February 21

Sarah read a level 2 beginning reader book, that she had never seen before, almost all by herself!!! The book was Miss Bindergarten and the Very Wet Day. Overall, she seems more comfortable with reading books than she sometimes has been.

I am getting better at letting the girls help with some tasks around the house. Sarah often helps fill the humidifier. This week Amy helped more with that too, using two pitchers at once. Sarah asked to help me fix dinner one night and she helped me cut strips of red pepper into chunks for cooking. Often I don’t want help, but I realize that that may be holding the girls back a bit with their capabilities.

Sarah had a rough morning on Wednesday, just as she had had a rough morning the previous week. She had lots of tears again. Thursday and Friday went mostly smoothly. We are still sorting out her digestion and dirty/clean undies situation. Setting a clear goal last week helped me move forward with removing eggs and sprouted wheat bagels from her diet (again). I think that maybe those items were ok in smaller amounts but having one or both every day in some form was not agreeing with her system. I don’t know if that is my hope or not, but I do hope to resolve the situation. My goals for Amy included having her drink more fluids and eat more fruits and veggies. Telling her specific amounts of how many servings seems to have helped tremendously and the past few days she has done an excellent job.

I had been on medication to prevent cluster headaches for quite a while and it is important not to be in a cluster for a year because my body may then get accustomed to headaches, whether they are severe or so mild that I don’t really count them. I tried to wean off of the medicine before I was clear of headaches because they were so mild it seemed safe to do. I went for few weeks without any problem but in the past week I have had real, no-joke, wake-me-up-in-the-night headaches. I am back on the meds. I have an appointment in April to have a nerve block shot in the back of my head to interrupt the cycle but I am going to call to see if I can move that appointment sooner. I am freaked out about the procedure but having two nights in a row with bad headaches helps me look past my squeamishness.

Sarah didn’t always like wearing hair clips and one day I mentioned that if she had bangs then she wouldn’t need a hair clip. She started asking for bangs and she felt strongly that Sonia needed be present. On Friday afternoon we all went to get Sarah’s hair cut and now she has bangs. I am still getting used to it, but I do enjoy not needing to find lost hair clips.

I am thinking of ways to re-energize our program so that we have more specific and individualized focal points for our times with Sarah, whether in or out of the room. I am inspired by how another Son-Rise mom organizes her home schooling with each volunteer focusing on a subject. We will see how this goes, but I feel excited.