It's going so fast!

Two years ago...



One year ago...


Now...

Dance class, week 4

All was well in dance class this week. Rebecca barely glanced at me as she ran into her classroom! She was happy to see her two friends named Ava and the other "neetle girls" and "Miss Di-nana." When it was time for her to do her individual work for the teacher, she jumped up, did her thing, gave Miss Diana five, and plopped back down on the floor.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Donna!

It's my friend Donna's birthday today. Alas, I have been busy with my other crazy people and didn't put her card in the mail. For those of you who aren't fortunate enough to know my friend Donna, she helped put me through UAH. That is, she gave me a job at Amtec. We laughed about a lot of nonsense that made no sense to anyone but us. We kept track of when Clinique was having their bonuses on the company calendar, which was really something because Donna never wears makeup, and she's a natural blonde. I love her.

An exercise in patience

As I said, our Rebecca is full of determination. Heaven help me if I think that I should dress her if we are in a hurry, because that is when she will be the most emphatic and demonstrative about needing to do it herself. I'm trying to get her to figure out that tags go in the back, but it's still hit or miss, and she would rather sleep with the tag of her nightgown tickling her throat than to accept some help in turning it around! She's actually got the shoe thing down though. This was the first time that she needed to actually thread the strap through the buckle and fold it back to catch the velcro, but she was determined to get it right...and she did...ten minutes later!

An exercise in frustration

It looks like Rebecca is throwing a fit in a couple of these, but she wasn't. She had picked up about a dozen leaves that had fallen from the trees (I don't know what kind of tree - some sort of deciduous, but not an oak). As the leaves dried, they'd become quite leathery. Rebecca was attempting to "break" a set of leaves she'd stacked together. It wasn't working for her, but she wasn't about to give up until she'd done it!

Dance class, week 3

On Saturday morning, Rebecca was ready to attempt the third week of dance class. I had let her pick whether she wanted to wear her black leotard or her skirted pink leotard. The pink won, hands down. We reminded her that she was going to go in to her class by herself but that we'd be waiting outside. "Aw-right," she said, without any apparent concern. When we arrived, she told us that her class was in the green room and marched straight back there. We got her ballet shoes on hurriedly, because there were "neetle girls" wanting to play. Since we'd gotten there early, she had plenty of time to run around with the other 2.5 year olds in her class, whose names happen to both be Ava. They had a blast. They all ran in a circle, saying, "You can't catch me, you can't catch me." No one was trying to catch anyone, they were all just running in a circle.



You can tell just how much smaller Rebecca is than the other girls her age. All of these girls are within a month of Rebecca's age.



Miss Diana arrived and there was only a brief flicker of concern as I told her that I was going to watch her in the front while she was in class. Then she scampered into the dance room to put her star down on the floor. She did great! When she came out to have her ballet shoes exchanged for her tap shoes, she said, "Hi Mama!" and was ready to get back in the classroom for tap. This time, the noise of all the taps didn't phase her. It was HILARIOUS to see the individual world they did in tap. All the little girls sat in a line; Miss Diana would have one girl get up at a time to do the shuffle step so she could work with them individually. I was so proud - Rebecca sat perfectly in place until it was her turn, then popped up and did her thing and sat down again. I'm pleased to say that Rebecca was definitely one of the more coordinated!

At the end of the class, all of the girls get hand stamps. (Last week, there was a mild catastrophe when the stamps wore off with handwashing during the day). Everyone gets one stamp, but each week, there is a special princess stamp for the "Special Listener." Yesterday, Rebecca won the prize for being the "special listener" of the day. She was very proud to show us her stamps and to tell us about dance class. When we got in the car, she announced, "I'm HUNGRY! I need cereal and MILK!" Knock on wood, I think dance class is a success. She's already ready to go back next week.

