ChezPerky

I haven’t been blogging for a long time – and I’m not sure whether I’m ready to dive back in or not. Nevertheless, something’s been nagging at me for months about it, but I haven’t had the energy for it. So I’ll give this a try and see where it goes. I expect a large number of entries will be password protected. The password hasn’t changed, but if you need it, email me. Note that with the exception of my husband, if you are an immediate relative, I probably won’t give it to you.

So… catching up.

Well, first the kids: The triplets are at what I consider a very trying age. Actually, it might only be Ellie who is at a very trying age. They just turned five, the whole world is ahead of them, they are learning at an incredibly rapid rate, but social skills allude Sam and plague Ellie. Abby is a naturally gifted socialite and I have no idea where that skill comes from. Not from me, that’s for sure. I worry about Ellie. She whines all the time. She shrieks. She is prone to bouts of hysterical tears – frequently. I am worried about her social development. None of the kids in her class like her (though they all adore Abby). She is frequently in tears over social issues. When she and Abby went on a playdate, I asked her if she had fun and she said “No. C and A were playing together so I couldn’t play with them.” While I don’t know C very well, I know Abby very well, and I find it unlikely that it was entirely about C & A excluding Ellie explicitly. I’m fairly certain that Ellie doesn’t know how to integrate herself into a play group dynamic of more than 2 kids. This is a frequent complaint of hers. “Well, Abby and Tobie were playing together but *I* wanted to play with Abby and I couldn’t!” is a very frequent (and tearful) complaint I hear from Ellie. I am, I admit, puzzled about the next steps for helping her through this. So I’m calling in the cavalry. I’m talking to Developmental Pediatrician Extraordinaire (DPE) tomorrow, and have a message in to the school director. Hoping to have some strategies soon.

The other kids are great. Abby draws incessantly and constantly provides me with portraits of me (if my scanner were working, I’d post an example!). Sam is thriving in the collaborative classroom that he’s in this year. He loves his teacher, but is still wary of the fact that she’s “new” – as opposed to the teacher he had the past two years. Tobie is amazing. I can’t get over her extraordinary gifts. She’s smart, funny, and interactive in a way the triplets never were at her age. I’m sure some of it comes from having older siblings, but some of it is clearly just that she’s a very different kid.

How’s the Husband Extraordinaire Doing?: Seth’s great. He started working in North Carolina in July on a year-long contract. He’s working hard, but we miss him. He leaves every Sunday afternoon and comes home late Thursday night. The job is great, but it’s hard on the kids (and me) to have him gone every week. Still, it’s a fantastic opportunity and it’s giving him some time to figure out the long-term career things he needs to figure out, without worrying in the meantime about a steady income. This week he’s in Vegas at his Annual Mid-Year conference for his field. I hope he’s having fun, because we sure miss him!

And, inevitably, me: My health hasn’t been great since I last posted. I’ve been in and out and in and back out of the hospital several times since I last wrote. I have a number of things to say about the specifics, but I’m exhausted so I think the specifics will wait for their own blog post. Nevertheless, I did get the Gastric Neurostimulator placed in October – I wish I could say it’s been miraculous, but it has not. More details later, but the good news is that I’m currently home, not in the hospital, which is a huge improvement and a great gift that I should not underestimate.

And you? How are you all doing?