Tuesday morning

We woke up late this morning -- 7 a.m. -- David had left for work already. I dressed Julia before we went downstairs and we ate in front of the TV watching her favorite letter/spelling show, "Super Y." Then she became cantankerous. She didn't want to brush teeth, comb hair, or go to camp. I pushed her steadily to do those things and we rode the bike to the camp bus. (Notice my attempt to mix up the way that we get to the bus stop.) She was fine on the bike ride. She is getting better at keeping her balance and she likes the speed and the wind blowing in her face.

When we got to the bus stop, she did a lot of yelling -- No bus, I hate bus, Julia go home, Julia not go camp bus. Anyone who didn't know she was capable of that behavior, knows now. Yes, I can still be a bit embarassed. I speak calmly to her but try to enforce and re-enforce that message that she is getting on the bus and going to camp.

I think that I see her give up a bit -- her bravado blows over, and she is ready to bow to my will. Oh, the delicate line between teaching her and breaking her incredible spirit. I am hoping for the first, and expect that she will need the later to fly into her adult life. She finds some sticks to play with and eventually when it is time to get on the bus, she happily gets on and waves as it pulls away. She scares her counselors, but I tell them that when she has mornings like this in school, she is usually good as gold the rest of the day. At least, that's what her teachers tell me.

I received lots of answers to my question about diet and supplement and autism. I have to write lots of thank yous and have a chunk of research to do. Cutting out food from our diet is something we can just try ourselves, but giving Julia supplements is something I pause at. Maybe we need a doc visit once I figure out what looks good.

We have been making headway on our letters and also on reading our first two sight "words" which are "a" and "I." Making her read these words as we read a book at night can slow down the action, but it also makes me realize how frequently she is focused on the printing in any book. Not much in general, but sometimes I get her attention quite well. It can be amazing how few A's and I's there are in a story.

Today, I'd like to do her evening lesson on another sight word. I am thinking of adding "and" to our list. I notice lots of and's in stories.