Summer's Growing Old

Before long, I will be standing on the curb of our street panting excitedly, a big goofy grin on my face, awaiting the (long-anticipated) arrival of the big yellow school bus.  True to form, however, after Liberty gets on the bus, I will walk back inside and get that empty feeling, look around his room,  give his giant Pooh Bear a squeeze and shed a tear or two.  It never fails.  I am so happy to be getting that child back into a school routine and I know he misses school, too, but at the same time, we have had our summer days where we did not have to get up on time, and sometimes just hung out at home, Lib playing games with toys in all corners of the house and me cooking while I Love Lucy is on, working a jigsaw, transcribing medical notes here and there, doing some reading, short trips to the grocery.   There is something quite lovely about the summer in that respect.  We did miss our beach severely this year; but God willing we will be able to at least go over there again soon (maybe even tomorrow!) --a story for another time.  

Having endured what I have now deemed the "2-martini haircut" today in which my sweet boy morphed into Mr. Hyde's younger brother - hideous kicking, screaming, biting my shoulder;  a full blown tantrum, I would say that I am more than ready for school to begin.
Not once did Robert the Archangel of Hairdressers complain or get upset.  He just said he felt like that this morning before he had his coffee.   He is a GEM of a person. 

And so, eventually, (within about half an hour or so 5 minutes), the empty silence will become the bless-ed, bless-ed silence.   The sacred temple of silence.  

Ahhhhh.  To sigh all of those unsighed sighs...

These days, I crave peace and quiet and time to myself, something I rarely get in the summertime except when we are at the pool and no one is there with an annoying radio, and I can just hang out in nature and watch the lazy clouds slip by and the occasional hawk on the wing.  Liberty learning to swim has been a major gift to me, not only because I know he won't drown in the water, but because I can sit in a chair or swim to the deep end, or you know, just relax, close my eyes,  let the sun bake on my skin for a minute or two.  I have not been able to do this for 7 years.

Speaking of swimming, here is a tip from a blog I just happened upon:  Take equal parts of Epsom salt and warm water and put in spray bottle.  If you cannot get your child in a bath right away, just spray it on the skin.  Simple, but brilliant.  I keep Epsom salts over at my father's house so Lib can get into his bath right after we swim.   But, how nice to have a spray bottle handy, too!  You can make your Epsom salt cream from  here too.  Chlorine can really effect some kids, I know it does Lib, and so it's important to detox it out as much as possible. 

Tomorrow is the birthday of Yours Truly.  My sis from NY flies in on Thursday.  My niece drives over on Friday, and on Saturday there shall be partying.

After the fun has been had, the child launched, and we shift into autumn, in the coming weeks I will report on my son's continuing success with high-potency probiotics, the ongoing tweaking of supplements to give certain things at the appropriate times which about drove me bonkers, and the introduction of curcumin again.  Some exciting things are happening but it's too early for me to spill about it, so stay tuned!