becauseiamnotanelephant

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

Day off

Hannah had the day off today, like every Friday. It's just too cold to go anywhere that doesn't involve driving, so we spent the morning at home. Once I found out my parents weren't going to be able to visit, I pleaded with Hannah to go out to do a few things with me out of the house. I finally convinced her to go on some adventures by showing her on google maps where we were going (which is when I realized I was caught by the google car!) (and was subsequently caught having a gazillion tabs open by Erica).

We stopped at the tropical fish store, which is definitely worth a trip - if I were a teacher I would see if I could take a class trip here. It's incredible. And they let Hannah feed the fish in the koi pond. Next we went to Stew Leonards, "the robot supermarket" as I sold it to her. She loved all the animatronics, and we picked up a few snacks to have when our neighbor came over for a playdate later in the afternoon (a last minute idea that worked perfectly). I asked her about 40 times if she had to go to the bathroom before we went home, and of course she only decided it was an emergency once I was stuck in traffic. I rerouted to Trader Joes for a bathroom stop. Once she realized where we were (our special pre-party snack supermarket), we walked around and picked up a few more snacks. She was having her own private dance party the whole time we were there. It was pretty incredible, and no one batted an eye??!

Back at home, I couldn't convince her to do a short sledding trip with me, so we baked some zucchini bread until our neighbor came over for an hour of fun.

Once Graham came home, I convinced him (I should go into sales with all this convincing I need to do, apparently) to drive to Nutley to try a new restaurant. It was a good family owned pizzeria, and then we had fun across the street at the town thrift store - Hannah got a piece of Frozen artwork for her room.

A great day off, after all.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

mind blowing

We finished the recent series we were watching, Bad Sisters, and are finally able to jump back on the Severance bandwagon. I convinced Graham to rewatch all the old episodes with me again, and it has definitely been worth it so far. I can't say I remember more than a few elements of the first season, but I wanted to remind myself and be ready for some closure and more information about this crazy show.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

unplanned party

Hannah was finally back at school after many days off. After school I asked her if she wanted to go ice skating - there was a public skating session before her dance class. She pushed back but finally gave in, and as we were pulling into the parking lot, two friends from school also drove in! These are Hannah's two friends from swim class and the three of them had a great time "skating". Later that evening I showed Hannah another skating video, this time a pair routine. Absolutely mesmerized. The winter olympics can't come soon enough!

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

parent teacher conferences

We had our first ever parent teacher conferences today. It was underwhelming, but mostly because we know Hannah so well. We still can't really get a sense of what she is really learning at school, but she is social, a leader, very observant, and very focused. The teachers said they joke that she is the third teacher in the room and sometimes they have to ask her to tone it down.

The highlight of the morning was that because of the conferences all day, Hannah had off from school. And we needed someone to watch her while we were at the meeting with her teachers. I ended up coordinating with another family that lives around the block and we were able to drop Hannah off for 30 minutes to play with her friend Henry. Henry's mom texted me early in the morning that I could drop Hannah off at any point - Henry was so excited she was coming over. He told his mom he wanted to look handsome and so he put on a tie. I am so glad this is one of the families from her school that I really like and they live nearby - they actually live across the street from our neighborhood elementary school, so if we chose to go there, we'll be able to spend the elementary school years together. The kid is hysterical (he is the same kid that told his mom that some people celebrate Christmas, and some celebrate Harmonica).

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

baking experiment

The baking/cooking goal for this month was to make rainbow cookies. I found a recipe online that looked good and this weekend I set to work. Natural food coloring doesn't present as well, but the flavor was spot on! Hannah and I distributed the cookies to several classmates because these were too dangerous to have at home.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

winter storm alert

The public agencies have really taken a liking to calling out weather alerts. Today half the businesses closed early or didn't even open due to the threat of the winter storm. Finally around 4 PM it started to actually snow, and it didn't even start to accumulate for another hour at least. I managed to get Hannah out of the house for a walk before the snow and then we had fun at home for the rest of the day. Graham and I waited until after most of the snow fell to shovel at 9:30PM. Turned out to be a great idea - the ground was still a little warm from earlier in the day and it was super easy shoveling despite a few inches of accumulation. Graham finally put the snow blower to use and he cleared the sidewalk and our neighbor's sidewalks while I worked on the driveway. The temperature was going to drop all night so it was much easier shoveling than if we waited until tomorrow.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

ice skating queen

We have several ice skating performances in our kitchen - I have listened to the Frozen 2 soundtrack on repeat for about 4 days since we've been sick - and Hannah is very emotionally connected to the music when she skates. Most impressively (in my mind) is that she doesn't sing along or mouth any of the words while she is performing.

Now that she's finally feeling better, Graham took her to the ice rink to break up the long day at home. She actually was able to skate on her own for a few seconds, so we'll have to make sure to go back a few more times soon so that it can really click!

