Innoring

Did I write about how I cut Ruby off from me going into her room at night? Well, I did. The first night was unpleasant but then, the past three night, not a peep. I keep talking to her about it and we review. She's started asking me, what will you do if I knock? And I tell her I will innore her. 

We have a new system so she knows when it's okay to get up. She used to have an expensive clock that glowed green it was okay for her to get up. Unfortunately, it was in Ruby's room, which resulted in it getting messed up. She messed with the time and I think she got it to go off in the middle of the night. So, that didn't work. Now, when I get up, I turn on the hallway light so she can see the light under her door and know it's okay to get up.

I planned a vacation for Portland. It's for October. God willing, by that point, Covid is a horrible memory and not still surging. Fingers crossed. 

Covid appears to be going away. Vaccines have been pushed hard and we seem to be getting enough people vaccinated before the new variants take over. I just want this nightmare to be over.

The weirdest thing happened. Ruby and I were sitting outside. Millie and Honey were running back and forth with our neighbor dogs. They look like LaRue except big. One is white and one is black and white. Then suddenly they were small. I seriously thought I was having a stroke. I could not compute what I was seeing. First it was the white dog. Just smaller and then the black and white one came up and was smaller. The big dogs were gone. It wasn't like there was suddenly four dogs. The big ones disappeared and smaller, identical ones were there. In one minute. I guess they were different dogs and they let the first two out, then brought them back in, and let two different (but identical, expect smaller) dogs out. 

My first thought was that maybe they had shaved the dogs but they were too much smaller. Plus I feel certain it takes longer than one minute to shave a dog. 

Luckily, Ruby saw it too. It was crazy. It was so perplexing I texted my neighbor and asked her about it. She said it was four different dogs, two little and two big. 

Still here

I was in my grad school weekly meeting from 5-6 pm. Usually during that time, I give all my attention to Ruby, but Thursdays I have this meeting. So she was going in and out and playing. Suddenly, she came running in and said, Mommy you have to come look; I am not okay with this! So I got up and followed her outside and, by the big tree, there was a dead bird. I said, oh no, leave it alone and let's go inside.

When we got in, she wanted me to go help the bird. I told her, I'm sorry baby, but it's gone, there's nothing I can do. She wanted to know what had happened to the bird and I told her Annie probably got it. She said, I want Annie to go to heaven so she will stop making birds be dead!

Ruby woke up several times in the past couple of weeks. One of the nights, I told her she could sleep with me but if she left my room, I would put her back in her room immediately. So, I think she stayed. Anyway, Buddy is my fluffy black cat and he's the only one I like. He's a bit spoiled. He'll come in in the middle of the night and knead on me and purr and meow at me but I usually still pet him. Well, he was in my room this night and I guess he went and started bugging Ruby. She told me, the next morning, Buddy wanted love and so I loved on him but then I told him no more but he cried at me so I had to innore him. 

I went on Saturday and got my first vaccine shot! Ruby came with me. We went in and she pointed at everything and wanted to touch everything. The whole thing took maybe five minutes but then they wanted us to sit for 15 minutes to make sure no one had any adverse effects. Ruby and I were laughing and being silly. We called Maggie and told her I got my shot. A man and his young adult daughter were sitting next to us and they would chime in every once in a while to talk to Ruby. She had a dinosaur shirt on and the woman asked her if she had a favorite dinosaur. Ruby said, well we don't have a dinosaur at home. . . 

Uncle Jeff, Ella, and Jill came over on Sunday so we could watch the last Wanda Vision. But then Ella announced we had to go back like 3 episodes! Gah! But man, what a freaking show. I'm sad that Disney appears to be taking over the world cause man they make good stuff. Even Ruby asks me about watching Wanda. We had pizza and I made a pudding dessert thing. Ruby and Jill broke Ruby's easel but otherwise were pretty good.

Oh! That night when I put Ruby to bed, she was insistent that I not take her pillowcase off her chair. I didn't think anything of it. The next night she mentioned it again and when I again didn't follow up, she said, well I guess you can take it off. So I did but the room was already dark so I couldn't see anything. She told me it had drawing on it. I asked her if she did it and she said, no Jill did. I went potty and when I came back she was drawing so we hid it. Which. . . that was a fast turn around on cousin loyalty. Ruby asked me, are you mad at Jill? I told her, of course not. There is absolutely nothing Jill could do that could compare with the damage you've wrought upon this house.

Maggie sends me a message on Discord when she gets home. Yesterday she sent me a message and said she was going over to her friend's, Aliyah, house. I told her fine but be home by 6. I put Ruby to bed and came out and was reading. I thought surely it's 6 by now and checked my watch. It was almost 6:30. I texted Aliyah. I sent a message to Maggie on Discord and I freaked out. I kept looking outside and I'm thinking, do I wait? Do I wake up Ruby and go look for her? Finally (AFTER 10 MINUTES!!!!), Aliyah texted me that she was with Maggie and they had lost track of time. I asked Aliyah to please tell Maggie to get home NOW. I was so mad. Ridiculous! I told her if she's ever late again, I'm grounding her from all devices. She was appropriately regretful so I didn't beat her.

Ruby didn't sleep. Again. I don't remember when it got bad but it is. It's almost every single night. And I usually give her a melatonin. Last night, as soon as I opened her door, she put her hand out to take it. I thought, too much! This is too much. So I told her I'm not coming in at night anymore. I've been quizzing her. What happens if you knock and it's the middle of the night? You'll innore me. What happens it you bang on your door and cry? You'll innore me. 

She has food and water and a little potty and that's it! No more. Wish me luck.

Update

Ruby and I were hanging out and she was drawing. She came over to show me and it was lots of people. She pointed to one and said, that's you. I had a baby in my tummy, so I asked her, is that baby Maggie or baby Ruby? She said, neither, it's Ella. I said, Ella wasn't in my tummy, she was in Aunt Laurie's tummy. Ruby thought and said, no you just didn't like her so you gave her to Aunt Laurie. 

She came up with another story and used the word expensive again and again I asked her what it meant. This time she said it means she loves me. 

Ruby is always telling me about her super powers. She tells me she knows what everyone is thinking, that she is the most powerful person in the world, that she can run really fast. Good stuff.

Maggie uses this app called Discord. On it, she can text, call, or video call anyone she is friends with. She had a half-day on Monday and I wanted to know when she got home, etc and we were looking for her Kindle, but then I said, can I just friend you on Discord? So I got the app, set up my profile, and friended her? It is fantastic. As soon as she gets home, she is texting me. She texted about how it took her 15 minutes to get inside because a moth was on the door and then it touched her and she screamed but not so loud the neighbors came to check on her. I mean guys, you can't get this stuff just anywhere. I love it. She's so funny. 

Thursday and Friday were hard mornings. Both girls were a mess. I kept calling Maggie to get up and I finally I actually went into her room and woke her up and she immediately started crying and asking me not to send her. The worst. But we've missed so much school because of all the Covid crap. She didn't have any obvious signs of illness. I told her I would get her McDonald's for dinner and it was almost the weekend. It was no fun. 

That afternoon when she got home, she texted me her McDonald's order: 20 piece chicken nuggets, quarter pounder, fish fillet, and 4-6 cookies. Ha!

Ruby was also a mess. She got super mad at me about something. Hmmm. . . oh right because I brushed her hair before she could brush her teeth and she didn't want to do things in that order. And, for the first time ever, she screamed that she hated me. She brought it up several times that afternoon and the next day. I told her I forgave her.