Once again, it is Sunday afternoon, and I'm trying to figure out where the weekend went. On Friday, Ramy had his 9/80 day, and as usual, he managed to get a bazillion things accomplished. I get out before 2 on Fridays, and I try to use the extra time to run errands. I got a lot of things done in just a couple of hours before heading home. Rebecca was napping, so Ramy and I got to hang out and chat and relax. When she woke up, we headed out to Monrovia, had an Italian dinner, and then took in the alleged farmer's market. I say "alleged farmer's market," because there were no farm goods to be had. Street fair would be a more applicable description, because the street was filled with booths where you could buy everything from gourmet food products to handmade soaps to Bob Marley onesies for your baby and macramé plant holders. They also had a petting zoo, but Rebecca wasn't too interested in petting goats, so we passed on that. She'd have loved to have jumped in the air jumper things they had, but they were filled with much bigger and rowdier kids who'd have easily trampled our tiny girl. She much enjoyed getting a funnel cake, however.

On Saturday morning, Rebecca awoke at 7:00, much to our chagrin. We ate breakfast and then went to dance class (more on that in a separate post). Afterwards, we came home and Ramy watched football and then went with Rebecca and the dogs over to his mom's house to bathe the animals. We went out to dinner in Pasadena with Maddy, Paul, Rachel, and Ashley last night and then went back to their house afterwards so the girls could play. Rebecca had a marvelous time with her girlfriends. They were running and shrieking and laughing until 10:30. They were riding little ride-on cars and making camp with pillows in the hallway and playing with toys and having a great time.

I'm ashamed to admit that we skipped church this morning, but we did. Shame on us. But, oh, it was so nice to sleep in for once! Since then, we've read the newspaper, done some housework, and generally got ready for the week. I cleaned out my closet with the assistance of the best little helper in the world, who was so incredibly enthusiastic about helping me.

Week before last, we had a nice break of fall weather, but this week it was hot again. I am hoping that soon we'll get to enjoy fall weather.

I guess time flies when you're having fun. I have no idea where this week went. I have been so busy at work every day. I look up at work from doing my intakes and it is noon and time for lunch ("nunchtime!") and then I see regular clients and the next thing I know, they're calling for charts to be returned to the chart room because it's 5:00. It really feels like time is flying by on internship right now.

We briefly thought Rebecca was getting sick on Tuesday. She threw up twice here with Nanny Rebecca. Never any fever or acting like she felt bad, other than that she said her tummy hurt. Whatever it was, apparently it was mild and short-lived.

Her expressive language abilities have really stunned me this week. We found some of her flash cards and pulled them out. I had no idea she knew what so many obscure objects were (like a top, for example). The best part is that we look through them and she'll tell me what the object is, but then she often launches into a story related to the picture. For example, one of her flash cards had a picture of a jar. She looked at it and said, "Dat's a jar." Then she expounded, "Gammy has a jar in her sewing room. It has looooooooooooooots'a buttons. Gammy made my pitty dess with looooooooooooots'a buttons. Da red and 'allow and blue and pink and oh-range and puh-ple. There lots'a buttons." I showed her a card with a picture of a bucket. She said, "Dat's a bucket. I have a red bucket for the BEACH. I have shells and sand and toys. I like the beach! There's lots'a water at the beach...the ocean." Then she went into a long monologue about playing at the beach that I can't remember.

Well, my husband and daughter are both still sleeping soundly. Neither of them have to go to work today, but unfortunately, I do.

It's Happy Time!

Rebecca likes "times." Very often, she asks us what time it is and is completely satisfied once she knows. In addition to the hours of the day, however, there are also three other times of the day. "Sneepy time" is when we're getting ready for bed even if Rebecca has no intention of falling asleep anytime soon. "Nunch time" is any time it is time to eat, regardless of whether it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Most importantly though, is "happy time." Rebecca will ask us, "Is it happy time?" Basically, "happy time" is any time of day after she's fully awake and is not getting ready to go to sleep.

Happy time is often accompanied by the reading of many, many stories, the same ones of which Rebecca never tires. I wonder how many times Ramy reads the nursery rhyme book to her. She has certain nursery rhymes that she likes, and she skips through the pages and picks out the ones she wants us to read to her. If you start reading one that was not of her selection, she will cut you off in mid-sentence, say "no, no, no" and turn the page to one of the nursery rhymes of which she approves. Rebecca then joins in with a dramatic recitation of the nursery rhymes.

