The week started with Aunt Beth’s all day birthday celebration and moved on from that. Lots of emotions this week as we get ready for the start of school next week.
We had a video conference with Ally’s new school counselor on Thursday and she asked Ally how her summer was on a scale of 1-10. Ally gave it a 5. Honestly, that sounds about right. Ally told her the best part of summer was the time she spent with friends; with weekly “running club” or volleyball nights being the highlight. Organizing these for Ally and her friends is a lot of work. Arranging all these social gatherings is tough. But hearing how good it is for Ally and how much fun she has does make it worth the effort.
In pictures:
If you zoom in Ally Becky and I are standing in front of the lighthouse. This is from Sunday.
Monday Becky took Ally to Guatemala Girls group it was at Gabi’s house. Ally is standing along the fence. She came home soaking went so she must have swum a little!
Later on Monday, Labor Day I helped host another Volleyball gathering. As you can see there was not a lot of volleyball playing. And as is typical for this age the girls and boys stay pretty separate.
But they all humored me for a picture. So many 8th graders! And a couple younger siblings. Ally is in the center in the pink shirt.
Tuesday “running club” was at Harvard this week. The Sunset was so pretty. That’s Ally in the bright blue shirt. She is still not running because of her ankle. But she played “ultimate football” with the group and was a captain.
Ally is 3rd from the left, making a move to catch the ball. She scored!!! Which was great for her team because the dad who was in charge had declared before the game that if Ally or Cata or Nik scored it was worth 2 extra points because they were the shortest. Cata was really annoyed at being called short. She is about 3” taller than Ally. Nick is a younger brother (of Erik) and about 1” shorter than Ally. Cata pointed out that Ally was short and injured! So it was agreed if Ally scored it would be worth 3 points!
Ally told me afterwards she was fine with it. She thought Cata’s indignation was pretty funny.
Wednesday Ally went to lunch at Daniela’s house and was supposed to start back at gymnastics practice, but as it turns out she is still not ready to go. So she took a long nap and felt better.
I hosted a Zoom for 31 families in Ally’s 8th grade class. I was pretty excited that 31 of 41 total families attended. We met to talk about how to provide social connections for our 8th graders. School is starting all remote and will likely stay that way. We would like to create social opportunities both in person and virtual, so that all students can see each other and we can facilitate a positive 8th grade year.
Thursday was rainy and dreary. Running club was canceled but the rain did not stop Ally, Maya, Olive and Alma from hanging out on our back porch. They huddled under our patio umbrella in the rain! They were out there for over 2 hours giggling and laughing. It was really great to hear.
Ally and I talked and agreed to take a couple more weeks away from gymnastics to focus on getting her ankle better and feeling well for the start of school.
This week we finished up the final touches on the remote learning area and Ally started hanging out on the futon.
Cloey asleep on the couch close to Becky while she works. I have no idea how are pets will deal when the pandemic ends and we are away more than we are home.
Friday Beth came over for fajitas and margaritas.
I found Ally on the 3rd floor with her galaxy light on.
Aunt Beth demonstrated the stars
Hilarity ensued when Cloey took the cat toy and pranced around the room in a big circle. Ally was so happy and silly.
Mutual love.
After Beth left Ally and Becky started watching Stranger Things. Ally was thrilled to have Cloey snuggle.
Saturday. The last day of the last week of Summer. Ally and I tried something new, we brought Daisy in the car with us on the way to physical therapy. Turns out Daisy is much better in the car that Cloey.
Ally wasn’t feeling well enough to go inside to Physical Therapy so we rescheduled for a Telehealth next week. But on the way home we went thru the drive thru at McDonalds and Daisy was so good. The fries were good too!
Ally spent the afternoon rewatching Riverdale. Then she and Becky played Minecraft for a few hours. But the best part of the day for Ally was in the evening.
Our Fab Fit Fun box came, a quarterly subscription of surprise things. This time there were lots of neat things; a purse backpack Ally loved, essential oils, a marble face wand, shower scrub, room air spray, a cool water bottle, a necklace and some other stuff!
We hosted an outdoor movie night! Love and Maya came over around 8 pm and the girls watched Miracle. (Olive is a fanatical hockey player). Becky and I watched Ford v Ferrari in the living room. Guessing by the amount of giggles and squeals we do not think the girls watched much of the movie. But they had fun and we hope to do this more now that it’s getting dark earlier.
Daisy watched Ally from the 2nd floor bathroom. Those are her eyes viable in the window. She was sitting on the sill staring down at Ally on the porch below.
Ally’s friends took this picture of Ally while they tried to decide on a movie.
The best part of my day and maybe even my week was after the movie. It was a chilly night, 60 degrees which is why the girls are wrapped in blankets. We bought and electric porch heater we will set up next time. But it was late, around 11pm when the girls left and Ally came inside. Instead of heading upstairs she came over and sat on my lap. Eventually she moved a little off my lap but still kept her legs draped over mine. She just wanted to hang out for a bit. We played on our phones and chatted a bit. She showed me TikToks they made and we laughed at their silly antics. Ally was content and happy and wanted to share that feeling with us, with me.
It has been a very challenging Summer and the upcoming school year brings more challenges. Becky commented earlier in the evening that 13 is hard, hard to be 13 and hard to parent 13. It’s such a paradox of Ally not wanting us around yet still needing us and wanting us. Add to the usual 13 year old parent-child struggles the mental health issues and the past 26 weeks (14 Coronacation + 12 Vacation) have been hard work. Very hard work for all of us.
But last night. Sitting close next to each other for 45 and sharing space and experience and positive energy. That was not hard. It was love and appreciation and reward for so much hard work.
We have a some fun planned for the last few days of summer and school this week is half days only. We still don’t know the schedule for school. But we are as ready as we can be.
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