Back stories

 I was in the kitchen and Ruby came running in. She said she had heard the funniest thing on her show. They said, "Have you heard the new thing? It's called waiting." She laughed and laughed. Unfortunately, she started using it seriously. I'd be telling her to do something and she'd turn to me and say, "Have you heard the new thing? It's called waiting." Way less cute.

She's been telling me her heart hurts. I have no clue what to make of that. I thought maybe heartburn because I truly can't think of anything else. Then one day she told me, Mommy, my heart doesn't hurt. It probably feels better because of ballet. 

I had some more weird sleep stuff. My weird sleep stuff is that as I'm falling asleep or waking up (but only from naps), I see stuff. When I'm falling asleep, it's scary stuff; someone standing over me or something. Waking up from naps, it's pretty benign. I've seen lizards are on the wall. I thought Ruby had drawn all over the wall several times. One time I saw Buddy laying across the top of an open door. That time I actually got up to take a picture before it disappeared. But, for the scary ones, I always just startled and went back to sleep. Then in about two weeks, TWICE, I had big reactions. The first time I flipped from where I was sleeping to standing on the other side of the bed, grabbed Ruby up, and kinda cried, please don't hurt my baby. Then it was over. Then I woke up with someone on top of me (I was holding my pillow so maybe I got confused). I threw my pillow and took off. I ran to the other side of the house before I realized what had happened. I was a little scared by all this but I haven't had another incident. So. . . a fluke, maybe.

Ruby went to play outside one morning. And she came running back in, all excited, and said, "Mommy! It's like 100 degrees of cold." I guess it was a crisp September morning.

Maggie's been having a hard 8th grade. A lot of her friends last year were 8th graders so they have all moved up to Martin. She was struggling in band and felt like people were being mean to her. I called and talked to the guidance counselor and her band director. Her guidance counselor said he would pull her and talk to her (which he has). Her band director said Maggie is struggling because she's not playing enough and thus, it's hard. So, I'm making her practice at home every day. I can tell it's very hard for her but I set the timer for 10 minutes and I pause if she pauses, which she does constantly. The first day we practiced, it took us 50 minutes to get 10 minutes of practice. Now we're down to 23 minutes. I talked to her a lot about doing hard things, persistence, pushing through, etc. and I think she doesn't like it but understands. I've also been working with her on a social skills curriculum I know from my job. I've been very hesitant to say anything because I'm not her therapist or teacher and I don't want her to feel annoyed. I just said this is is what this program is for and, IF YOU WANT, we can work on it together. She agreed and we've been doing that. I know part of it is just that the 8th grade sucks.  I told her when she started 7th grade, these will probably be the hardest two years of your life. You're trying to become an adult. You don't know who you and none of these other kids do either. These are just hard years. I do feel like things are getting better for her. 

HOWEVER, yesterday, I was at work and got a call. It was her school nurse. She said, Maggie got hit with a water bottle. In my head, I'm imagining the little plastic bottles. Then the nurse says actually it was a big metal one and it pushed her glasses into her eyes and her face is bruised and cut. I said I'll be right there. Then she said, oh also the vice principal will need to talk to you because another student threw the bottle. So, I leave work, and I am fuming on my drive over there. I'm imagining a bullying, targeting, something situation. I get there and the vice principal meets me at the door and takes me into Maggie. Her glasses are off and she has ice on her face but I can see it's swollen, cut, and bruised. Before any adult can say anything, I tell Maggie to tell me exactly what happened. She said the girl who sits behind her was getting teased by other kids and got upset. She slammed her water bottle into her desk and it popped up and hit Maggie in the face. Apparently the girl immediately burst into tears and was apologetic and very remorseful. So, I genuinely feel like this was an accident. Maggie was so upset. She started crying as soon as I got there and didn't stop for a while. I'm sure it was mostly just the adrenaline dump. Poor girl. We went and grabbed Ruby and went home. I got her frozen corn but she wouldn't keep it on. I gave her ibuprofen immediately and we lay down in my bed and watched Bluey (her choice). I gave her more medicine before bed and when I got up at 5:30 am. Her nose is definitely swollen. She has a few cuts around her eye and it's bruised but it doesn't look as bad as I thought. I let her stay home today and I'm going to take her glasses to be repaired/replaced and I just want a doctor to check her out.