Golf, Bluebird Boxes, and Hospitals

Maliana ~

This week...whew. We've had our share of shining moments and downright in the dumps moments to say the least. There have been some trials for sure (hence, the "hospital" portion of the blog title)...difficult news with some people that we love, but all in all it's been ok so far. Hoping it stays that way too. We'll see. I'll get to all of that in just a minute.

As for you in particular, well...we’ve had our moments. You have decided to continue testing all sorts of boundaries at home. Ahh, the joys of being five. But you always seem to come back and make things right again. For instance, when you had thrown a fit the day before and later came to me (all on your own) and said, “Mom, I won’t throw a fit again. I’m sorry I threw a fit. I will do my best not to tonight, ok?” I just love that little heart of yours. Even in your "worst" moments, you are still the best. Growing up is all about learning...and you are very good at it. 

On the fun side, you’ve been hitting golf balls some more with Daddy this week too. Seeing you copy his every move is hysterical.

gloves in your pockets, just like Daddy

Then one day on the way home from school something very interesting (and comical) happened…here’s my Facebook status that day:

~ evidently one of Mali's friends must have walked in on her parents in a "compromising situation" because on the way home from school today Mali asked me if Daddy and I take our shirts and pants off and kiss too. Oh boy. I was very creative in my response this time (and she bought it) but I see lots of interesting conversations in our future.

That same day, we also let you take your bike down the big trail, for the first time ever. You loved it and felt like a big shot, surprising us all by making it back up what we call “Heartbreak Hill” all on your own. Holy leg muscles Mali!!

awesome feat of endurance kid

On a rough note, you were a bit of a 'Crabby Appleton' at school this week. As we tried to figure out why it was happening, we decided to try putting you to bed a little earlier. Luckily, it seemed to do the trick with your behavior at school, but it also made you wake up a little earlier too. However, as much as I wished you'd get as much sleep as possible, how can I be mad when I get to not only talk to you in the morning, but get tons of hugs and kisses before I have to leave for work? And then another extra bonus was this little conversation one morning:

You: “You will always be in my heart Mom.”

Me: “And you in mine. I love you. Have a wonderful day.”

You: “You too Mom. I love you too.”

How can my day begin any better than that?!

That same  early rising day we also had a bluebird box making class at the local community center with our friends, Mia and Michelle. A park ranger came in and we got to learn all about the different kinds of birds that might visit a bluebird box, how to keep their nests safe from predators (e.g. snakes, raccoons, sparrows), and then you and Mia got to use some tools and build your very own bluebird boxes! You both did great with a hammer and nails and had a lot of fun painting the boxes (even if both of you ended up with latex paint in your hair!).

Handy Manny? No, Handy Mali!

tah dah!!

We were so thankful for Friday when it arrived and celebrated with a visit from a woman I have known as Aunt Lori literally all my life. She used to babysit me when I was even younger than you are now. I always looked up to her as a kid. She used to paint my nails and let me brush her hair, she just spent time with me and I adored her. It was fun to see you interact with her, and after she arrived with a super fun Spiderman toy and sunglasses for you, then talked to you, teased and tickled you, she was definitely A-OK in your book too. Even though we haven’t gotten to see her as much as we’d have liked over the years, I am very thankful for her. She’s just one of those people you can feel comfortable around no matter how much time has passed between visits, who is warm and open to anyone she meets, and really makes people feel special. In fact, she reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, “People may not remember what you said or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel”. That’s the kind of person I hope I can learn to be every day, and I’m so thankful that we all have her as a role model.

peek a boo

goofy girls

After Lori left, on a whim I decided to give you a haircut, myself (*gulp*). You have been so upset any time we’ve had to brush your hair lately since it tends to get snarled so easily and I hate brushing your hair because it nearly always ends up with you in tears. It’s awful. So, you and I were more than ready to start snipping…but surprisingly, Daddy was scared to death. He just kept pacing as I got the scissors closer and closer to your hair. Fortunately, he seemed to relax a bit as he saw it was going just fine and when it was all done, the three of us decided we LOVE your new ‘do. It is really cute and you are so happy to have a nice short little bob that is so much easier to brush. No more tears! Yay!

being silly after the haircut...and yes, that
is a bag of hair you are holding. ha.

