Day: January 12, 2008

We took the kids to a book release party this evening. It was for The Red Dragon Codex from Mirrorstone books. Howard and I had never met the author before, but we received an invite via a friend and decided to go. Part of our attendance was selfish. We wanted the chance to see how someone else ran a book release party. We’ve done three now and I was curious to see if our idea of a book release was at all traditional. Since this book is a Young Adult title the party was aimed for kids as well as adults. There were coloring pages and activities for all ages. Our kids had fun, though part of the fun they had was running around like hoodlums. Fortunately they fit right into the crowd of other kids, so I did not have to turn into mean mommy and make them stop.

The party was very enjoyable. We got to see some friends from the Salt Lake area that we don’t often run into. I wish we’d been more prepared though. We forgot to bring a book that we’d promised to one friend. We neglected to bring cash with which to buy a book. And mere hours before our departure we determined conclusively that Howard is completely out of business cards. Naturally all of the thing we did not bring would have been useful. Oh well. I guess I was thinking “family outing” rather than “business contacting opportunity.”

In the end it was a good event for all of us. Now I need to sit down and read the book we bought.

Today I scooped Gleek into my lap for a snuggle and she stayed in my lap. Usually these random snuggles are met by squirms to get free and run back to what she was doing. Sometimes I get a few minutes of snuggle time before she is off and running again. Today she stayed in my lap for an hour. I’m glad I had the quiet afternoon hour to spend. We talked some about her nightmare last night. She’s been having frequent nightmares lately. I always treat nightmares as red flags. They usually mean that something is unsettling or worrying the child during the day time hours. Sometimes the connection is easy to see, like a nightmare about skeletons after watching Pirates of the Carribean. Other times the imagery of the dream is not diagnostic and I just have to listen to the shape of the dream to see if I can make connections. I love it when I can find the source of the frightening emotions and dispell it.

Today it was not so simple. It took a lot of questions to pull the content of the dream out of Gleek. She had trouble putting it into words. But the fact that she stayed in my lap and continued to remain focused on the conversation demonstrates the level of import these dreams carry for her. In the end I think her dreams are about safety and security. She had to defend herself in the dreams because no one would help her. In classic nightmare form, her efforts to defend herself were insufficient. I think that the answer is more security and affirmation from her family. I need to spend more time snuggling her, talking to her, being there for her. I also need to figure out ways to encourage Kiki to be kinder to Gleek. Kiki constantly treats Gleek like an annoyance which is barely tolerated. I know this is typical behavior for an older sibling to a younger one, but it breaks my heart to see it. Gleek is hurt and Kiki is full of negative emotions and their relationship could be so much better than that. Perhaps I need to make Kiki write lists of nice things about Gleek. That worked before when they were younger.

After the talk about dreams, Gleek wanted to talk about mummies. So we pulled out a book on mummies and read through it. Gleek is like a little sponge soaking up knowledge. I need to read more non-fiction books to her. The talking is good for us both. Even after the book was done, Gleek lingered in my lap. She’d had an hour of mommy all to herself and was loath to have it end. But it could not last forever. Patches and Kiki both arrived simultaneously with requests. The hour was done. Somehow I do not think it a coincidence that Gleek was not fearful at bedtime tonight. I don’t know if I can give her a solo hour out of every day, but I can certainly give her more than I have been doing. She needs the snuggles and attention even if she doesn’t always want to sit still for them.