Every night is "happy time" in the Cisneros house!

Dance class, Take 2

Saturday was Rebecca's second week of dance classes. After last week's experience, I had no idea what to expect. All week, I'd mention it to her now and then, and sometimes she would say, "Noooooooooooo!" and other times, she was agreeable to the idea of dance class. Friday night and Saturday morning though, I was starting to feel like it was not going to happen. Since part of the problem had been that she wanted to cling to me last week, I thought that if Ramy went with us, things might be better. Fortunately, he was happy to do so, and indeed it was a good plan.

There's something about just putting the tights and leotard on that gets Rebecca into the dance mood. As soon as we put them on her at home yesterday morning, she was spinning around the living room. She was also happy to put her running shoes on with her leotard and to show us how her running shoes make her a fast runner.

We got to the dance studio, and there were several other little girls playing in the room next to Rebecca's class. After we got her ballet shoes on, Rebecca went right in and started playing with them.





She was a bit reluctant to leave that room to go to her room though, and she started to get anxious. Ramy went in with her and got her settled. Once she got involved in the stretching exercises, all was fine and he was able to slip out of the classroom. We watched on the closed-captioned monitors in the front of the studio, and she did great the whole time they did ballet. She was listening and paying attention, standing on her star, pirouetting when she was supposed to do so. When it was time for them to change into their tap shoes, I was there waiting for her when the door opened, and she grinned at me when she saw me and said, "Hi Mama!" We got her tap shoes on and she went back into the classroom alone without any problems. Just when I was thinking that the day had been a total success, I see on the monitor that Rebecca isn't participating. Then they started running in place in their tap shoes, which was a very loud noise, and Rebecca started crying. Miss Diana held her for a while and was then able to put her back down and she did fine. She finished up the class and did her shuffle-steps and got a stamp on her hand for being a good listener.



Unfortunately, this is the only pic I have of her actually in class. We get to watch on a tv screen in the front lobby!

When the class was over, we were waiting for her when she came out the door. She said, "I cried!" I said, "I know, I saw. Was it scary when there was a lot of noise?" Rebecca said, "It loud and I cwy!" I asked her if she had a good time, and she said yes, and she wanted to say goodbye to Miss Diana and to her little friends. Even in the car on the way home, she was talking about going back next week. So things were much better this week, and she definitely enjoyed herself.

Another week

I didn't post very much last week, because when I would get home from training, I was usually exhausted. I was in a training course for the Trauma Resiliency Model, which was put on by the Trauma Resource Institute. Actually, our department is the first large organization that has partnered with TRI to train people as trainers for the program, so we had both the TRI people leading it, plus our own DBH people partly running things. That made for a very intensive training experience! They purposefully have very small training groups of only 9 people, so they can keep everyone constantly engaged and active. No playing on my Blackberry or working on testing reports at the same time! It was nice to get to meet some different people in the department and network with them. I'm also such a geek that it kind of energized me to get back to my clinic and use some of these skills. Our department is doing a randomized clinical trial, comparing outcomes of adult clients with a history of trauma who are treated with meds only, cognitive behavioral therapy plus meds, or TRM plus meds (there's no getting away without meds in our department apparently!), and I'm going to be one of the clinicians involved in that study.

Ramy has had trials the last two weeks, so he's been really busy at work. I've helped him on a couple of things for closing arguments. He got handed another murder trial last week also. So it looks like he's going to be busy at work for awhile.

Rebecca had an enjoyable week, it seems. She went on trips to the park and went swimming. She has a lot of fun with Nanny Rebecca. Now that their weekly movies are over, I've been gathering info on other fun things for them to do, which is going to include a weekly trip to a farm, monthly trips to the Chino Youth Museum, more movies, etc. Nanny Rebecca has several cousins and friends with kids about Rebecca's age, so she often organizes playdates. The funniest was a couple of weeks ago. Rebecca has a friend named Julie, who happens to have a 3-year old name Addy. Of course, Julie and Addie are the names of my friend and her daughter who just moved to New York. Rebecca was very excited when Nanny Rebecca told her who they were going to meet for lunch. When she realized it wasn't the Addie and Miss Julie she knew, Rebecca exclaimed, "That not Addie!"

