All Well That Ends Well

We (Mark, Sierra-Lynn and I) went to see Dr. Judkins today. She is a family psychologist. At first I wasn't sure want to think, but everything went pretty well. She told us that with all of the death and other stresses that have been in our lives the past few years, we are actually very lucky that Sierra-Lynn is doing as well as she is. Most children don't handle stress well (especially the amount that we have endured), according to her, we are lucky that Sierra-Lynn is not a violent child. The fact that she can tell us what is bothering her, that she is able to say "Mommy, I don't want to wear that because Papa isn't here" (though hurtful, it's always said about her 'princess' dresses that I made her), is a good thing. It means that she is dealing with her emotions.

The same can be said about her obsessions, when she is playing, about death. She is constantly "calling" 911 because her baby is hurt or someone died. She gave us some pointers on how to help her to deal with that so that she is not always playing that someone is dying, so that she can move on from that. Rest assured Sierra-Lynn will still have her bad days, but now I don't have to feel like such a failure as a mom, now I can help her to deal.

Our follow up is a phone call in a month or two to let her know how Sierra-Lynn is doing and if by then she is still having "death" play, then we take her back. If not, if everything is back to normal, then we just relax and enjoy life together. Doctor's orders are to take this year to rest and enjoy being with each other. A year to take it easy! What will I do with my time?

The other day, I was finally able to get Sierra-Lynn to wear one of the dresses that I made her for her birthday (I had to remind her that her best friend Ella has one too), and she wanted me to take a picture of her. She actually went and got the camera and brought it to me so that I could take her picture. I thought that I would pass it along to you.