Is this thing on?

Hard to know these days! I've been writing so irregularly that I bet you haven't been checking as often.
And the longer I go without writing, the harder it is to get started. Worrying trend!
I'm going to try my best to get back on schedule here. Grandmary has talked with me a few times already about the blog (and lack of postings), and her words remind me of its purpose and value. I have definitely found that blogging has been like a habit. While I was doing it regularly, it was easy and obvious. I noticed and even felt the lack when I didn't make the time. After a while, the habit lagged and so did my awareness of it. I missed blogging in a vague way, but I didn't know how to get back on the wagon. In order to get me going tonight, I'll just bring you up to date with us in a nutshell.

Just to let you know, we are here. We are fine. Grandmary arrived safely on Tuesday afternoon, remarkably free of the horrid effects of jet lag. We're in awe of that, actually. She is a trooper and jumped right into WA time. Amazing.
(makes me feel like a terrible wuss for suffering for oh, about three WEEKS after my US trip)

Ellie missed school on Tuesday, went a full day on Wednesday plus after school play with friends that day...and Thursday morning we were right back to the non-Ellie, awful behaviors that worried me so last term (though, in fairness, the awful faded quickly; alas, the tears have not...she was sobbing when I picked her up early today). I was able to schedule an observation for next Tuesday morning, and I have a meeting with her teacher one-on-one the next day. I have got to get to the bottom of this!

Ellie remembers and loves Grandmary, and she was so happy to see her walk off the plane! Stephanie, on the other hand, hasn't seen Grandmary since she was a wee baby in Holland (only a couple of months old), so she doesn't know her. You might recall that Stephanie is very wary of strangers. Since we've been Down Under, we have had next-to-no visitors (Markus's mom and sister came soon after we arrived, but no one since...well over a year). None of us are used to an extra person in the house. The first night, Stephanie had a terrible time resting until I opted to stay the night in her room (with her clutching my finger in her little fist for the first two plus hours). The second day, she seemed happy to see Grandmary for a while...but that didn't last the day. I have to say that I've been amazed she has handled it as well as she has done. She really does have a strong aversion to strangers, and this one is here all the time! Of course, the upswing is that makes this stranger much less of a stranger very quickly. I think everything will be normal soon. Grandmary is bearing it beautifully well. I can't imagine how hard it is for her, since she does know Stephanie and loves her. She is very patient and is letting Stephanie come to her in her own time. That helps a lot!

In order to give Grandmary time to settle (though she doesn't seem to need it!), we are sticking close to home this week. Next week, we will head "down south" for our own long weekend in the Margaret River wine region. In both of our previous trips, we stayed at simple vacation rentals in Dunsborough. I couldn't remember the name of the place, and in my google searching, I discovered Dunsborough Rail Carriages. We opted for their farm house. Their rentals are on a 100 acre property, and they apparently have some wild kangaroos that have become so habituated to humans that the owners leave kangaroo feed in all the rentals. We think the girls (especially animal-lover Stephanie) will be over the moon! Plus, this is Grandmary's first trip Down Under. She needs to see some kangaroos.

Tomorrow morning is my knitting group, so I'm taking Grandmary with me to meet my peeps. It's actually a knitting and crocheting group, so Grandmary (master crocheter) will fit right in! They are really looking forward to meeting her and asked in advance if they can call her "Grandmary" too.