Winter Show

Akila had her Winter Show performance this weekend, it was a long weekend. She danced four days in a row- class Wednesday night, rehearsals on Thursday and Friday night, and two performances on Saturday. I had to work at all of these, Saturday being a very long day.

Akila did pretty well considering. Last spring, I hired my niece to watch Akila backstage and to help her. She was not available this year and this was challenging. Michael and the kids came to watch the Saturday night performance, then they typically bring Akila home afterwards while I stay and clean up (I work at the dance studio).

When getting her ready to go, I could tell she had some stuff in her bag that did not belong there. I told her we needed to make sure people did not accidentally put their stuff in her bag but she would not let us look in it. She threw a major fit. She had several Brat dolls, and a leotard in her dance bag, which did not belong to her. We did not get mad, just told her that we would make sure they got back to the right owner so some little girl would not be sad. Well this did not work.

Akila melted down. Right in the middle of the lobby and tons of people. I finally told Michael to just drag her outside and sent her coat with the kids. She was kicking and swearing the whole way out. It was a lovely scene. But it is so worth it. Dancing is something that she feels pride in, loves to do, and is somewhat good at. She loves to perform also and it is fun to watch her.

Michael had a very rough ride home with her, and a hard time getting her to bed. I'm not going to lie, I was glad to not go home. We always go out for a late dinner at the end of a performance. I took my time. I got home late, and was wiped out on Sunday. I was up until about midnight on Sunday night working on a medical assistance application for Akila- those things are quite complicated. Wow.

Anyway, when I went to bed at midnight, I realized Akila was still awake. I gave her some different medication, and went to bed myself. And then I laid in bed paranoid. I finally got up, and went into the bathroom and laid down to read a book. Really comfortable, I know. But she was still not done messing around and I had to go in a couple of times to get her to lay down. She was just wide awake- the dosage is obviously wrong on this new medication. She finally fell asleep just after 1:00, and I was so ready to go to bed.

I emailed the Dr. right away in the morning and he had us increase her dose. Last night, it worked great, and tonight she fell asleep, and I am just keeping my fingers crossed that she stays asleep. I spent the whole day at the Honda dealership getting the sliding door fixed on our minivan. It has been broken for months, the sliding part. Then a month ago, I broke the handle off it as well- so the door has not been able to open at all, the driver side middle sliding door.

This has become a problem as when I have to pick up the kids from school (since Akila can't handle the bus), it is in downtown Minneapolis, on a one way street. The school is on the left side of the road so when I pull up to the school, the kids have to walk into the street into traffic to get in the door that actually works. So, over $600 later, it is still not fixed. After 3 hours, I paid and they said it was fixed. It was not and thankfully I tried it before I left. They brought it back and started to work on it again, and over 5 hours later I went and said that I had to pick up my kids and would need to leave in 30 minutes.

They hooked me up with a rental, a Honda Pilot SUV. Well this was a great distraction for Akila when I picked her up from school, she was pretty excited. When the other 3 kids got home from their afterschool classes, we went out to Perkins for dinner so they could all ride in the SUV. Michael is working late, so I was glad to get out of the house and I was starving. I did not have breakfast or lunch since I was sitting at Honda all day- unless you call the pop tart from the vending machine lunch, or breakfast.