19 September 2010

I have to get on a regular sleep schedule again! So tomorrow, a trip to the Y is in order. Time to get to working out and time to be so tired at night that I can actually stop thinking and start sleeping. Falling asleep at 9 is better than being up until 2.

Yes, indeed. As Julia says.

I have a "new" reader -- Hi, Alycia -- and I clicked on her thumbnail pic and then clicked on one of her other blog reads. There was a story of a family who lost three small children to a drunk driving accident and then went on to adopt twins from China. I am in awe. To rise from such tragedy and love again, and make a life again. They are my heroes. I am humbled.

Julia is downstairs playing with a therapist. They are playing dinosaur wedding and we just better work on Julia's social skill a whole lot over the next years! LOL!! She is the bride and she is telling her "groom" that he IS GOING TO MARRY HER! She will "steal" him if she needs to. I don't know how Tiffany is playing with a straight face. I am cracking up.

This morning -- very lazy and sweet -- was also very productive. We did nails. Truth be told, David was the one who has always taken care of the girls' nails -- as kids that is. He didn't file or polish, but he did cut and clean. I have never, ever, ever been good at it -- and because I bit my nail for most of my life, I didn't even have to do my own very much.

I don't really remember it being much of an issue with Cheshire, but Julia's nails grow at what seems an extraordinary rate and she gets them incredibly dirty -- dirt, clay, wax from wicky sticks. Bathing and brushing do little to clean those nails and my first really attempt at cutting and cleaning nails during the summer may have scarred the kid for life. So, this morning, I set the kitchen table up like a manicure station (still no polish, but I might get there yet) and put on a BBC Dinosaur show and did Julia's nail.

Success!!

I might apply for girly girl status yet. Well, maybe when I'm 70 or so.

Julia and I also sat down and did some home work. She read for me for about 20 minutes. Our reading in the evening is much less structured. She will read a page or a few sentences, and then I take over. I don't push her to sound out the beginnings of words. I want that time for her to enjoy the stories and to relax. This morning I made her try every word that she did not know. And I was impressed with her tenacity. The kid is learning how to read. We also worked on six very simple addition problems and she worked through them. Math continues to be very hard for her -- numbers are hard. But Julia is working. She will get it enough to survive. I believe that we will get to money sooner or later.

And a world class artist needs to know something about money.

Last week, my friend, Suzanne, gave me a dinosaur watch for Julia. Her son had learned to tell time with it and had abandoned this very cute watch. It needed a battery and so, I had put it on a kitchen window sill for a trip to a store. Julia "found" it and claimed it! So much better than giving it to her. She also remembers Suzanne's son (I'd say a bit of a crush has developed) and was very pleased that it was his watch. She agreed to take it off for sleep last night, but she is really intrigued by it and has it on. Now, all I have to do it get it off long enough to get that battery, and also make a big clock to start working on time telling.

Carpe diem. Indeed.

I have another hour of therapy time, and I need a break from school work. If I can dig out my grandmother's photos that I inherited when no one else wanted them, I am going to scan some and put them on discs for the rest of the family, including some cousins who I haven't seen in years but might see when I go back east in October.

Oh, and I am not feeling so sorry for myself today.

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