The last time I took the girls to Idlewild to go on the rides, Amy wasn’t old enough to be independent and Sarah didn’t want to do anything except play in the giant ball pit, which no longer exists. This time it was a totally different experience because Amy and her bestie could do rides on their own while I stayed with Sarah. Sarah was open to exploring so we rode the carousel and the Daniel Tiger trolley. She got to hug Daniel and have her picture taken with him and Katerina Kitty Cat. As we finished with the carousel, she noticed someone shooting bubble bath foam all over a patch of pavement. She ran over and spent a happy hour surrounded by bubble foam. Amy and her bestie joined Sarah and all were coated in bubbles. Later we made our way to the Soak Zone for some time in the wave pool and on water slides, with Amy and her bestie doing the big slides, Sarah doing the little slides, and me watching. Overall it felt like a successful adventure – and Sarah acquired her 20th t-shirt of the summer! She chose a Make Believe shirt from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. Astonishingly, she was open to sorting through her closet the next day and chose as many shirts to donate as she recently purchased. That was a first for such sorting to occur easily and thoughtfully.
Sarah had a good week of school and eagerly made her lunch each night so it was ready for the next day. The one day I picked her up from school and forgot to tell her it would be me instead of her bus driver, she was surprised and so sad. Since it is our tradition to call Mom-Mom when things go awry or we have disappointments, we called her as I drove home. She and I listened to Sarah’s tears, and by the end Sarah was happily pretending that she was filling up my car with her tears and that she would need her snorkel gear and I would need my windshield wipers to clear the inside of the car. As soon as we got home she used sidewalk chalk to write that she missed her driver, and then she went inside and made a card for him. After that she happily got ready to walk to her annual eye doctor appointment where she and Amy played with trying on different frames while they waited. On the walk home Sarah pretended to direct traffic with her rolled-up umbrella.
In the theme of Mom-Doesn’t-Suffice, this weekend my brother is visiting. Sarah wants to be with him, talking about his shirts (that match hers), and watching her shows with him as soon as she wakes up. When he wakes up later than she does, she sometimes has big feelings. I sat and listened to her this morning, and even though I was wearing a shirt that matched hers, I just didn’t cut it. As I commiserated with her, I jokingly said, “I know. Mom is chopped liver.” She then repeated it! She also said she felt all alone, even though Amy and I were both sitting with her. Please know that I take this slight lightly, and I know I have an important place in her heart, so I found it adorable. I love how deeply she gets attached to people.
As Sarah tries to fall asleep, or if she wakes in the night, she always calls for me or Carl. This past week, Amy surprised us by going up to comfort Sarah a couple of times when she called out for us. Lately it takes Sarah two or three hours to fall asleep every night, and she often calls out a few times for us to sit with her or change something in her room. It astonished me that Amy chose to go help and that it worked. When I took over after one such moment, I asked Sarah if she knew it had been Amy sitting with her, and she replied with the sweetest little, “yeah.”
Amy has been waking up earlier each day to help her body adjust so she is ready for school hours. In the afternoons she enjoyed walking past her old primary and intermediate schools, since they are already in session, and seeing some of her old teachers. She was surprised that they recognized her given that she has doubled in height from her primary school days. But her hair and face haven’t changed that much, and I’m sure she has the same sweet energy that they knew and loved.
Yesterday we went to Pins Mechanical Company. It is an arcade with pinball machines, duckpin bowling, skeeball, and a large slide that goes from the second floor to the first floor. Carl signed us up for a game of bowling, and when he realized that the names he filled out on the paper would be put on the score screen, he asked for the paper back. He crossed out “Carl” and replaced it with “Potato,” crossed out “Sarah” and replaced it with “Granddad,” and added “cat” at the end of Amy’s name. My brother and I opted to keep our own names, but I will need to think of something more fun for the future. We all loved it, and Sarah delighted in her occasional gutter ball. Amy was last in the order of bowlers so that made her final triumph all the more dramatic. She was down to her last ball and one lone pin left standing, with the knowledge that if she could knock it down she would tie Carl’s score. She did it! Given that her goal in any game is to defeat Carl, this was especially sweet. Amy also loved the slide and went down a bazillion times. Sarah enjoyed the light pegs that she could move around on a board, my brother and Carl played various arcade games, and I relived my childhood through a some stressful games of Ms. Pac-Man. We wrapped up the afternoon with a visit to Page’s, a Pittsburgh institution that has been around since 1951. You can get any flavor of soft serve – and they have many- in a dairy-free version, so it is the perfect place for Sarah. It is in the middle of nowhere under a railroad trestle, and the line always wraps around the shop. I’m just relieved that Sarah didn’t notice that they sell t-shirts!
Whatever your metaphorical pin, may you have good aim, at least one remaining ball, and the determination of an Amy Cat about to tie a Potato.
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