Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah

Happy Thanksgiving!! Happy Hanukkah!!

Finally On The Road To Recovery

Well, Briana finally went back to school today. But just for one day. Next week is Thanksgiving break. I wonder how much school work she has missed this week. Ugh, I feel a little nauseous thinking about it. Maybe it is a good thing that this week is the week before Thanksgiving. Maybe things wound down at school a bit before the holiday. I guess we will see.

On Monday, Briana scared me a bit when I was trying to wake her up for school. She felt so hot to the touch. I kept asking her if she was ok and she just kept saying "I want Pink Baby." And I tried to hand her doll to her but she just kept hanging on to her panda bear and shaking her head yes. It was like she was out of it and didn't know what was going on around her. When she finally came around after a minute or two, she got tears in her eyes because she felt so badly. I grabbed the thermometer - 102.6. Not good.

I put her in my bed and gave her a fever reducer. I did that a couple of times that day and it seemed to help her. She felt good enough in the evening - we even did this mosaic together...

I thought it was just a 24 hour thing.

Nope - she woke up the next morning with a 103 temp and a cough. Briana had her 2nd grade field trip that day and I was supposed to chaperone. We both missed it. :(

That day she and I watched two Harry Potter movies and all she wanted to do was lay around in bed.

This was her on Tuesday night - she was feeling rough...

The next morning - 102 again.

Everything I read said wait three days to see the doctor for a fever, and Wednesday was the beginning of Day 3. And she was developing a nasty cough. I needed to make sure she didn't have pneumonia - so off to the doctor we went...

 The doctor listened to her chest and said it sounded great - totally clear. He said she had an upper respiratory virus and it needed to run it course. He recommended Benadryl before bedtime and honey to sooth the cough.

Her cough was pretty nasty on Wednesday. Honey and cough drops weren't cutting it. I couldn't listen to her suffer with that cough one more minute, so I gave her a little Benadryl around 4PM. It knocked her out for about an hour... 

I gave her a bit more before bed on Wednesday. She slept all night, but she coughed in her sleep a lot. I kept her home on Thursday. Her fever was finally gone, but her cough was still bad.

She coughed and coughed and coughed on Thursday. I tried everything to try to help her. It was exhausting - for her and me. I can tell it is all up high in her throat - like a tickle. So annoying. Despite that, she was feeling better. We even played a few board games together.

 I listened to her cough on Thursday night, and I couldn't sleep trying to figure out what I should do regarding school. She woke up coughing but had a smile. I made the decision to send her to school today - but I told her if she didn't feel well, she could call me to pick her up.

She looks much better, doesn't she?

I haven't heard from the school yet and the day is half over. I hope she makes it to 2:30 (I think she will). And now we will have the entire Thanksgiving break to recover. 

It has been a LONG week. I'm am spoiled. I admit it. I'm used to having a kid that rarely gets sick and when she does, it is usually sniffles and it lasts like two days. This was kind of a new thing for me. We survived it together. I sure hope she doesn't get hit with anything like this again for a long time.

2nd Grade Performance

Last week was a rough week at school, but there was a bright spot - the 2nd (and 3rd graders too) performance on Thursday evening. The theme was "What I Want To Be When I Grow Up." Are you at all surprised that Bri went as a fashion designer? ;)

She was all ready with her tape measure and sketch pad...

Luckily, my mom still had a reprieve going with her inner ear issues and she and my dad were able to make it to the performance (unfortunately, she is suffering with it again now).

We had to drop Bri off at the classroom and then we went to the gym...

The kids were brought in and they got into their positions...

I hate that I have some gripes about the evening because I should just be grateful that there was even a performance given for us to enjoy. But, I'm going to complain anyway - heh.

The gym was waaaay too crowded. The performance was for 2nd and 3rd graders. The gym is not big enough to hold parents for two grades. Not sure why they combined grades this year. A ton of people had to stand on the sides of the gym to see the performance. We were lucky enough to get there early and get a good seat.

The PTA jammed in some agenda before the performance. Now, I knew there would be a short PTA meeting before the performance (that is how they get people to come), but it was waaaay too long. What should have been like 10 minutes was more like 20+ minutes long. Everyone was hot and getting antsy. It was poorly planned.

The music teacher had risers for the 2nd graders. The shortest 2nd graders (which was Bri) were placed on the bottom row behind the 3rd graders that were on the floor (which made absolutely no sense). It kind of felt like it was a 3rd grade spotlight with 2nd grade backup. Briana did great and was very expressive, but I had a hard time seeing her behind the tall kid with the baseball helmet on. Sigh - I would have done things sooo differently...

