We have been keeping ourselves very busy playing outside and finding distractions indoors for ourselves. There was dance and movement therapy here on Sunday night which gave the girls a lot of fun. Bubbles are an indoor/outdoor activity  as Sinéad carries them around with her pretty much all the time. We have a stack of books that Naomi or I read endlessly to Caitríona and Sinéad. I backed off 100 EZ for a few days to read to Cait more so she can see more “fast reading” because she was painfully sounding out every word. That ended up being a good idea because she is doing better now when we do a lesson. 

Here are some photos from the weekend and Monday. 

Caitríona and Naomi were swinging with their eyes closed and holding hands. 

Sinéad loves to play Three Little Pigs in the playhouse outside. This includes me knocking on the door saying, “Little pig, little pig let me in.”  She says, “no way!”  Then I say, “then I will huff and puff and blow your house down!” She giggles hysterically. We can play that repeatedly with me trying to grab her through the windows or open the front door. She laughs hysterically every single time. If I stop playing, she will open the door or stick her head out the window and say “wolf, get little pig!”

Sinéad adores Naomi. Here they are swinging together. 

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We took a walk out back behind the RMH. We discovered “The Santuary Woods” which is a piece of nature property that was set aside over 100 years ago for a mental asylum that was located near here. The woods are beautiful, even if a little spooky. There are actually a lot of walking trails back there. So I think we will plan to make that a daily outing. It is a good change of scenery. 

I do not have many pictures of Cait. She is ALWAYS moving when we are outside. So most come out this way with a blurr. 

Dandelions in the field make for endless entertainment and relaxation. 

Even laundry can be fun. Sinéad makes a lot of it, too. She dumped an entire cup of tea on her cream jacket while resisting my attempts to let me hold it for her so it didn’t spill. 

This photo shows her cuteness which I am certain is the design and the way she is able to not only survive but to also get an endless supply of kisses and cuddles although she is a constant trouble-maker. Daily, I have to chase her mostly undressed  body through the lobby of RMH and bring her back to the room to practically force her to dress. Once she is clothed, that is nowhere near permanent as I can be heard repeatedly saying, “Sinéad, pull your shirt back down” or “keep your pants on!” Most people here just laugh. The woman in the corner office near our room looks up from her desk with a smile while she is on the phone and I wrestle a diapered-only 2 year old back to the room. Doors, even very heavy ones, are no obstacle for Sinéad. It has been nearly a week since I have gotten in trouble. So I am feeling a bit better. I am starting to look at it that I have been here 12 weeks and only on 5 days did I get “reminded of the rules.”  Those are decent statistics actually. 

Naomi and I had a late night cooking show date. Before the first episode ended, she was asleep on my shoulder. I stayed awake continuing to knit, enjoying the peace until after 2am because it was such a rare privilege. So at some point she switched so that she was resting her head on my lap. I was admiring her hair starting to come back. It is not as itchy to her anymore. It doesn’t itch me anymore for her to rest her head on me. When it was itchy to her she would rub her head on my shoulder to scratch it and I would laugh as it tickled. But the length is enough now that it feels soft. Naomi gets her head massaged fairly often by all of us. When she holds Sinéad, Sinéad will put both hands on Naomi’s head and rub. It is very cute. 

The girls really enjoyed dance therapy. We wish it was more often than once a month at RMH. I will definitely try to create that atmosphere in our room more. Music is always therapeutic for us. It was great to see Jenna again. We had not seen her since the news interview almost a month ago. 

Sam and Sinéad were dancing. They both love playing bubbles too. 

We are thankful for the recent sunny days. Even though it is cooler than we are used to, getting outside has been our sanity saver. Naomi returns to clinic Tuesday afternoon. She continues to feel good and be symptom-free. Her energy levels are really good and she is acting like a normal 9 year old girl. I am thankful for that. I look forward to her being able to return home to the rest of the family. I think it will help stabilize her moods even more. Here, she is the oldest. I can see how much she yearns to be with her older siblings again.