I had my first tornado scare with Amanda last night (this morning) as the storm blew through Millard, my area of Omaha, around 2:30am. The winds sounded terribly strong, so I tuned in to the TV channels. Only one was broadcasting weather updates and nothing seemed tornadic, but when the sirens sounded, I grabbed a blanket, Amanda and her pillow and went downstairs. I turned on the TV and they said there had been a tornado at 137th & Y, which is about 2 miles from my house. Too close for comfort! By the time I was aware and we were in the basement, though, the system had already moved east, so it caught everyone by surprise (that it turned into a tornado). I need to get a weather alert that will wake me, although I'm not sure they would have had a tornado warning for people either. No one was hurt - many houses lost roofs, trees down, fronts of buildings and homes missing. Across and down the street a bit from me, half of a tree fell across a driveway and the back of the car parked there. My yard just had some large branches down, and one section of my fence came loose (need to replace the 2x4). Amanda fell asleep downstairs easily, and also when we returned upstairs, but she did not wake up until almost 7am.
I had signed up to sing at church this morning, so it was not a good night to be losing sleep. I got myself ready, made some breakfast "to go" (scrambled eggs, milk), then when Amanda woke up, I got her dressed and ready and we got to church about 7:15, which was my goal. This was the first time I've been cantor since adopting Amanda, and it went pretty well. Minor glitch on my part at the end of one song (although I told the organist I would just say that Amanda distracted me, pulled on my arm or something), and another glitch when Amanda announced to the organist (and therefore the entire church body) that, "I'm doing from this" - that she was singing from the service bulletin - right after I had finished my song. Shhh!! I took her down for the children's talk but had to be in the choir loft to sing as soon as it ended, so I prepped her to come back upstairs, and enlisted a friend, Lois, in the early service to be her guide should she need. She came upstairs w/Lois while I was singing the Psalm, so that worked out just fine. That was early service, after which we had some fun Sunday school activities downstairs and then she hung out in the nursery/playroom with some other kids while I sang for late service. (The breakfast to-go actually worked out well - she sat and ate the eggs while I practiced before the early service, and I finished the leftovers before late service.)
After church, I rushed around at home gathering what I thought would be needed for the afternoon and we took off, picking up my friend Michele and then going downtown, where my band was playing from 1-3 at the 'Taste of Omaha'. I had no time to get anything to eat (had grabbed some granola bars) and I left Amanda in Michele's care to feed at one of many numerous food booths while I sang with the band. It was a slightly cool (and yet warm), slightly rainy afternoon. The band gig went well, although I was hungry (not too bad, as I still seem to be recovering a bit from a mild flu bug I got last week). At 3, Michele & I got something to eat, we listened to a different band for awhile, Amanda got to hug a walking bear mascot from Village Inn Restaurants, and then we headed home. We spend some time tonight picking up branches in the backyard. Yes, Amanda, you're a super-duper helper!
Michele said Amanda was quite naughty the first hour of my singing, trying to run away (yikes!) and just generally being a little stinker. After she told me this on our break, I talked to Amanda about not being naughty, and showed Michele (just in case!) how I used to hold her when she would get out of control (hold her legs w/my legs, hold her arms crossed, cover her mouth if she screams). Looks like child abuse, but if necessary, this is how I did it. I'm not sure if the demonstration did it, or the talking about being naughty, but Michele said she was much better the second hour, even saying that she would be a good girl, and not be naughty. Michele said she is unique (well, in many ways of course, but) in that she is better for me than other people. Most people's kids are often better for other people than their parents - that type of idea. So far, that is proving to be true, especially in cases where she doesn't recognize the authority or control.
It's hard to really be specific - she was a terror for Mom one time when Dad & I were outside and Mom told Amanda to just stay inside, I'd be back soon. Bam - monster child! She was grabbing things, just being out of control. But the next day, when Mom was with her all day, she recognized the authority and was a pretty 'normal' 4-yr-old. And my sister Cindy didn't have any trouble with her when she watched her for a day, the week after her surgery.
