In the Dark

So, here we are, 9 short but significant blocks from electricity. This will just be a short post as we're all chillin' in Ben's office while the phones, etc.. charge up and there are emails to return, etc...

This is the second time we've descending and ascending the 19 flights to the apartment with Noa. She only had to be carried the last 7 flights on the way up which is pretty good. Once I'm back home I'll better be able to load a video of that - it's VERY slow going with her doing the steps herself, so carry her is at least a little faster.

So far we've selected to stay home, though if it looks like this will last beyond tomorrow night we may make an escape just because I think we'll have emptied the bathtubs of flushing water and after that conditions rapidly deteriorate. 

As much as it's a pain to get Noa up and down the stairs, the thought of packing out is pretty daunting. Noa doesn't travel light and keeping her occupied in a strange place can be challenging and require a ton more work on our parts. Besides the climb down and up is enough exercise that she's pretty exhausted by the end of the day, which is good for all of us. She seems to like the stairs (mostly). And she certainly enjoys all the family time.

Last night Ben went out to Yoga (the Yoga places being just on the other side of the electricity border). We'd had a somewhat spirited conversation about whether or not he should go, so I don't know if it was hearing us have that converstaion or just her realizing that something was amiss in general (we don't really know how much she is aware of the electric being off - aside from the stairs) but when it was time to go to bed she wanted Daddy and when I said he'd be home later she got very upset. She started to cry and signed that she was sad. It was pretty dramatic - we don't usually see that kind of reaction from Noa. After all, we both are sometimes out in the evening so she is used to having just one of us at bedtime. I reminded that that Daddy said "bye-bye, see you later" and "love you" when he left, and that he'd be back soon but she was pretty upset.

Perhaps even more remarkable - though remarkable mostly in its normalacy, is that I really just had to lay there in bed with her and hold her - and she held me back - until she calmed down. Usually I hold her, and maybe we listen to some music and rock back and forth, this was really the first time she held me and very much in the way one would expect any 7 year-old who was feeling like something was different and not good. Finally she cheered up and we counted beads together for a while until she consented to lay down in her own bed. She was still awake when Ben got home and was very happy to get a big hug from Daddy.

It's always difficult when you child is upset and scared, but I have to say that it was also somehow re-assuring that in whatever way it happened, she understood that something was going on and it was creating some tension or difference or discomfort - and she was communicated that to me. That's big.

Anyway - more when I can. Cheers and safety to all!