"Not Sweetie"

This morning when I went in Rachel's room she started to sit up, but slowly and groggily. I said "It's time to get up, sweetie" and she just looked up at me for a second and said "Not sweetie!" I apologized and she looked at me for another few seconds with a kind of measuring look, and then got up and went in to the bathroom, pausing for a second to say "don't" in the doorway. She's not really a morning person most days, and I can see how my trying to be all positive and happy could be pretty annoying. I suppose I should tone it down first thing in the morning.

She doesn't have an order that things have to be done in, which makes things easier most of the time. Disruptions to her schedule don't particularly throw her off, but if I want her to get dressed I usually have to lay her clothes out in the same place so she can find them. This morning I went back into her room to check on her and she was standing in front of her sweatshirt, but still had her pajama top on. She was kind of fingering the pajamas like she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do next. Although, it could be that she just liked the pajama top better and didn't really want to change. I reminded her that she needed to take her pajamas off and she immediately got back on track and didn't have any more difficulty. Six or seven years ago I could just toss clothes on the bed, even if they were wrong side out, and send her in to go to the bathroom, wash her hands and face, and get dressed, and she could handle it. Now she gets confused so easily. It'd be nice if we even knew what caused the problem. It's hard to fix something when you don't know where the problem lies.

Yesterday afternoon was the same as all the other days have been lately. Her brother had a choir concert and Daddy and I needed to go visit a friend. She seemed a little tired, so we left her at home with her other brother and let her watch a Christmas movie. When I was getting her ready for bed she grinned and said "It's got stars on it!" Her pajamas have stars and hearts all over them. It was great to see her happy. I think leaving her home and letting her just relax was good. I love tucking her in bed at night when she's happy.