Mom=Genius

I am a super-genius, and here is why:

When we transitioned into school the past fall, Princess completely came unraveled after school. She'd pace around the kitchen driving me nutso for a half-hour, and follow it up by picking fights for the rest of the evening. I guessed it was too much unstructured time, so I bought some table activities (playdoh, lite brite, barrel of monkeys, etc.) that were only for me to give. After the half-hour pacing session, I sat her at the table (because I was nearby) and switched out activities every fifteen minutes. We worked up to choices, then finally to (relatively) free choice by the end of October.

It was with this in mind that I approached the first week of summer. I bought a small file box and spent an unspeakable amount of time writing ideas on color-coded cards (outside, writing, art, imaginative -oh! the horror!). I set the box on the counter and told Princess, "you can use one whenever you want," which is true, but I also send her to it when I see her pacing, when her voice gets loud and brassy, or when her personality changes after not getting something she wants (like one gumdrop. For an example that may or may not have occurred five minutes ago).

This was such a brilliant idea. And, like most of my brilliant ideas, I had no idea whatsoever how fabulous it was going to be.

See, that's the problem. Well, maybe not THE problem. Anyway. I never, ever, never can even take a stab at how well something will work until I try it. I have had the most dismal failures you can possibly imagine from the most intricate planning you can imagine. And wild successes that left me shaking my head saying, "was that all? Why didn't I do that before? What the heck took me so long to come up with that?

I'm haunted at night by a horrible fear that complete healing will be a result of something like breathing out of one nostril at a time instead of two. All this work? For all these years? And it was just a nostril?

But then, I guess I can be thankful for nostril-induced progress, too.