I had my friend's 14-yr-old daughter, Caitlin, babysit, with an overnight stay planned, Friday night, May 30th. Amanda had met her before and had enjoyed playing with her. We ate supper together and they were having fun when I left for my 8-midnight gig. Caitlin had left a note in the door for me around 9pm, saying that Amanda had been awesome all night, and she went to bed at 9 and would I go in and give her a kiss when I got home. At about 9:45, Caitlin started calling me, as she couldn't get Amanda to stay in bed. (Her usual to-bed time is 8pm and she's usually asleep by 9, but I told Caitlin that anytime between 8-9 was fine - maybe that was the start of the problem.) I think Amanda went to bed just fine, but then she maybe wondered what would happen if she got out of bed. Amanda is a feisty, stubborn girl, and I think when she figured out that Caitlin didn't know how to make her stay in bed, all bets were off. Caitlin told me that Amanda was grabbing the remote and grabbing her phone, being really naughty, and when Caitlin tried to discipline her, Amanda would hit her. I tried to give Caitlin some discipline ideas, and then at 10:45 I told her I'd come home. When I got there, I made Amanda apologize to Caitlin and then sent her to bed. So, first regular babysitting event was not exactly a resounding success. I'm not sure what I could have done to have helped Caitlin have a better time. I'm so used to Amanda being a pretty well-behaved child for me that I didn't foresee her "monster child" popping out so readily for someone else, even though it happened briefly for Mom. I felt really bad for Caitlin and apologized for the rough time she'd had.
Some random fun things:
I was picking up some things in a store, and Amanda was riding in the cart, writing on her little notepad. She ripped out the page she'd written on and handed it to me, saying, "Here Mom, Amen." I asked her why she'd said, "Amen", and she said, "'Cause I'm all done!" (like, duh Mom) I laughed and told her that we only say Amen when we're talking to God. She said, "Oh. Ok." Cute.
I've started reintroducing Russian words, just for a fun sort of reminiscing. We were talking about something being big, and I said, "balshoy - right?" A big grin comes over her face and she says, "Yeah, remember? Remember like that?" "And what did you used to say for 'little'" "Neemnogah - remember?!?!" I answered, "Dah!" and she just grinned all the more. So fun. She still grabs the sleeve of my yellow/white/black stripped knit shirt when my closet door is open, and holds it to her face and says, "Mom, remember like that?", although sometimes I think she's just being a bit silly (or doing it out of habit) and not really feeling those strong remembrance feelings. It's still cute, though. =)
There were more things I was going to mention, but since it's been so long since I've blogged, I don't remember what they all were. I'll have to do another blog when I remember. Take care, everyone, especially all the Midwesterners during tornado season!
----------------------
Monday update to post:
Here's the national weather service link with a map of the storm's path and some pictures (Tuesday update - they changed the picture and added the info that two tornadoes actually merged. The link shows the updated map.)
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=oax&storyid=15241&source=0
I had signed up to sing at church this morning, so it was not a good night to be losing sleep. I got myself ready, made some breakfast "to go" (scrambled eggs, milk), then when Amanda woke up, I got her dressed and ready and we got to church about 7:15, which was my goal. This was the first time I've been cantor since adopting Amanda, and it went pretty well. Minor glitch on my part at the end of one song (although I told the organist I would just say that Amanda distracted me, pulled on my arm or something), and another glitch when Amanda announced to the organist (and therefore the entire church body) that, "I'm doing from this" - that she was singing from the service bulletin - right after I had finished my song. Shhh!! I took her down for the children's talk but had to be in the choir loft to sing as soon as it ended, so I prepped her to come back upstairs, and enlisted a friend, Lois, in the early service to be her guide should she need. She came upstairs w/Lois while I was singing the Psalm, so that worked out just fine. That was early service, after which we had some fun Sunday school activities downstairs and then she hung out in the nursery/playroom with some other kids while I sang for late service. (The breakfast to-go actually worked out well - she sat and ate the eggs while I practiced before the early service, and I finished the leftovers before late service.)
After church, I rushed around at home gathering what I thought would be needed for the afternoon and we took off, picking up my friend Michele and then going downtown, where my band was playing from 1-3 at the 'Taste of Omaha'. I had no time to get anything to eat (had grabbed some granola bars) and I left Amanda in Michele's care to feed at one of many numerous food booths while I sang with the band. It was a slightly cool (and yet warm), slightly rainy afternoon. The band gig went well, although I was hungry (not too bad, as I still seem to be recovering a bit from a mild flu bug I got last week). At 3, Michele & I got something to eat, we listened to a different band for awhile, Amanda got to hug a walking bear mascot from Village Inn Restaurants, and then we headed home. We spend some time tonight picking up branches in the backyard. Yes, Amanda, you're a super-duper helper!
