri's this week. They seemed to do just fine, but I suppose the stress is manifesting itself in small, seemingly unrelated ways. Audrey had three freakouts the day after she had been there, even though she seemed to do just fine while she was there. But yeah, totally ballistic, crying until exhaustion, THREE times in one day. It was really heartbreaking. Emily has had some behavior issues that generally are small and totally to be expected from someone her age, but the stress has made them a lot harder to deal with. But, as far as Ms. Teri goes, I think it'll be a good fit. She wrote a full page of detailed notes about what the girls did on Thursday, which was great, especially since they were mostly emotive things she noticed, like she was really tuned in to how they were feeling. I think they'll get used to the dogs being around, and it'll be nice to have them in a house setting instead of a classroom. Audrey had been spending a lot of time in the 2-year-old room at Tender Heart, and they never talked to me about it or told me what to expect with that, which annoyed me. And Teri has no problem changing cloth diapers, so we're doing that full-time now. No more progress on going potty, except that she really likes sitting on it while I'm getting her new diaper ready. No worries - we'll get through all these stressors first.
Next week, Travis will be in Indianapolis for work for a couple of days, and then going straight to Minneapolis for Seann's bachelor party, so the girls and I are going to hide out in Rockford for the weekend, after a visit from Trav's mom on Wednesday. I'm even taking a day off from work, which is fun, and a little weird to say since I've got three days off every week. :) And then, it'll be September, and I just can't believe that summer will be over so soon!!! We were just getting the hang of this!
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