On Friday evening, we went out to dinner in Rancho Cucamonga. Saturday morning was Rebecca's dance class (more on that in a separate post). Then I had a lunch with the Ladies of the Knights of Columbus (wives of Knights). I like to refer to us as the Ladies of the Night. They were trying to convince me that we should go to one of the parish's Marriage Enrichment Weekends, which I wasn't buying into. As they described the weekends to me, I could just picture Ramy's face. Priceless! Spending all weekend talking about feelings in groups of other people would make him break out into hives. We were making plans for the Fall Festival coming up in a few weeks, as well as for the holiday party and a special even coming up in January. I got to take a nap Saturday afternoon, while Ramy watched football. UCLA played Tennessee yesterday. In theory, I suppose we could have been a house divided about that game, but I have absolutely no interest in either team, so it affected me not a bit. He certainly seemed to enjoy an afternoon of football though, and Rebecca would mimic his cheers. She would also announce to me, "He made a touchdown!" Clearly, my 2-year old already knows (and cares!) more about football that I do. We ordered in last night and hung out at home. Yesterday, I tackled laundry and grocery shopping and that kind of thing.

Grandparents Day

Yeah, I totally forgot about Grandparents' Day. I did nothing for any of Rebecca's grandparents (neither did Ramy!). Oops.

But let there be no doubt that we appreciate grandparents. I fondly remember how there was nothing in the world that I could do wrong, in the eyes of my Granny. When I got a spiral perm (oh, the 80s), she thought it was sweet. Anything I did came with, "Bless her little heart." I almost expect to hear those same words out of my mother's mouth when she talks about Rebecca. Heaven knows that Rebecca adores her Grammy. Grammy can be worked into almost any conversation. On Friday night, Rebecca was quite sleepy coming home from dinner and yet she wanted to talk. She told me something or other about Grammy, and then she said, "Grammy at her house. In Tiss-see. She wear her nightgown." Not sure where that came from, but it's sweet to see that Rebecca has a clear picture in her mind of who and where Grammy is.

Grandmothers are moms with lots of frosting. ~Author Unknown

What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies. ~Rudolph Giuliani

Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric. ~Pam Brown

It is as grandmothers that our mothers come into the fullness of their grace. ~Christopher Morley

Grandmothers are just antique little girls. ~Author Unknown

Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild. ~Welsh Proverb

A child needs a grandparent, anybody's grandparent, to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world. ~Charles and Ann Morse

Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being. ~Margaret Mead

If nothing is going well, call your grandmother. ~Italian Proverb

Grandmother-grandchild relationships are simple. Grandmas are short on criticism and long on love. ~Author Unknown

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. ~Alex Haley

Magic Fruit and Veggie Cupcakes

I pulled this recipe out of the last Food Network magazine and just got around to making them today. Rebecca gave them a thumbs up! She ate 4 mini-muffins. They're good for cleaning out the pantry and crisper, and you can substitute for most of the ingredients.

This is the magazine recipe (my changes)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp. soy flour (I just did another Tbsp. of wheat flour)
2 Tbsp. wheat germ
1/2 cup bran flakes cereal or old-fashioned oats (or a combination - I did 1/2 cup whole grain oats and 1/2 cup rolled oats)
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar, plus more for topping
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. whole milk (I did 1/3 cup heavy cream and 1/3 c. plus 1 Tbsp. skim milk)
3/4 cup grated or finely chopped vegetables (carrots, zucchini, and/or spinach - I did all zucchini)
3/4 cup grated or finely chopped fresh or dried fruit (apples, pears, pineapple, and/or raisins) (I did 1/4 cup applesauce, 1/4 cup grated pears, and 1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 24-cup mini muffin pan with paper liners or mist with cooking spray.

