Summer and Stimulation needs

Hello again everyone.

I find myself apologizing for an extended absence, yet again.  The upside is that I do not post when there is nothing to report and hopefully have only interesting posts, if irregular in schedule.  I also love conversation, so please feel free to send me a message and/or leave a comment.  It gets me excited to interact with people of similar interests, and I will not publish your comment if you ask me not to, of course!  They do not automatically post on this blog.

Summer has begun.  We have already had heat indexes and one family member who seems to have suffered due to heat.  I hope you are all keeping well and finding fun ways to keep cool.

We moved during the last school year, and the house is wonderful.  We love it.  It fits our lifestyle and family so much better than the previous place, and we are very thankful for the change. 

Moving was also a lot of work!  I cannot imagine downsizing after several decades in the same house!  Logically, we all know that moving is always work.  We had purged a few years ago anticipating a move, and then purged again before the move . . . . twice.  We still found toddler things from M in some of the boxes our amazing friends helped us pack in the end.  How did they hide all this time?!  I like to think I'm pretty organized, but moving was an eye-opener! 

As a result, I strongly urge anyone interested to join a decluttering facebook group, read a book on minimalist life, or whatever motivates you to reclaim your space!  A couple of books recommended to me have been You Can Buy Happiness and It's Cheap, The Joy of Less, and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up to list just a few resource.  The statistic that sticks with me from college (no, I will not tell you how long ago that was, lol) is that we spend 80% of our time using 20% of our stuff and 100% of our time maintaining 100% of our stuff.  Seriously, looking at it takes energy, even if you don't clean.  You'll feel less stress and more in control when you dump stuff.  And if you decide you want something later, a lot of that stuff is easy to grab.

M did an amazing job during the move.  She arranged her room and handled decorating decisions with her own enjoyment and user-friendliness in mind.  It has become her oasis, and we were surprised how mature she was about the whole thing.  Her parents tried to do the same thing, mostly with success.

A lot of people told us their child of that age would never let them move, or that they would make it miserable.  M gave us her opinions, and acccepted the decisions that weren't hers to make mostly with grace, which is pretty amazing!  When grandparents came to the unpacked house for the first time, she handled half the tour, pointing out things that she really liked, some being ideas I worked on which was sweet.  The fact that she didn't have to switch to a different school weekdays made the trnasition easier, definitely, but there was still plenty of transition.

Summer came on pretty fast with all of that going on during the school year, especially since it ended with her first official final exam administered by a different person.  It was for a lab science, including a fair amount of lab work, and she did very well, as we knew she would.  Being her first experience like it, she was nervous and extra proud that it went well.

After that, it can feel like the world skids to a stop with the season change.  We hear about the lazy days of summer.   I remember them when I was in school, before college, when I spent all summer in the water, on my bike or reading.  This summer, with the changes we've made, we have more time than previous years.  It sounds like a dream, but with people who have a high need for brain stimulation, it can be a challenge.

We chose to do some homeschool work this year.  M was on board for that, after seeing for herself that she gets anxious and in a bad mood when she isn't stimulated enough.  We aren't doing a lot of schoolwork, tho. 

She also was invited to do a Skype book club with some people far away, and was completely honored.  The amazing mom who is coordinating it used a book list from their school district and invited other local girls to do that, including many civil rights themed books.  There are others, of course, but I like the idea of the diversity of civil rights things to consider at the same time.  I know M will consider the different scenarios, contrast them, see similarities, and then think about her outlook into her everyday world.

Our new neighborhood is quite different from the last one, even though we are technically in the same city.  I wasn't sure if M would be really uncomfortable with the changes, excited, or something else entirely.  Neighbors chat with her, tell us how happy she seems, and how well-spoken she is.  I love that she feels comfortable talking to most people, and that she is seeing more diversity and still approaching everyone as a person.  Not all the same, but all equally human.

Maybe that's too deep and heavy for summer.  We are also spending plenty of time in the water and letting her run around outside with friends, of course.  If you ask M what she's thinking about, tho, you'll often hear about what she's reading, so we're keeping her well-stocked.  Some of them are audio books, so she can do artistic things or kinetic things at the same time, which is also nice.

And just to loop it back to the purging/minimalist theme, we're using the library a ton.  It's inexpensive (cause your taxes pay for it, so you might as well use it).  We use the kindle app options, some digital audio options through the library and some physical books, as well as some activities at the libraries.  Check it out if you're interested.  If you're not sure if you need to keep all your books, see if it's something available at the library.

OK, one final thing to stop at least one of my friends from hyperventilating.  If books are your version of teddy bears - like you need to cuddle them and you feel loved surrounded by them - by all means, keep your books!  It was just one example.  Each of us in this household had at least one area we did not purge.  That's the beauty of it.  If you minimize the things that you can, having a couple of collections works with less effort.  Just minimize the number of collections ;)

Hopefully, I'll keep up with y'all this summer.  Either way, remember that play is important for your health, so arrange some for you and yours, maybe including water this summer.  Stay cool!