On Saturday, I had to spend the whole day at a seminar (*yawn*) so Daddy took you to dance class (where you cooperated!) and then you both helped Uncle Joe and Aunt Tina unload a truck with some of Tina’s parents’ belongings from Elyria. You LOVED helping, running up and down the ramp into the truck, and got the biggest kick out of getting to ride in the big truck’s cab as they moved it across the parking lot. You supervised everyone (“A little to the left…now a little to the right”) which I’m sure they all appreciated (*wink wink*) and gave a pretty funny response to Tina when she tried to give you a job of taking all the pans out of a box and counting them for her (“Hmmm…can you do that?” ~ no fooling you into doing a made-up job, ha ha).

yeah, this picture is cute...but google Hannibal
Lector and it just might give you the creeps

riding in style with Uncle Joe

As for Sunday, it can only be described with one word, hospital. Thankfully, the patient was not you...but unfortunately, it’s our beloved Ggma. Monday of this week Ggma was admitted to the hospital for an assortment of symptoms she has been struggling with for the last few months. After all this time, they are still trying to figure out exactly what is wrong with her and how to treat it. I had been down to visit her a couple times earlier in the week, but she had been in so much pain that I figured it wasn’t the best place for you to be until she was feeling better, in spite of you desperately wanting to go see her. Finally by Sunday, she was having an okay enough day that Wai Gong thought we could bring you down. As we drove to the hospital, we explained how sick she was and how it was very important to be well behaved, listen, and only use inside voices while at the hospital. Once we got up to her room, I was so proud of you as you were very quiet and considerate of everyone, even shushing us when you thought we were getting a bit too noisy for Ggma. I am always impressed with your ability to take what we tell you to heart. You are an amazing kid. She had been sleeping when we first arrived, so we decided to go visit with Wai Gong in the waiting area so you could be a bit louder. After a while, Ggma woke up and asked to see us. I was so thankful to see her face brighten more than I’d seen it brighten all week, as soon as she saw you. You kept waving to her in the room, showed her a picture you’d colored for her, and we even showed her the video of you hitting golf balls (since Ggma is a big fan of golf, especially Tiger Woods). I breathed a sigh of relief at how well the visit went, and hoped it was a breath of fresh air for her too. It has been so very hard for Ggma all week and we are all just hoping and praying that they can figure out exactly how to make her feel better very soon. As we left the hospital, you told us that you are going to color her another picture so she can put it on her big desk (where she volunteers) at the hospital. As we talked about that, I realized it was a bit hard for you to understand how Ggma can now be a patient at the same hospital where we have come to visit her while she is working. You are very hopeful that she will be all better and back to work soon. I hope you’re right sweetie. We all really hope you’re right.

finishing up a Chuck the Truck coloring page to give to Ggma
because nothing says "get well soon!" like a dump truck!

Ggma didn't want us to take any pictures of her in the hospital
so I snapped this one of you on Wai Gong's shoulders
while you stopped to listen to a girl play the
piano in the lobby

As we drove home from this hospital visit, we saw another message that Aunt Lori had just been admitted to the hospital that morning as well. We couldn’t believe it. After calling Allie and Marky, we found out what was going on and headed to our second hospital of the day. We are hoping that Aunt Lori's treatment will be much easier than Ggma's seems. I guess time will tell. But once again as we drove home from yet another hospital, the day started feeling more and more surreal. Hopefully, no one else we know will need a hospital anytime soon. And hopefully these beautiful women that we love so dearly, who are now in the hospital, can speedily recover and come home quickly. We hope. We hope. We hope.

We were all pretty exhausted after getting home, so we relaxed until bath time. I gave you a bath and your surprises just kept coming when you put on your own diaper for bed and combed your own hair, all without being asked. You were so excited to show me that you’d done it all by yourself! Just another piece of evidence that you are really growing up. And since you’d been so good all day long, we gave you a little surprise reward too…which came in very handy after bath time. You were diggin’ it!

Iron Man bath poncho!

Love,
Mama