Whisk the flours, wheat germ, bran flakes/oats, flax seeds, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Beat the egg and brown sugar in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the olive oil, vanilla, milk, vegetables, and fruit and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling each cup about three-quarters of the way. Sprinkle the tops with brown sugar if desired (I desired). Bake for 20-24 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.

Hands

Is there anything a more shining example of the exquisite detail of the human body than baby hands? I love looking at Rebecca's hands. They're so expressive when she's awake, so busy when she's exploring the world, and look like a little sculpture an artist created when they're finally still when she sleeps.

It's a busy week here. I'm in a training course all week, learning the Trauma Resiliency Model. I'm so glad I took this course, because it's definitely something I will be employing with a lot of my current clients. It's also great, because it is something I can use whether I've got a long-term client that I see for many months or years or whether I'm going to only encounter them for a few minutes in a crisis intervention or triage scenario. I had kind of hoped that being in training all week would be a bit more relaxing, but no such luck with this training! We're on our feet or interacting or practicing the skills constantly. We do get out early each day though, so that's a plus!

We've noticed that Rebecca has gotten taller. I had saved a bunch of things from last fall, hoping she'd be able to wear them this fall. For awhile in the summer, I thought she would still be wearing 12-18s for length, but nope! Recent growth spurt is going to put her in 18-24s for length. Luckily, a lot of things start putting adjustable waists in at that size, so we can cinch them up as tight as possible instead of having to alter as many things.

Last night, Rebecca was not eager to fall asleep. Ramy was already in dreamland, but Rebecca and I were just chilling and talking. She started listing all the people she loves and who love her. It was so sweet, especially because as we listed them, she would insert information about each one of them. It went like this.

Rebecca: I nov Gammy.
Me: Grammy loves Rebecca too.
Rebecca: Gammy in Tissee with Spakespeer. I nov Spakespeeer too.
Me: I bet Shakespeare misses you and wishes you'd come play with him.
Rebecca: (giggle) Crazy Spakespeer. I nov Aunt Mah-get too. Aunt Mah-get no feel good.
Me: Aunt Margaret loves you too, and she is feeling better.
Rebecca: Ohhhhhh. Aunt Mimi sick too.
Me: Yeah, Aunt Mimi's sick, but she's working hard to feel better.
Rebecca: I nov Aunt Mimi too. I nov Aunt Ben-da too. And Hi-Synny [Paddington and Sydney] too.

And on it went until Rebecca started finally getting sleepy.

Labor Day

I had this idea that having a 3-day weekend would somehow allow me to get vast amounts of things done that are impossible to do on a mere two-day weekend. Ramy's day off was Friday, and he spent it quite productively, getting our two dogs groomed and cutting down a tree in our backyard. In comparison, I got my haircut on Friday. However, on Friday night, Ramy and I got to go out on a date! Woo hoo! Rebecca went to visit Aunt Myrna and Jessica (with whom Rebecca believes she wants to go to school), so Ramy and I went to eat Mexican at a great hole in the wall place in Pomona. Then we went to see the movie Julie and Julia. I give it two thumbs up for anyone who likes cooking. Meryl Streep was a wonderful Julia Child.

On Saturday, we essentially goofed off at home after coming home from the fateful dance lesson. In the afternoon, I went to Brea Mall to do a price adjustment on some things I had bought last weekend at Janie and Jack (knowing they were going to be marked down this past week). Meanwhile, Ramy was cleaning up the brush from the tree he'd cut down the day before. Do you notice a pattern here? He did get to watch UCLA football (and some UT also, I think). Rebecca sat with him and cheered and grunted appropriately.

Yesterday, we went to mass and to breakfast at Mimi's. We watched some television and I read cookbooks and did massive amounts of laundry. We all took a nice nap. In the afternoon, we went to Target and Cost Plus World Market and Costco. On a whim, we stopped in at the Verizon store to see when we were eligible for upgrades, because I'd been wanting a Blackberry. Although I wasn't eligible until March, they switched my eligibility with Ramy's (who didn't really want a new phone) so that I could get one now. I got a cool smartphone! I haven't played with it too much yet, but I'm excited to get to play with it this week while I'm in training!



