Day 65

Thursday October 21, 2010

This morning started off rocky!!! Teddy did not want to go to school. I knew he was tired but he needed to return. He had missed a week and when we went to Disneyland he was going to miss more. Consequently, he needed to go.

Nina and I spent the morning unpacking and then repacking for our upcoming adventure. Friday afternoon, she and I were leaving for Beverly Hills for our much anticipated "Plane-Mommy-and-Me" trip. Nina was beyond excited. She insisted on packing her own bags and making sure she had all the right socks (go figure!).

We picked up Teddy from school at 1:55 since it was early dismissal and then went to get a smoothie at Blenders in the Grass. The kids love smoothies from there and it allows me to sneakily put in stool softener into a drink Nina is willing to take.

The beach house trip had been a dream come true, especially for Nina. However, for one I was glad to be home even if it was just for a mere 24 hours. Somehow, although all of the trips we had planned were exciting they were also all tainted by grief....because we were doing them to build memories. At least doing things like going to Blenders was normal and not just occurring for the sake of memory building. However....as I stood there in line, watching Teddy and Nina talk to each other as they sat on the store bench, I realized that even here we were building memories. In our normal, every day activities we were building memories!

We went home where my friend Mario was waiting to hang out with the kids while I ran a few errands. Nina was delighted to see Mario. My friends and I had started to joke that she had a massive crush on him, which made Mario bashful :) Teddy was ecstatic to play Xbox with Mario, however, I reminded Mario that Nina hadn't really climbed up the stairs since we had returned from Cedars. I suggested that they play Wii downstairs and Mario gave me the Remember I work with kids...I can handle yours :) look so I said good-bye and left.

When I returned, I heard a commotion coming from upstairs. I looked around downstairs and did not see Nina. As I walked upstairs, I heard her laughter erupting. She has the most contagious laughter....it literally could light up an entire town! I then heard Teddy scream his I'm a maniac scream. As I rounded the corner, the kids and Mario were head down the hall. Teddy was a ball of sweat. Apparently he and Mario had not only played Xbox but wrestled like nuts! Mario was super pleased with himself and Nina just laughed as she walked down the stairs. I asked Mario how he had convinced Nina to go upstairs. The punk just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I didn't have to convince her. Teddy wanted to go upstairs so I invited her. She initially said no but then when she saw me go upstairs she got up and came with me." Motivation...pure and simple :) I asked Nina if she had a good time and she smiled. She seemed super proud of herself. I didn't blame her; I was proud of her! Sometimes the best memories are those that you don't plan for!