December 23

This week we got 22 hrs and 45 min. It was a pretty amazing week overall with many beautiful moments in several sessions.

We have started having her drink veggie/chicken or veggie/pork stock to help pave the way for GAPS when she will initially only be offered stock and soup made with pureed veggies. This has been going well when we offer a cookie if she finishes it. I know this is slightly more ABA than Son-Rise but we've been doing such things regarding food for a while and it works and it gives me hope that Sarah won't totally starve when we start GAPS. I've been drinking the stock too and it is actually quite tasty. I've been having many conversations with Sarah about how exciting it will be in January to change the way we eat to be healthier to help our bodies feel really good and heal if they need to heal. I talk about the fun new recipes we will discover and how we will "drink Chicken STOCK in a mug." She loves the word stock and laughs as she tries to say it. I am also visualizing that the GAPS intro will go smoothly and that Sarah will eat (rather than going on a hunger strike).

We have been out of ice cream and it has been ok. Not much asking, not much screaming. Sarah has instead rekindled her love of eating margarine or butter straight and she has been eating more yogurt.

One of my favorite Sarah-Rise sessions started with Sarah's newest favorite game: the Tea Party. When she requested it I asked if we were going to have the party in the sand or snow. She said snow so then I pretended that everything was cold. She liked the idea of cold cake and repeated it several times. When she turned her attention to the holes in my jean shorts (that I was wearing over my pants) I started saying we could fix the holes with parts of the tea party. I sang "there's a hole in my jean shorts, dear Sarah, dear Sarah" to the tune of "there's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza." and then had a new verse about each item of the tea party fixing the hole. She then mentioned going to a party at dad's work, which we did a few weeks ago. I said that she had eaten cookies and a roll at the party. She then said that she was all done with her roll. I repeated it with great emphasis which she seemed to enjoy. Then she put herself across my lap and said "no roll." I pretended to taste her to confirm that she was not a roll. I then continued pretend eating her while guessing which item of food she might be. Somehow we deduced that she was a juice box that, when squeezed, would spill juice all over, necessitating mopping up with the tea party table cloth. She reinitiated the squeeze game several times by saying "skeeze," all while sitting on my lap. This was such a fun, surprising play time. I love it when we end up with a game that I never imagined and that we get there through joint contributions. After this super connected time she asked for play dough and I had a lovely time joining with semi-exclusive play, opening and closing the containers. Then she spent maybe 30 being very exclusive. I was comfortable with the exclusivity but realized that I wasn't giving myself the super great connected feeling that I had with the tea party/juice box game or the warm connected feeling that I had with the play dough. The gentle question is why not? I think I was still somehow in a waiting mode or feeling like it wasn't as productive, even while knowing it is helpful to be there because it offers the opportunity for connection. Carl commented later that it was the absolute best thing I could do at that moment given that the other activities were no longer options. That is such a helpful perspective for me.

Other fun play moments: Carl made a contraption out of the play tool kit and the ribbons that he and Sarah determined was a leg swing (for her leg). G. played with the blanket tent, falling out of it and then saying a big hello when he would come back in. Sarah picked up on this and added some of her own greetings and invitations for him to come back in the tent. S. played with balloons and created Bob the Balloon who ate prunes under the blanket tent. Sc. found a Mr. Potato Head tent that has velcro for the face pieces and has two doors - what a perfect toy that capitalizes on so many of Sarah's loves. Sonia had a whispered conversation with Sarah where they talked about whispering.

It is super wonderful having Sonia back and I'm really glad that she went to the Start-Up. It has helped bring renewed clarity and oomph to our program and our lifestyle implementation of Son-Rise.

We have Sonia's husband visiting for Christmas and Sarah is thrilled. When he comes in the door she isn't upset about not getting to go out of the door! We are thrilled to have him here too and are trying to make Pittsburgh seem like the best place in the world.

I hope you all have a wonderful end of December, whatever holiday you celebrate. I am deeply grateful for all of you in my life. I know it's not quite the New Year, but I have been reflecting on this past year. This was the year that Sarah really learned to talk. This was the first year of Sarah-Rise with volunteers. What a year!