Friday check up

Julia has found a new character that she has fallen in love with. Angelina the Ballerina -- a British mouse who loves to dance and has very interesting adventure. Daddy, the wonder man, brought home two Angelina DVDs and we found an Angelina book at the library. Julia is dancing around the house as Angelina Julia. I admit liking Angelina very much. She has a best friend and a little cousin that she takes care of. There are "mean" girls about who are challenging to deal with for Angelina and a beloved ballet teacher (doesn't hurt that Judi Dentch does the voice over for the teacher). It is gentle and sweet. And we are always looking to tame our Spicy Dragon.

I have been meaning to take pictures of Julia's room. It is almost all complete. I have a few things to hang but most of it is done. Julia does like it a lot. We've started going upstairs for our bed routine earlier as it is getting darker and darker early. Last night, we played a game -- spill the beans -- before getting into bed for reading. Julia is really beginning to enjoy simple games. I was worried that that would never happen.

We had family therapy this week, and I still don't know about our shrink. He does not seem to have many ideas that we have not tried. He keeps telling me things that I know, and is still not very positive about having a good, or maybe a conventional, parent/child relationship when you adopt. We will keep him for now and see him every other week, but if I am not learning something new or I cannot see anything coming from his work with us by the end of the year, we will switch. Of course, that will mean fighting the insurance company for someone who is off their list.

I wrote a small PTO grant for a play social group. I have not found someone to teach/direct it, and I have no idea if the PTO will fund such a thing, but it is worth a try. Julia participates in a small group like this in school about a half hour a week. Increasing that time by another instance and another hour or so would serve her well. I know at least three other kids who are/were in her class that could use it. I am sure that we'd find another 3-6 in the rest of the school. If we could do it for free (with the grant), it would benefit these kids. Julia wants to have friends.

In Julia news, Julia pulled the fire alarm as we were leaving therapy. There is a first time for everything. I did not tell her not to do it because she never has shown the slightest desire to touch fire alarms. She is noticing things, smaller things, in her world these days. I guess the red box on the wall was suddenly for touching. I apologized over and over to the receptionists at the med center and then we left. As we got into the car, we could see that the whole building had emptied out. Julia was very sorry for all of the noise that she caused -- good that pulling the alarm had an effect that she didn't like. I don't think she will do it again.

But I am beyond embarrassment. What a wonderful lesson that child teaches.

Julia also is exploring feelings and is showing signs of empathy. She asks me all the time when I raise my voice if I am angry. This started a bit ago but esculates daily. She is also interested when I am happy or sad or if I hurt -- many times as a result of what she is doing. There there is a little book she brought home from school with faces and feelings. She is learning the word frustrated, and is all over the book on pronounciation. I explained the feeling to her and told her that I thought she was frustrated many times. She is now trying to use it, not always correctly, but she is getting closer to the mark.

Ginny reported that twice last week, Julia had a hard time settling into Math. Having a hard time doing math is a long running problem, but Ginny reports that once Julia has settled down, she is doing some of her math and seems happy with what she is doing. Oh, I hope so. I have not been working on math at all with her. We will count occasionally, often at times, but my goals center around reading and the home work we do is geered to that. One thing at a time seems to work the best around here, and so, we do different kinds of reading work and play games which is mainly about taking turns and working together and at the same time.

Another thing that was reported this week, by Christy this time, was that Julia seemed to be "with" them more often, that is, she was not as much in her own world and focused on what was going on in the classroom. I hope that one day Julia can tell me/us of the worlds she has lived in. With her imagination, it could be anything and anywhere. During my loneliest years -- middle school when I noticed that other people had friends -- I lived in an imaginary world, but mine was a loneliness in a life of plenty and in a life rich with inspiration from books and the media. What was and is hers?

Our big events this weekend, with Daddy visiting Cheshire in the Big Apple, are the Franklin dance tomorrow night, painting the bathroom and trying out paint in the kitchen and hall, and possibly carving pumpkins if we have time. Oh, and I have my first sunday school class to teach. Oh, and pictures!!!