Today, I've been laboring on Labor Day. I weeded out things from Rebecca's closet that are too springy. Even though we'll continue to have hot weather for at least another month, I can't stand looking at mermaid themes when it is technically fall, even if it is 100 degrees out. So I've begun the closet changeout process. I also went through some of the things she had last year that I wondered if might still fit this year. Definitely not on any of the pants, because they're all too short (just barely). I think Rebecca has taken a growth spurt lately, because she seems very tall. Ramy and Rebecca went to visit his dad and his mom this morning. He was craving some weird fish dish called escabeche. His mom was nice enough to make it for him today, but unfortunately, she sent him home with it, which made my kitchen smell a bit like vinegar! We also went out to lunch with our buddy Vincent.

So it was a fun and relaxing weekend, but it's back to the rat race tomorrow. I'll be in a special training all this week.

Dance class

Since Rebecca loves music and dancing so much, I had been eager for her to be able to take dance classes. Most studios don't start dance classes until age 3. However, I saw that one of the local studios has an "Intro to Dance" class for 2.5-3.5 year olds. I had talked about it to Rebecca, and she seemed interested, so I signed her up. I bought the tiniest leotard I could find, and even it was long on her. The smallest dance tights (a size 1-3) they make came up to her armpits and still bagged at the ankles. Size 6 ballet shoes and size 7 tap shoes. Everything so cute.

I'd been talking it up to her, and she was excited about "my dance class...with other neetle girls and all 'da peoples." She had even told me that she didn't want me to go with her (although she consented to allowing me to drive her). I had high hopes!

Rebecca and I went to her first dance class today. Let's just say that the idea was a little better than the reality! They started off with having the moms sit at the side of the room while the kids and teacher did stretches in the middle. Rebecca and two other of the youngest girls stayed firmly attached to us moms. Rebecca was not going to venture into the center of the room. I thought things were going to be better when we changed into the tap shoes. Rebecca liked standing next to me and doing shuffle-step moves and reeeeaaaallllllyyyy liked how cool her taps sounded on the wood floor. Then they kicked all the moms out. We could watch what was going on in the room from big tv monitors in the waiting area. Rebecca planted herself with one teacher and whispered, "Mama...Daddy...Mama...Daddy." She never got out of the teacher's arms. She wasn't crying and she did ultimately kind of wave her arms around like the kids on the floor. One other 2.5 year old (who still looked like a giant next to Rebecca) cried the whole rest of the class after her mom left.

So it wasn't exactly a rousing success. When we were on our way home, Rebecca said, "No more dance cass!" However, she was happy to show Daddy her tap shoes when we were at home. I mentioned dance class again later in the morning and said we'd try it again next week, and she was agreeable. So we'll see! Since we've paid for the whole month, I figure we'll see how it goes and if she'll acclimate and enjoy it. If not, then she may have had the shortest dance career ever.

It's all worth it

Today was probably the highlight of my professional life, thus far. My days at the Perinatal clinic are the busiest and most emotionally draining of any of my days. I'm the only person there who provides mental health services - all their other people are drug and alcohol counselors. Because 80% of the clients are dual diagnosis (which means they have co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses and drug/alcohol addictions), I'm a hot commodity. The only people I see are the ones who REALLY need help. I lead a co-occurring group therapy group but individually do mostly crisis interventions and short-term patch-em-up-and-get-them-to-someone-who-can-see-them-long-term work. I have only two clients that I see on a weekly basis, because they are in such tenuous positions that they really need a lot of help.