It was still cute though...

The songs were super cute. They had a great finale with plungers (they were singing a song about plumbers)...

We picked Miss B up in the gym when the kids finished and we were outta there...

We got back home and Bri of course got a little treat from Gramma and Papa. And we took a couple of photos...

It was a cute night and I'm glad Briana had fun. I think she was the blingiest gal in the whole place. She certainly lights up a room, doesn't she? :)

Still Sick

Sweet girl is still sick today.

Third day out of school. Still running a fever and now has developed a cough. She coughed in her sleep last night. We have a doctor's appointment this morning. 

Hoping she feels better really soon. Also hoping I don't get whatever this is before Thanksgiving break. Ugh.

Yogli Mogli Get Together

After the stressful week that Briana had, she was able to cut loose and hang out with some of her best buds from 1st grade at our local Yogli Mogli Friday afternoon. Briana sure misses these girls...

And Bri's friend M's sister also joined in the fun. She was so sweet to hang in there with the younger gals...

It was so nice seeing these girls all together again and it was great talking to their mamas too. :)

The 2nd Grade Drama

Despite her smile, last week was a rough one for Briana ~ and for me.

It all started when Briana got in the car on Monday afternoon after school. I always ask her how school day went and I usually get "fine" or "good" and then I have to prompt her for more answers.

Monday was different. She started talking about a little girl that made a "pinky" promise to sit next to her at lunch but then broke that promise. Most of this drama played out on FB ~ so here is some of what I wrote...

"My heart is breaking for Briana right now. My daughter that has never complained about social dynamics at school finally confided in me today. She started crying after she got home from school (and I couldn't help crying too). Two little girls that Bri really liked and used to hang out with her at the beginning of the school year have now decided to go and hang with two other little girls. Seems that they have made a foursome "clique." Bri decided to ask one of the little girls on Friday if she wanted to sit next to her at lunch on Monday and the girl said yes - and they "pinky promised." Well, the girl didn't sit with her today and went to sit with her other friends - leaving Bri with no one to sit next to her. Bri asked her after lunch what happened to their promise and the girl hesitated and said she was sorry. But when Bri asked her "what about tomorrow then?" - the girl said "um, maybe." Bri asked me and sobbed, "Why don't they want to sit with me?" This is a parenting moment that I have always dreaded. The one where I can't really help her or spare her feelings. I've given her some advice, but it is up to her to take it or not. I would do anything to make her hurt go away."

I think what hurt her the most was the response from this one particular girl. This is the girl she liked the most. Briana asked to sit with her at lunch because for several weeks now, this girl has been pulling away and Briana has been feeling it. And Bri was so surprised she broke the promise because they had made a "pinky promise." That is a big deal for a 7 year old. Briana, being 7, still had hopes this girl would actually sit next to her the next day. When I started to explain that her response hinted that probably wasn't going to happen, that is when the flood gates opened.

I sent Briana to school the next day and it was so hard. I tried to prepare her - I told her to sit with someone else if the girl did break her promise again.

This is what happened Tuesday...

"Briana update - Bri just got home and told me what happened today. The girl that said Bri could "maybe" sit next to her today told Bri once again "Sorry Briana, maybe you can sit next to me next Monday." So my awesome girl said "ok fine", walked away and asked to sit next to another girl in her class - and this new girl said yes. Bri ended up talking to her and another girl today. Bri is in very good spirits this afternoon. I let her know how proud I am of her on how she handled herself today. And I told her to just give up on sitting with this mean girl and don't approach her about it again. Bri is too good for this and doesn't need to act desperate to sit with this group of mean girls. I told Bri a real friend wouldn't do this kind of thing and that she will enjoy her time more with nicer kids. I'm thinking she gets it now."

Unfortunately, she didn't get it. Wednesday, Bri sat at the same table with those girls and they once again didn't talk to her. I felt so bad for her.

Bri's Wednesday got even tougher. She cried once when the teacher told her to stop fiddling with something. Then she cried when a little boy said she "pooped roses on her head" because of the roses on her hair bows. (One little bright spot was that another boy told the boy who said that to apologize to Briana because he made her cry. And the kid apologized. That was such a nice thing for that other kid to do.) Briana was just overdone and stressed that day about the whole situation. Everything was setting her off.

