We had February in April, August in May and of course now that June has arrived it feels just like April: cool and rainy. Usually June is warm and rainy around here.
The grass, flowers and lakes are loving it, of course.
Katie had a nanny gap this week so I spent several days at her house, filling in. It was a blast, of course. The squealing and running around that occurs when I arrive at their house makes me feel like a rock star. I highly recommend it!
I arrived after naptime so we had plenty of time to play music and dance. Katie has an Alexa, up on a console table. I asked it to play the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman because I knew the girls love it. We danced around and were having a fine time when suddenly the volume flew through the roof. I turned around and Boopity was on the console with her finger on the volume button.
Not only does she know how to turn it up to 11, she’s more than willing and able to climb up the walls to the console to reach it. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing up and down with the volume. The girls like it LOUD.
Boopity likes the music loud and she dances like she’s part of it. Boop just likes to rock out.
We danced, we sang, we drove around the back yard in their little pink convertibles.
We fished rocks out of Boopity’s mouth and chased the dog. When Katie got home, we had popsicles, which we shared with the dog and then we tossed the girls in the bath. After they were all clean and shiny, we wrestled them into their jammies, snuggled them up, brushed their teeth and put them to bed. Katie made me dinner and we did it all again the next day.
I had to leave my painting class a few hours early because I had a lunch date with Xena, whose kindergarten class was celebrating the end of the school year with a picnic. We sat in the grass outside the school and ate our lunches under a clearing sky and a beautiful day. After lunch, I got to watch as Xena got her kindergarten diploma. Everyone clapped!
Back home that afternoon, Katie brought the girls over. We were going to walk around the lake or go to the park but we wound up just hanging in the back yard on the big ass deck, which is all decorated for summer.
The girls never even made it into the house: they played on the deck and ate as much chips and guacamole they could hold. Early in the spring Katie left a little kid car here for them to play with and they love it. Boop drove it all over the deck and when she got tired of waiting for her turn, Boopity tried to physically remove her. When they fight, it’s like fireworks: bright and loud but over in a flash.
It was a fun, exhausting bunch of days.
Then, my parents had their Anniversary. 62 years! When I got to the facility, Dad was sitting in his wheelchair, reading the paper.
A couple of weeks ago, sitting in the chair for more than an hour or so wiped him out but now he can do six hours before he needs to lie down again. Just a week ago, he couldn’t hold the paper much less turn the pages and read the whole thing. He’s been working very hard on his physical therapy and his hands and fingers are coming along in leaps and bounds!
Mom had left to run some errands so I had Dad to myself for a bit. He told me he’d been thinking: his speech therapist had allowed him to eat apple sauce, oatmeal and mashed potatoes.
“If I can eat those things, I don’t see why I can’t have some ice cream.” He said. He’s been dreaming of ice cream ( and spaghetti) since the night he fell.
“I think you’re right.” I said. “I don’t think there’s any reason in the world you shouldn’t have ice cream.”
We talked about other things but when Mom returned, about a half an hour later, Dad immediately said “Mary Louise and I think I should get some ice cream.”
She not only agreed, she immediately went to find some. In no time, one of the nurses arrived and offered Dad his choice of flavors. Chocolate! Duh.
She also brought two different sized spoons. Dad grabbed the big one but Mom took it away from him and reminded him that he wasn’t ready for giant mouthfuls yet.
“If he chokes on any of this,” she told me, “I’m running out of here and blaming it all on you.”
Then she fed him the ice cream. He savored every bite of it and never choked at all. I asked him if it was the best ice cream he’d ever had. He grinned and said no one had ever been happier than he was at that moment.
He’s eating, getting stronger by the day and regaining control of his fingers and can even do without the neck brace for an hour or so at a time. His hard work is paying off fast but not fast enough for him. I think his doctors are flabbergasted. They didn’t know he’s not your average 90 year old. His family is not surprised.
Today, Mom and my sister Katie got him a laptop so he can get back to his life on the internet. Two weeks ago he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to type again and today he sent an email to all of us. I think typing will be better than his therapy exercises in getting his hands back in shape. And of course, reading the news online all day will make him feel like he’s back in his own life again. He’s been completely cut off, which had to be at least as hard on him as relearning to use his limbs.
I had hoped to get over to see him today but Katie needed to get some shopping done so she dropped BoopityBoop with me this afternoon. I thought they should be tired since they hadn’t had a nap. I asked them if they’d like to go night-night and they both ran immediately to the little bedroom where their pack-n-plays were still set up from the last time they spent the night. I popped them into bed and closed the door.
They never slept but for the next hour and a half I could hear them talking, singing and laughing at each other. Once, I peeked in and saw them standing in their cribs, which are side by side, holding each other’s hands and taking turns shouting, then laughing their heads off. While they played away their nap time, I made a batch of cookies and tried to get some work done. I didn’t get them up until they cried, which they didn’t do until Boopity poopitied. I think they slept for a grand total of five minutes.
In my office, I got something drawn up but was too tired to paint after they went home. I learned a long time ago not to attempt painting while tired. That road leads to horrible, expensive mistakes.
Later in the afternoon, the skies cleared and the wind dropped a bit; it turned into a glorious, although cool, evening.
Now I’d better get to work, since I whistled away the weekend playing.