This morning, the clinic head came into my group and warned me that there was a big issue with one of my clients and that she had her in her office until I got out of group and that I'd need to clear my schedule for the rest of the morning. This is a client whose history is full of the stuff nightmares are made of and who has a long list of diagnoses. So I fully expected that I was about to have to have her involuntarily admitted. Instead, I found out that she had made the huge decision to get out of her environment. She'd finally absorbed a lot of what we'd been working on in therapy the last two months and was willing to act on it. I spent the rest of the morning working with her on establishing a plan for her safety, helping her figure out her options and making connections with family she hasn't talked to in years and seeing if they were willing to help her, getting her connected with mental health and addiction services in her new place, and prepping her for getting her stuff. Meanwhile, the clinic director had marshalled our staff to help this girl get her stuff and her kids and had the sherriff's department accompany her to get her stuff. She was on a bus and headed to her new life just after lunch. The change in this girl over a 2-month period absolutely blows my mind.

As if that weren't enough, I found out later that I'd missed a really great group in the afternoon. I guess the girls were talking about finding hope and were asked to tell what gave them hope. So my other regular client said that I gave her hope, because I was the first person in her life who acted like she was a person and not "just an addict or a whacko or a f---up." This is a girl who has probably the worst history I've ever heard, and after hearing it and looking at her symptoms and making her diagnosis, I was shocked anyone could come out of what she'd come out of and *only* have the short list of diagnoses she has.

So yeah, it was a day that stands out amongst good days. It definitely reminded me why community mental health is a good place to practice psychology. The cases are so complex and the illnesses are so severe, but when there are successes, they are awesome ones!

To top it all off, then I came home to the cutest face in the whole world. She jumped out of the kitchen to "scare" me and then doubled over laughing.



Scaring us is one of her new favorite things to do. She makes this position with her hands and calls them her scary hands. It's hilarious, because it just looks like she's making a c shape with her hands, but she thinks it is scary to us. It causes her all kinds of delight!

Opinions

There's no doubt that our Rebecca has strong opinions. She has shown distinct preferences for clothes since she was a year old. This summer, she has wanted to wear "a piddy dess" [a pretty dress] every day, despite me wanting to occasionally put one of her cute shorts or capri outfits on her. When we go into stores, she shows me things she likes. If she doesn't like something, she isn't afraid to say it.

This past weekend when Grammy was here, we did a lot of shopping. (I'm sure this news comes as a surprise to no one). On Saturday, even though Rebecca was with us, she fell asleep in her stroller and slept throughout most of the clothes selection process.

Baby Gap has a line out that is kind of Russian-themed and has lots of bold colors - red, dark blue, bright teal, etc. Needless to say, Rebecca now has several outfits from that line. One of the things we ended up getting was this vest:



Yes, that's faux fur around the edge of the corduroy vest. It is so cute!

Later Saturday evening, we were pulling things we'd bought out of bags to determine what needed to be altered, what hairbows we needed to buy, etc. Rebecca ooh'd and aaah'd over things, held things up to her chest, and tried to put various pieces on, despite the fact that they are for cold weather and it was 105° outside. So I showed her the vest. She got this expression on her face:



Rebecca looked at the vest quite disapprovingly. Then she said, "'Dat's scary." She touched it gingerly then said with disdain, "'Dat's weird....put it back in 'da bag!" The next day, we showed it to her again. She again scowled at it and said, "'Dat is weird!"

The vest is going back to Baby Gap this weekend.

We're "seef"

Rebecca continues to enjoy her "fashnight." We've had to go outside at night so she can utilize it.

Grammy went back to Tennessee yesterday and arrived home safely. Rebecca was briefly tearful when we left her at home yesterday morning and she knew Grammy was leaving, but her tears were over quickly and she went about her day.

I've had several people email me to ask whether we are near any of the fires. As Rebecca says, "we're seef [safe]." The Station fire is about 15 miles away from us, which seems quite close in miles, but the reality is that we're not in any danger. The fire in Yucaipa is about 40 miles away from us. The air quality here is awful! You can see a red haze in the air, and the clouds have a red/brown tinge. In Upland yesterday, there was a definite smoke smell in the air. The sunsets are quite beautiful though! Please keep the people whose homes are in danger, the fire crews and other emergency personnel who are working at the blazes, and the people who have been evacuated in your prayers. Several of my colleagues are being sent to Yucaipa today as crisis responders.

I'll do a longer update tonight hopefully.