The Weekly Review: Week 44

Weekly Kitties

Umm. We had a weekly kitty health event requiring a vet trip and medicating all the kitties in the household. I promise you don't want more details than that. It was interesting to note that while 3 out of 4 kitties were unusually well behaved while taking their medicine (a pill) the fourth was extremely challenging.

Attempt 1: I popped the pill in Sophie's mouth and she spit it back out before I managed to clamp her mouth shut.

Attempt 2: I picked up the now sticky pill and popped it back in her mouth. I got her mouth clamped shut and got scratched several times while she tried to push my arms away. I was about to celebrate success when I looked down and saw the pill sitting by her side. She had managed to spit the thing out again.

Attempt 3: I wrapped her in my pajama bottoms, which were handy, to try to keep her from clawing me up any further and stuck the pill back in again. Her sister came over to groom her while she growled at me with her mouth clamped shut. I waited and waited and waited for the swallow. It wasn't until I unwrapped her and was about to let her go (preparing for a fourth attempt) that I finally saw her swallow. Success.

My husband totally gets to give her the follow up pill in two weeks. I'll do the other three, but he gets Sophie.

Ava this Week

Ava has discovered that her room is a place to play. On one hand, this is a wonderful development. When she awakens an hour earlier than everyone else in the household, she can now entertain herself rather happily in her room. On the other hand, it is messing with her nap/bedtime routine.

Before this new discovery, you could put her in bed, cover her just the right way with two blankets, hand her something to snuggle, sing a song, and never hear another peep. She was asleep in minutes. Now, as soon as I leave the room she's back up. She plays for 10-15 minutes and then opens her door and creeps down the stairs to share something that seems very important to her.

The first time, she had found a thread on the chair in her room. (Really, a thread?) The second time, she had bumped her ankle and felt I needed to know. The third time she was cold. I think you get the idea. Now if I want her to go to sleep at nap time I have to sit in her room to keep her in bed long enough for the sleep to catch her. At bedtime, we're putting her bed multiple times.

I'm hoping the problem will solve itself once the shiny newness of independent play in her room wears off.

The Weekly Michael

Interesting story about Michael. This past weekend, Ava spent a day and a half with her grandparents leaving Michael here with us for some one-on-one time. He was an angel. He was thoughtful and polite. He was fun to play with and also spent long periods of time playing independently. As soon as Ava came home he went back to the somewhat wild, slightly disobedient, attention-seeking behavior. I'm not sure what to think. He likes his sister. They get along and play together amazingly well. Why would he behave worse with us when his sister is home?

Ava's Weekly Home Therapy Focus

This has not been a productive at-home therapy week. First Ava spent a night with her grandparents and then came home late the next night. Then we were getting ready for an unexpected trip out of town and the preparation and travel kept us from doing our usual nightly speech sessions. It's ok. We'll get back to it next week and perhaps the break will have done some good.

Weekly Blog Possibility

It's been a while since I've done anything new with the blog design. I'm considering making a few changes. It'll be a while before anything happens. I'm going to do some thinking, some researching, some playing around, and some more thinking before I actually change anything. But it is fun to think about.