I promised Briana on Monday that I would have lunch with her on Thursday (and she was really excited). I was so glad I was going to assess the situation. In the meantime, I had e-mailed Bri's teacher to let her know what was going on. She responded and let me know that she had talked with Briana. And she let me know that the girls that Bri was trying to befriend were "sweet" but that there were sweeter girls for Bri to be friends with. I told Bri we would not be sitting at that (for lack of better phrasing) "mean girl" table on Thursday and that we were going to sit at the other table.

Thursday I met Briana's class at the cafeteria and steered Briana to the other table of girls. They were so sweet and nice. Right when I sat down, Bri's teacher came over and whispered to me "This is where Briana needs to be." Immediately, I knew she was right. These girls were more of Bri's "speed." 

On Friday, I told Briana she was not allowed to sit at the original table unless she confronted (nicely) the girl that made the promise. This had been bothering Bri so badly and I thought letting the girl know might help. But one thing was for sure, I wasn't going to let her sit there again at that table and be ignored.

This is what happened on Friday...

"Briana had a good day today. She made the decision to not confront the little girl and just sat with her new lunch friends. I think this drama is finally behind us. I'm happy that I was able to help her navigate through this a bit. Now that her eyes have been opened, I think she will be able to handle stuff like this on her own. Of course, I will be right by her side if she ever needs me again."

I realize now that the reason that Bri had befriended these girls was because she had been sitting next to them in class. They just happened to be the two girls that she was getting to know and she started sitting with them at lunch. Then the teacher did some seat rearranging in the classroom (the teachers do that every so often) and she wasn't sitting near them anymore. Bri told me that she had been sitting with these two girls at lunch for quite a while and then it seemed like they became more interested in each other and in two new girls (that Bri doesn't really talk to) and they eventually created the little foursome. Looking back, I had also let Bri bring in her rainbow loom for a couple of days (to bring to recess) and the two girls may have been gravitating to her because of that. Once Bri wasn't bringing it in anymore, they lost interest in her.

 A few of my 1st grade mama friends suggested we get together for a frozen yogurt play date on Friday afternoon. It was really good for Bri to see her 1st grade friends and for me to reconnect and chit chat with their moms...

My first grade mama friends are "in the know" when it comes to "goings on" at the school. When we started chatting about this group of girls, they enlightened me a bit about their own previous experiences with a couple of them. Let's just say, I found out it is probably better that Bri moves on to a new group of 2nd grade friends.

Briana's sweet and innocent eyes were opened pretty wide last week. She learned that not all kids are super nice and not all of them are going to like her. She is so sensitive, and sometimes I worry she will be "eaten alive" in this world. Not sure how to toughen her up. Maybe experiences like this will help with that. Fingers crossed.

As for me, I am trying to navigate how much I should step in to help Briana and how much I need to let Bri take charge of things on her own. In this case, Bri was pretty clueless about what to do. I felt I really needed to help her out and I was glad I could do so. (I have had quite a bit of experience in feeling like I don't belong - thank you 8th, 9th and 10th grade - heh.) She'll always need me I am sure, but hopefully less and less as she grows and matures.

One of my 1st grade mama friends told me, "If you think this was bad, just wait until middle school." Good Lord ~ I don't think I'll make it.

(And Bri is sick with a fever today, so she is getting a break from the drama. I think she needed a mental health break anyway!)

Sick Day

Poor Briana is sick today. She woke up with a 102 temperature this morning, so I gave her kid's Advil and put her back in bed. No school today.

Tomorrow is the school field trip. Praying she gets better before then.

My kid never gets sick. I am so not used to this. I hate seeing my baby sick. :(

Bri Fashion Week

Bri might have had a tough week at school ~ but at least she was looking good throughout it. ;)

Monday ~

Tuesday ~

Wednesday ~

Thursday ~

Friday ~

Catch A Falling Leaf

Before all of the school drama happened last week, we went over to Gramma and Papa's house for a visit on Sunday. Gramma has been dealing with some inner ear/vestibular issues for a while now, and she is (hopefully) slowly on the mend. She was feeling pretty good on Sunday, so we thought it was a great day to visit.

Their backyard was full of color and leaves were falling down everywhere. There was a beautiful breeze that day...

While Bri, my mom and I were sitting on the back deck, a leaf fell in my hair. I told Briana that I had heard it was good luck to catch a falling leaf. Well, that put Briana instantly in to gear to catch leaves. It was at least an hour of fun entertainment.

We started on the deck...

Then we moved down to the backyard...

She caught one!!!

Then we moved to the front yard. This is where Bri had the best luck...

Handing me her loot...

Posing in front of Gramma's wishing well...

She looked so grown up to me that day...

All that running made her hungry...

 It was a perfect, simple Sunday. Those really are the best, aren't they?