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Amy's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 4/19/02 -------------------- 1/21/02 12/30/01 11/12/01 9/7/01 9/1/01 8/18/01 7/7/01 6/12/01 5/3/01 4/10/01 3/12/01 2/3/01 1/4/01 1/3/01 12/30/00 12/6/00 11/28/00 11/4/00 10/31/00 10/25/00 10/11/00 10/5/00 9/28/00 9/19/00 9/15/00 9/7/00 8/23/00 8/17/00 8/9/00 8/4/00 7/20/00 7/12/00 7/6/00 6/22/00 6/14/00 6/8/00 5/24/00 5/16/00 5/15/00 5/14/00 5/13/00 5/12/00 5/9/00 4/28/00 4/13/00 4/6/00 3/30/00 3/24/00 3/16/00 3/9/00 2/29/00 2/4/00 -------------------- Amy's Introduction

September 7, 2001

Sam and I went to the Sternwheeler festival today, and he completely enjoyed himself. There were tons of boats on the river (of course) and thousands of people milling around. There really wasn’t anything for a toddler to do, but he was in love with the activity of the place.

Prior to this, Kenny brought him to my office, and that is where Sam REALLY had fun. I let him play in the pre-school classrooms, and he threatened to throw a tantrum when he had to leave. He was in heaven in the therapy room – where there are TONS of the greatest interactive toys in world. He also got to meet a couple of my closest buddies who are students in the school program. Neither of them could speak, although one is chronologically 6 and the other 9 – and neither of them can do much voluntary movement with their bodies, but they both smiled GREAT BIG when Sam spoke to them. Sam kept asking me (after we left the room) why they couldn’t talk, and why their legs and arms didn’t work. It was a tough conversation, but I did my best, and he seemed satisfied with my explanations. I was afraid he would be upset by their obvious disabilities, because Sam is such an emotionally sensitive child. He really shares the grief of others. But he did fine, and was really upbeat about the whole experience, and talked all the way home about his “new friends.”

Sam’s behavior really surprised me for the entire visit to my office. My supervisor, who is the Assistant Superintendent, called for Sam excitedly when she saw him and held out her arms and said, “Run to me Sam!” The surprise was that, although he had never seen her before, he DID run to her and jumped right into her arms! What he did next, though, was hilarious.

But first, let me explain that she is a great breastfeeding advocate, and nursed her own son. Most of my close friend/coworkers know that I nursing a toddler, and they give me tons of half-joking grief about it.

So now, back to the story… He jumped into her arms, settled right in, and shoved his hand down her shirt! He does that with me ALL the time. It’s his security blanket of sorts. It has become such a habit for him that he does it with other family members too. But today was the first time that he did it to a stranger. I know he didn’t even realize what he was doing, and she handled it great by just gently re-directing his hand. I thought we would never stop laughing, and I know I will NEVER hear the end of it at work!

Things are kind of calm right now. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Kenny and Sam – the three of us together. As much as I am opposed to hindering his (Kenny's) ability to “move on,” it does seem to help things in general. There is absolutely no chance in a billion years that we (I) would ever reconcile, but I do think it is important for Sam to maintain a sense of “family.” It's usually only an hour or two at the most, but Sam seems to really enjoy himself, and Kenny seems much less paranoid after he gets to feeling like he actually knows a little of what is going on in my boring life (so he doesn't have to imagine and dream up ridiculous untrue exciting stuff). Yuck. Let's change the subject.

My youngest brother has been spending a lot of time with us lately, and I couldn't be happier about that. Sam and I are taking my nephews to spend some time with Josh (my brother) this weekend. He lives in the boondocks with a herd of dogs, and it is the perfect, relaxing get-a-way. I imagine we'll head that way tomorrow right after the Buckeyes win.

:-)

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