may 2016

One of the projects I got to work on in May was the New Visions/New Voices festival at the Kennedy Center. It is a week-long festival/workshop for new works for young audiences and families. I got brought on to be the ASM for the African playwrights, because my friend and colleague Maribeth was the SM and she recommended me. Because there were 2 directors for those 5 plays, the way it ended up working was that Maribeth took on one set of plays, directed by Scot Reese, and I took on the other set, directed by Yvette Hardie. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to do it again next time! I've since gotten more than one job offer from the man who runs the Theatre for Young Audiences division at the Kennedy Center, because he was impressed by my work during the festival, but sadly I haven't been able to accept any of them because I'm already busy. But it's still nice to expand my network!

Jed made a card and decorated a flower pot at preschool for Mothers' Day, though the flower in the flower pot was a little worse for the wear by the time we got it home (he insisted on putting it in a plastic grocery bag so I wouldn't see the surprise, and the pot didn't stay upright...). The pot also got knocked off the stand a couple of times, so the poor flowers didn't last long...but I loved it all anyway. Scott and Jed made me a wonderful breakfast in bed, complete with Jed running in and out of my bedroom excitedly -

• "Good morning Mama!!! Here is a surprise for you! It is a flower in a pot. And some CHOCOLATE! It looks delicious. Would you love to share it with our whole family, because you love our family? And are you ready to eat it NOW? There are 3 chocolate bars, and 3 people in our family, so each of us could have one if you want." (To Jed's credit, put in my situation that is exactly what he would do - split the treat evenly)
• "Hi Mama, here is a fork for you. You will need a fork for the special dinner we are making right now."
• "Look, just like you asked for when we asked you what you wanted for your Mothers' Day breakfast, WHIPPED CREAM! I can't open it though."
• "Hey Mama, what do you want to drink? Milk or orange juice?"
• (bringing both options to show me) "Okay, when you said 'orange juice' did you mean real orange juice made with oranges, or peach mango juice? Just checking."
• "Hi Mama. Do you like your food very much? It looks delicious. Are you doing very well?"
• "Today is a special day where YOU get to do the first half of my screen time with me because it is MOTHERS' DAY! Isn't that special?"
• "Mama, I love you."

In sacrament meeting, he got up with the other kids and sang the Mothers' Day songs louder and more enthusiastically than anyone. After our experience on Easter, where he knew all the words to the song but then absolutely panicked when it came time to get up in front of everyone and refused, I didn't know how it was going to go. But we had very recently realized the extent to which he has anxiety, and had begun working with him on it - being more understanding about what he needed, giving him tools to cope with and manage it - and had helped him prepare in a way that made it possible for him to do it. When he got up and actually sang, I was so overjoyed I thought my heart would burst.

The day after Mothers' Day, Don and Carol came out to visit us and we had a fabulous time as always! Carol and I took Jed to Watkins Regional Park, played with bubbles, and generally had a grand time. On the days that Don wasn't working, we went to the Air and Space Museum II, went to see Looking for Roberto Clemente at Imagination Stage, had Rita's ice cream, and more fun things.

We discovered a new park in May, the Martin Luther King Jr Park. Jed was so excited about it that we went back 3 times that first week!

I had started to wonder whether Jed had Celiac, or at least had a gluten sensitivity, partly due to his anxiety and partly due to his frequent complaint of stomach aches. So I spoke with his pediatrician, and took him in to get a blood test done. He was not particularly happy about it, though honestly the reaction AFTER it was over was way worse than when it was actually happening.

Toward the end of May we had a multi-stake youth dance, luau-themed. It is always a lot of work to do all the decorations, but I get help and it is rewarding at the end. A friend of mine puts together all the food and always does an amazing job.

A friend of ours who had moved up to NYC ended up needing to come back down to DC a couple times for work. So she brought her kids with her and we had them over at our house to play for a couple of days, which Jed LOVED. He hadn't interacted with them incredibly much while they lived here - they weren't in the same age group in Primary at church - but he had lots of fun while they were at our house. He was particularly interested in the 6-year-old girl, Elle. None of them wanted the fun days to end!

At the end of the preschool year, the older classes put on a play for the parents. I wasn't sure if Jed was going to participate, given what we knew about his anxiety, but we worked and prepared and he actually did it just fine! He was SO proud of himself and I was proud of him too.

A few more pictures of fun from May! One day we went to the splash fountain at University Town Center and Jed brought his new beach ball, and another day we played on the playground at preschool and watched John and Veronica so Shari could get some work done.