Summer changes

I have not pushed the alphabet work this week. I mean, the kid is pretty tired when she gets off the bus and I wanted to keep our walking to the bus stop pretty lights and breezy because it is such a step forward for her. As it turns out, we have only missed two days this week and even during those two days, we managed to sing the alphabet, sign the letters we know, or do some game. Summer learning is going well. There are days when I see Julia begin to enjoy sitting down at her little table -- Cheshire's table really, the one that my brother made and our dear friend Jim Jones painted -- and get into the work mode. No, it is not smooth and she does not fly through the alphabet sheets or drawings that we do. There can be lots of resistence or stalling, or fooling around. There is at least one sheet a day that is aimed at following directions. On that sheet, I do not allow other drawing, putting feet on letters, or coloring in shapes or anything but what the directions are -- right now drawing circles around the appropriate letter in a specific color. This sheet should take her about 2 minutes tops, and yet at times it takes 5-10. Guiding her through this single sheet each day is like breaking a horse to saddle. I do make a big deal of it when she finishes -- lots of high fives.

I am really learning finger spelling and I see that Julia enjoys doing it. We we go through the random list of letters we have learned and she is unsure of a letter, I see her hand begin to form the letter. We need to do more kinestic learning!

I wonder if it has something to do with the brushing that we are doing. We have been at it part-time, twice or three times a day, for about two months. The week Julia had off, I did it multiple times during the day which is the more normal protocol.

There is the beginning of a change in Julia use of words. I don't know if I can quantify it. Yesterday, she jumped off the bus and said a very big, "hello" to me, followed by "I missed you!" Tell me that was not music to my ears, but besides that, it seemed so direct and directed, as if a fog had been lifted and this revised child had stepped forth. She is also beginning to invent words or phrases -- she told me that herring (which she loves as much as her mom, dad, and Babja!) was fish pickles.

All parents wonder if they are the best parents for this children, but I think that I wonder this more with Julia whom we chose as our daughter. This is not an issue of love, but one of means and temperment and the kind of family like that we have. What is we lived in a bigger house, in another town, with many more children, would my child grow better. These days, today, I feel that Julia, being the only child home and with two, a-hem, mature parents, would not be in a better place. She is gaining greatly from our devotion, our time, and our rather quiet persistence. It is very good to feel this way once in a while.