Spicy Dragons & Dinosaurs

Julia and I are on the front deck putting numbers in order. Now that she goes up to 80 it does take a long time. I admire her persistence but I wish it could go quicker. I wonder about the value of searching for each number in the pile, handling each number tile, and making the grid. She is still not perfect. She can get confused with the order of the digits, e.g., 45 for 54, and also the order of the numbers, e.g., reversing 46 and 47. My hope is that each time she puts the numbers in physical order that it cements it into her brain. I don't think that just reading the numbers on a finished grid would do the same thing -- or at least, not as effectively. I expect to go to 100 by the end of this week, and then, practice that two or three times a week when school starts. I aim for such a low number of repetitions a week because full time school, plus 20 hours of at home therapy and another 4.5 hours of other therapy, leaves scant time for me to work with her. I could shift this task to therapists but I like that it is especially ours.

I moved Julia to 13 minutes of Strong Sitting today. I would like to get to 15 minutes before school each day but this is a big undertaking for us considering that she boards the bus a bit past 7 in the morning. This year, pick up is 7:20, instead of 7:00, so we do have about 10 extra minutes. Early mornings are not easy for Julia and I. However, I remain optimistic.

Cheshire is home this week for R&R. She wants to eat healthy, exercise, and hang out. This is lovely. I enjoy the adult companionship so much, and after all, it is Cheshire.

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary; the 28th is our Family Day with Julia. I am not as sad this year as last to be in this alone. Julia was talking the other day, when we were waiting in the airport for Cheshire's plane to arrive, about how our family used to be 3 with Daddy and now it is 2, but when Cheshire comes home it is 3 again. I was so pleased to hear her using numbers, and she was trying to make me happy. I did not tell her that our family used to be 4 and is no longer that. Still, I am so grateful for this child who bends and stretches me in ways I would have never done myself.