When I got home from work yesterday, I already had a pounding headache. Jessica and Namine were still doing school. Namine had only one more thing to do before her day was done, but she was being difficult. With my head pounding, I took over school for Jessica so she could have a break.
Namine had just started writing a book about the days of the week, and things that a farmer had to do. (You know, things like watering the field, repairing the fence, that kind of thing.) Namine needed little persuasion from me; she wrote her sentences fairly quickly, and with little frustration between us. Sometimes it’s like that — sometimes you just need a break with one parent to spend time with the other.
Unfortunately, we were interrupted just after writing about Friday by the fire alarm. From within the apartment we barely heard it; Jessica, sitting in her chair (relaxing from the little hellion Namine can be), asked me, “Do you hear a buzzing?” I had originally thought it to be the washer — it sometimes makes a buzzing sound. But I got up and opened the door, and as soon as I did the noise became louder. I stepped outside and clearly heard the fire alarm emanating from the building’s exterior. With that, I ushered Namine (conveniently already in her wheelchair because she sits in it to do schoolwork) out the door. Jessica slipped on her shoes and followed close behind.
It turned out to be nothing; a neighbor set his pizza on fire, but no one was injured. Still, Jessica and I used this as a teaching moment, instructing Namine to get out of the apartment and find an adult (of which there are many, since someone lives in every apartment). It’s good that she can get herself into her wheelchair and, once in it, can open the door with little trouble. Getting her wheels over the threshold used to be too difficult for her, but with her arms stronger than ever, that is no longer a problem.
With the fire alarm going off, my headache was going nowhere but worse. So Namine and I took the opportunity to take a short walk; when we got back fifteen minutes or so later, the alarms were off and we could go back inside. There was a policeman there talking with people, so we let Namine introduce herself. He told her about his “Batman belt,” as he called it, and he showed her inside his car. She asked him to turn on the siren, but that wouldn’t have been a good idea, since the fire alarm had only a few minutes prior been turned off.
We headed back inside so Namine could finish writing about the last two days (this particular week had started on Monday), which Namine was fine with. She insisted, however, that she couldn’t do it without her cat ears. Sure, why not?
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