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

recovery day

Today we had another day at home to recover. Graham brought home all his sister's old Barbies for Hannah to play with, and I dug up old view masters, which Hannah is now old enough to manipulate and to recognize different characters and stories (but not old enough to realize the pictures repeat themselves once the cards make a full rotation...?) These are long days at home but since we both have some energy back, they go a lot faster.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

verdict

Graham took Hannah to the doctor this morning.

She's got the flu (I assume that's what I've got, too) and an ear infection.

I'm lucky to be able to get so much sleep but I'm ready to get back to my routine.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

Nyquil

I try to resist taking Nyquil, but I was so out of it yesterday that I took some while putting Hannah to bed and passed out with her at 7:30 PM. We were both still out at 8 AM the next morning - she was doing well enough to go to school, and I pulled myself together enough to join Graham on a tour at a potential new Pre-K for Hannah for next year. He wants to see a few more places before committing, but I think we're both ready to move on from her current school. We just don't know what she is learning, and her frequent resistance to going to school makes us think that it's not the best fit.

Of course Hannah started to get a fever after school so we missed dance class and spent the rest of the day entertaining ourselves.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

sleep

Went to bed at 9:30 last night. Got up at 8:30. It's going to be a shitty day. At least Graham took the morning shift and the afterschool pick up. I'm hiding in my car during gymnsatics and will have to figure out how to spend the last 6 hours before bedtime...

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

the girls are sick

Hannah was sick this weekend and had another rough night last night so I was planning to keep her home today. This was confirmed when we got a note from the class parents and the school that all Montclair schools were to be closed today because of a threat to the school district that was not publically shared (turns out it was a specific threat at a specific school made by a teacher that was suspended and he was caught). Hannah's school was open, but no chance in risking it especially when we weren't planning to send her anyway. Turns out two other kids in her class were sick with fevers all weekend, too, so it was definitely a virus that was shared with friends.

Despite my best efforts, Hannah's nightly demands for snuggles have had their ill-effect and now I'm getting whatever she had. Days like these are rough, when I don't feel good and she doesn't feel good but refuses to lay down. She ended up painting many many many pictures and I deep cleaned the kitchen cabinets. A good and productive way to pass the time.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

pull up

My ulterior motive to getting Hannah the indoor swing was because the apparatus hangs from a pull up bar, which is now installed in our kitchen! I can't do it from hanging, but I was surprised to learn that I can almost do a pull up! Glad to have this at home again - it's been since 2006 that I last had one where I lived. The threat of aging that happens at 44 as written about in the NY Times is on my mind for 2025, so doing what I can to minimize what the future holds.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

Indoor playground

It might not be the safest toy we have at home, but I got Hannah an indoor swing/hanging bar for Hanukkah. It was delayed and finally arrived the other day and Graham installed it today despite Hannah having a fever and being totally out of it (she took a 2 hour nap!). She is totally excited about it and will have lots of time to practice swinging and flipping over the winter.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

too cold, but not really

Too cold for a NYC day today, so we had a lazy morning at home and finally I was able to get Hannah outside after lunch. When we realized it was actually not that cold! I took her to the public skate session at Montclair State University to try our legs at ice skating again. Weekday public skate is so much better than weekend sessions! There were at most 8 people on the rink with us. We spent almost an hour there and with many breaks, she did start to get the feel of gliding the skates on the ice. She is 1000% dependent on the push assistant, but at least she is getting more comfortable moving on the ice. There are public skating sessions every day after school so we might be able to make some real progress this winter! We were even able to squeeze in a walk afterwards to get some ice cream - it was so nice to be back walking outside after these last few frigid days.

Graham's aunt came by afterwards to watch Hannah before Graham got home from work and I went to Manhattan for my old firm's holiday party. It was nice to see all the familiar faces and honestly, the only person who was weird to talk to was my old boss - not sure what is going on, but he made me feel like he is doing me a favor by giving me work - honestly, I see it as a mutual benefit. I'll need to do more digging.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

baking adventure with Anna

After school we made some rugelach for my dad's birthday. I've never made them before, and also most recipes are not dairy free, so we're attempting a double baking challenge. And there was no raspberry jam at the supermarket, so another hiccup to overcome.

Hannah is back in a dress-up mode, so Anna helped me today, with some unicorn hair. Let's just hope none got in the cookies.

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

real work

Today real work started at work. Actually doing a technical task. Honestly the focus is the hardest adjustment - the need to do a specific task within a specific time frame for someone else. I'm also someone who is more tactile - writing things down, making notes, holding papers in my hands, etc. Working exclusively on the computer is not easy, especially as I'm relearning microsoft and all the applications. It's not impossible, just another hurdle in this adjustment. I've got more to do tomorrow and the list is growing for next week, so it's definitely feeling more real.