Michele said Amanda was quite naughty the first hour of my singing, trying to run away (yikes!) and just generally being a little stinker. After she told me this on our break, I talked to Amanda about not being naughty, and showed Michele (just in case!) how I used to hold her when she would get out of control (hold her legs w/my legs, hold her arms crossed, cover her mouth if she screams). Looks like child abuse, but if necessary, this is how I did it. I'm not sure if the demonstration did it, or the talking about being naughty, but Michele said she was much better the second hour, even saying that she would be a good girl, and not be naughty. Michele said she is unique (well, in many ways of course, but) in that she is better for me than other people. Most people's kids are often better for other people than their parents - that type of idea. So far, that is proving to be true, especially in cases where she doesn't recognize the authority or control.
It's hard to really be specific - she was a terror for Mom one time when Dad & I were outside and Mom told Amanda to just stay inside, I'd be back soon. Bam - monster child! She was grabbing things, just being out of control. But the next day, when Mom was with her all day, she recognized the authority and was a pretty 'normal' 4-yr-old. And my sister Cindy didn't have any trouble with her when she watched her for a day, the week after her surgery.
I had my friend's 14-yr-old daughter, Caitlin, babysit, with an overnight stay planned, Friday night, May 30th. Amanda had met her before and had enjoyed playing with her. We ate supper together and they were having fun when I left for my 8-midnight gig. Caitlin had left a note in the door for me around 9pm, saying that Amanda had been awesome all night, and she went to bed at 9 and would I go in and give her a kiss when I got home. At about 9:45, Caitlin started calling me, as she couldn't get Amanda to stay in bed. (Her usual to-bed time is 8pm and she's usually asleep by 9, but I told Caitlin that anytime between 8-9 was fine - maybe that was the start of the problem.) I think Amanda went to bed just fine, but then she maybe wondered what would happen if she got out of bed. Amanda is a feisty, stubborn girl, and I think when she figured out that Caitlin didn't know how to make her stay in bed, all bets were off. Caitlin told me that Amanda was grabbing the remote and grabbing her phone, being really naughty, and when Caitlin tried to discipline her, Amanda would hit her. I tried to give Caitlin some discipline ideas, and then at 10:45 I told her I'd come home. When I got there, I made Amanda apologize to Caitlin and then sent her to bed. So, first regular babysitting event was not exactly a resounding success. I'm not sure what I could have done to have helped Caitlin have a better time. I'm so used to Amanda being a pretty well-behaved child for me that I didn't foresee her "monster child" popping out so readily for someone else, even though it happened briefly for Mom. I felt really bad for Caitlin and apologized for the rough time she'd had.
Some random fun things:
I was picking up some things in a store, and Amanda was riding in the cart, writing on her little notepad. She ripped out the page she'd written on and handed it to me, saying, "Here Mom, Amen." I asked her why she'd said, "Amen", and she said, "'Cause I'm all done!" (like, duh Mom) I laughed and told her that we only say Amen when we're talking to God. She said, "Oh. Ok." Cute.
I've started reintroducing Russian words, just for a fun sort of reminiscing. We were talking about something being big, and I said, "balshoy - right?" A big grin comes over her face and she says, "Yeah, remember? Remember like that?" "And what did you used to say for 'little'" "Neemnogah - remember?!?!" I answered, "Dah!" and she just grinned all the more. So fun. She still grabs the sleeve of my yellow/white/black stripped knit shirt when my closet door is open, and holds it to her face and says, "Mom, remember like that?", although sometimes I think she's just being a bit silly (or doing it out of habit) and not really feeling those strong remembrance feelings. It's still cute, though. =)
There were more things I was going to mention, but since it's been so long since I've blogged, I don't remember what they all were. I'll have to do another blog when I remember. Take care, everyone, especially all the Midwesterners during tornado season!
----------------------
Monday update to post:
Here's the national weather service link with a map of the storm's path and some pictures (Tuesday update - they changed the picture and added the info that two tornadoes actually merged. The link shows the updated map.)
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=oax&storyid=15241&source=0
Here's the original map:
My house is on the same horizontal line as the words "EF2 Damage" and is to the right of the path, just a block or so east of Norris Elementary School. Yikes! The data from the National Weather Service and the local stations state that the tornado formed with only 4 minutes' warning, so that wasn't enough time for any kind of civil defense warning. It's a lesson to me not to rely on the sirens/TV/radio - just head to the basement! It's tough to be constantly be on your guard, though, with all the severe weather we get. There was another severe weather warning that just expired at 9:30pm tonight (Monday), and it's thundering and raining out there right now. Life in the Midwest! =]
1 comment:
Whew, so thankful the Lord kept you and the rest of the family safe during this past series of storms.
I really enjoyed this update and the random stories, especially the Amen comment. She's really so intelligent and clever.
Be safe you two,
Lynnette
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