We just returned from a very fun trip to Kansas to visit my darling hubby's family. It was a fantastic trip, with only one small glitch... the tornado we nearly drove right into on the way out. I wish I were joking. We were leaving the Golden Corral in Hays (chocolate wonderfall... don't judge me!) and there was a storm brewing. It had been raining cats and dogs while we were eating dinner, but the rain had let up just as we were leaving. Once we were outside we noticed the crazy, bubbly clouds all over and the SUPER tall thunderheads. I nervously asked Nick if this was a tornado storm and he said no. I grew up in Rhode Island, so I figure he's the resident tornado expert. We hop in the car and get back on eastbound I-70. Almost as soon as we are back on the highway, the sun sets and the storm gets wild. The lightening was flashing so constantly that it looked like the sky had a bad fuse. The rain was falling in buckets. Nick said something about how you don't worry when it rains like that, you worry when it suddenly stops. Of course, that's when the rain up and stops. I'm looking out the passenger window, oohing and aaahing over the power and majesty of this amazing storm, when the lightening flashes and I see a effing tornado. It's about 2 miles from the highway, south of us. "Oh my God," I yell, "That's a tornado!!!" "No it's not!" says Nick. The lightening flashes again and he says "Keep an eye on it!" and floors it. That's the point where my pucker factor went to about ten bazillion. At this point, Nick is going 90 down the highway while I'm peering out the passenger window, watching this tornado whenever the lightening flashes and waiting anxiously when it gets dark again. The tornado falls behind us. When it's completely out of sight, Nick slows back down to the speed limit and turns on the weather report on the radio. Turns out that there were two tornados in Russell and one in LaCross and we happened to drive right the hell past one of them!! If we had left the restaurant even five minutes later, we would have been in deep trouble. Like, leave the car and lay in a ditch and pray sort of trouble. Did I mention I'm from Rhode Island??? We don't even believe in tornados, damnit!!! (okay, we do... and we even had one a few years back... but this is not something we Rhodies have experience with.)
Needless to say, on the drive home I was about as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!
So that's the tornado. Did I mention I saw one? Yeah, it was intense. Anywho...
As a mom, I have come to believe that much of parenting is a matter of coercion, leverage and momentum. This trip brought us square into the beauty of momentum. Sleeping arrangements during the trip were pretty haphazard. The first night, we tried to make it work in the living room of my in-laws' place but that was no bueno because it required mom, dad and Geri to all share a bed. A queen sized bed. A queen sized hide-a-bed. I'm a finicky sleeper... having a child rubbing her toes up and down my shins while I'm trying to sleep is a personal hell. Night two, we moved upstairs to the attic guest room. Geri got her own twin sized hide-a-bed next to the queen sized regular bed and Mera had her Pack N Play at the foot of the bed. It worked for Saturday and Sunday night. When it was time to head home I told Nick "Let's try to move Geri into the girls' room when we get home." "Shouldn't we let her get back into the routine and get comfortable before changing things on her?" he asked. No!! See, if we brought her home and settled her back in with mom and dad and then suddenly picked a random date in the future to change the setup, she'd balk at it. It would be a change from her routine. But she was already out of her routine, and tolerating it quite nicely. Why make our job harder by putting her back into a routine we know we want to change?? Let's build on the momentum of this situation (sleeping in a new arrangement) to transition her to the eventual goal. As soon as we got home on Monday night, I ran into the house and dragged Geri's bed to the girls' room and set it up. We got the girls ready and put them to bed in their room. They both slept through the night! Last night we did it again with the same great results. We're still working on fine tuning the routine, but it seems to be working out!! Hooray!!
Momentum is, by the way, how we also got TJ off the pacifier. On a trip to RI we forgot to pack some me-me's (his word for it) so he couldn't have them. He did fine! "Sorry darling, we forgot them at home!" "Ok, goodnight." End of story. So when we got home, the first thing I did was run in the house and throw all of the pacifiers in the trash before he could lay eyes on them! After that, no more me-me. I tell you, momentum is a huge helper in raising kids...
At long last (I swear, we're in the end zone... stay with me) the results of today's Exam Under Anesthesia (EUA). Dr. B reports that Geri's pressures are 17 in the right eye and 16 in the left!! That's a normal, healthy pressure!! It looks like the surgery on the right eye is a victory - fluid is moving and no scarring has developed to block it! The left eye looks about the same, but a bit more time is needed before calling it a done deal. Still, it's great news. Her left eye has gone down a bit in size, but not much. The right eye is holding steady. Dr. B says her eyes will stay this size, but her new glasses will minimize the appearance of it and so will growing. As her head gets bigger, her eyes won't look as large. We also got the prescription for her glasses!!!! I'm going to get it filled tomorrow. We're all pretty excited about this, because it should make a huge difference for her. We talked a bit about the possibility of cornea transplants, but the plan for now is to wait until August and re-evaluate. We also want to bring a cornea specialist into the discussion to hear his take on whether it will be worth the risk. And she does't need another eye appointment until August!! And an office visit, at that!! This will be the longest stretch yet without an EUA for her. It's sort of a big deal to me.
I am right there believing in momentum. There are times when Rex suddenly is ready for something and we have to roll with it no matter what. For example, he refused to give up his bottle until his palate surgery after which he was no longer allowed to drink that way, so I thought he would go to sippy cups... he decided open cup is what he wanted to do next. Just skip the middleman. Momentum, so we went with it.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on using that momentum of a break in routine to get Geri out of your bedroom. I might have to steal that idea from you after our Christmas trip and see if Rex will roll with it, too. Of course first, I have to transition Emilia out of the pack and play into a toddler bed. Wish me luck.