News from the front

C4's speech therapy is going so well, she is using her Ws a LOT and Rs a little on her own ... we'll be down to 1x/week after next week, I think. So, that is very good news!

Also. This has not been mentioned in the past, I think, but while C4 & Q2 were on Cape Cod with my parents, my mom burnt some quesadilla chips in the oven. And the smoke alarm went off. And it FREAKED C4 OUT! Big time. She ran to hide in her bedroom under the covers while the alarm was on ... and did NOT want to come out (so cliché).

Anyway, since then, we've had a few "toast alarms" when toast gets burnt and we all trek outside. And that has been fine. But recently her ... paranoia has been growing. Whenever the microwave beeps to indicate something is done, the stove beep to indicate 1) times up or 2) the oven has reached whatever degrees, or any other beeping incident on the stove, C4 yells "GET IT! It's READY. GET IT!!! GO GO GO GO GET IT!" and she starts to cry. Real crying. And today she indicated to me that she doesn't like me to leave pots and pans on the stove even if the stove isn't on.

Anyway, when I was cooking yesterday I'd taken something off the stove, turned the stove off, but let the timer run out. So I was over in the dining room when the timer beeped ... and C4 insisted I go back and cook. Even though I assured her that NOTHING WAS COOKING.

So, she's been a bit touchy about that lately. So I thought I'd give her a heads up when school fire drills were coming up. Just a little, hey, this is going to happen, it isn't a big deal.

But, of course, it was.

OK, so I got the day wrong. It isn't tomorrow, it is next week. But as soon as I mentioned it this morning C4, who adores school, said she didn't want to go, she had a tummy ache, she was tired. I had to put her shoes and socks on for her and carry her to the car. And then carry her into school. And she kept explaining to me that her tummy still hurt.

We decided that she'd explain to the teachers what her concerns were, and that they'd understand and take care of her. So C4 told her teachers about the incident on Cape Cod (and I elaborated) and we assured her nobody would leave her there, she would be taken care of. She decided it was OK to leave me and that was the end of it.

But I assume next week she will remember and we'll go through this again.

Note to self: Don't try to "prep" C4 on issues of fire safety.