August 18

This week I do not know exactly how many hours we got, nor will I know precisely from this point forward. I have decided to stop my meticulous tracking. Egad!! At first this seemed like a relief and then I started to freak out. Then I realized that my freaking out was due to thinking that ceasing to track somehow also meant ceasing to follow a schedule. Once I realized that I could still adhere to a schedule and do so as determinedly as ever, then I felt better. With some things it is more effective to say "this is what we are doing now" rather than giving a choice.

Carl's helpful perspective: I am running a full time Sarah-Rise program. Part of this includes several hours of one-on-one Son-Rise play in our dedicated room. Part of this includes GAPS, Becky's Program, and doing Son-Rise as a lifestyle as much as possible. Sometimes I was hurrying Sarah downstairs so we could go be relaxed together in the SR room. I am hoping that not tracking will allow me to be more relaxed about the process so that at least I don't hurry up and disconnect in my effort to relax and connect.

Sarah had her annual hearing test on Monday. Her hearing continues to be in great shape and she gets better every year about allowing things to be put into her ears. For the part in a sound-proof room the audiologist put out some toys and then asked Sarah to show her specific things. Sarah immediately started doing imaginative play, incorporating what the person asked for and then making solid eye contact (I was behind her). So awesome!!

We have bid farewell to two volunteers as they return to college. I knew this time was coming but I still feel a bit sad. At least I will see them both again in the future. For the fall our schedule is changing a lot. We will be losing 1 or 2 more volunteers and Sarah will attend preschool 2 mornings a week, with either Sonia or myself in attendance (at least at the beginning). I'm not sure Sarah needs an attendant but for those few moments when she does it is nice if it is one of us. And observing her in school is very helpful so we know what to focus on in the SR room. We will also be having a field trip morning when Sonia and I will take the girls out to a different place each week (eg. zoo, aviary, museums). With two adults and two children I think we can do an outing and still be very attentive and flexible and hopefully not too stressed!

Highlights:
During an afternoon session of Becky's music, Sarah picked up a baby doll and made it dance.

Seemingly out of the blue, Sarah said she wanted to mail a letter to G. so we made a card together. She wrote "H U" very clearly. Then when I prompted for her signature she scribbled at the bottom. which is very different from when I ask her to write her name and she does her version of printing it. Both are illegible but so earnest I can barely stand the adorableness.

I made a game and it was a huge success. I was thinking that one of our long term goals is for Sarah to play games the way they are meant to be played. I was also thinking about how much she loves Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. With some helpful suggestions from M. about things to include in the game, I made it. (picture below) It is a simple board game with game pieces made from a cut up egg carton and pictures of the characters glued on top. You roll a die and then move through some of the events from Alexander's day, either answering questions about the event or acting it out. The first person to reach Australia wins.The first time I brought the game out, Sarah and I played for 45 minutes! Almost fully interactively. She still needs a lot of coaching about when to roll and to keep the game pieces on the board, but in terms of creating a game that caters to her interest this is a clear win. Her favorite part is when the elevator door closes on Alexander's foot. As soon as she starts trying to recite that part she laughs so much she can barely get the words out. I discovered last night that an Alexander game already exists, but it looks too chaotic and complicated for where we are at the moment. It was so exciting to have a vision and make it real.

This week has felt like an emotional roller coaster. Some times I have felt like the best mom ever (creating the Alexander game). Other times I have felt like a total fraud, doubting myself and berating myself for getting mad repeatedly. Stopping tracking the hours combined with continued digestive issues for Sarah kicked up some emotional dust bunnies so I could see them more clearly. Sometimes I feel like I must be able to prove that what we are doing is THE best most effective thing and that it is going to work and that if the outcome is unknown or we have anything other than forward progress then how can I rationalize spending so much time and effort and so much of Sonia's time and effort. And since I have a full-time helper then how can I still have trouble getting everything done or feel stressed at all? etc. It is strange to me that this can coexist with my noticing daily amazing progress. Noticing the daily amazingness is when I have eyes of love, trust, and gratitude. Worrying that I am not doing enough, can never do enough, and am wasting everyone's time is when I have eyes of fear. I have a book (Emmanuel's Book by Judith Stanton) that says something to the effect of "there are no guarantees. from the viewpoint of love, none are necessary. from the viewpoint of fear, none are enough." That's not an exact quotation, but it is the gist of it and it captures my different feelings and perspectives. Perhaps the biggest question for me to ponder is why do I need to be the best?

Anywho, I hope you are all having lovely weekends. May your visions become successful realities.

August 11

This week we got 18 1/2 hours. This was a low week due to my being sick for 4 days (the last two of which I was just a lump and Sonia and Carl did everything). Sarah had another tummy bug and while it only affected one night I still cancelled her volunteers for the following day. It never ceases to amaze me how when I feel sick it is hard to remember feeling well, and when I feel well it is hard to believe I was ever really so sick that I didn't want to move. The good thing is that we are all well now. An extra thank you to Sonia and Carl for their amazingness while I was down for the count. And thank goodness for electronics. While we normally don't do any tv, movies, or ipads, they are so helpful when I am sick. It is a way to keep us all snuggly and together with very low demands upon my person.

Last Sunday after I sent out my update we had an incredible moment. Mom-Mom, Carl, the girls, and I went for a walk to the park. Carl brought a frisbee. At one point Carl asked me if I wanted to play frisbee. Amy wanted to play too. Then Mom-Mom came over. And then Sarah came over!!!!!!! And attempted to throw and catch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is so huge. To join a game already in progress is a step in the developmental model that has usually seemed laughably far away. To participate in a new physical activity is then doubly huge. (picture below)

One of the things Becky Blake recommended was having Sarah hang from monkey bars or rings and eventually work towards pulling herself up a bit. When I started offering a chance to hang she firmly denied it. This past week after Amy did the zipline and rings with my help, Sarah asked to do it. She held the rings and didn't want me to let go. What a beautiful first step to even consider holding the rings. This is a good reminder for me that just because Sarah might say no to something 10, 20, or 100 times, it doesn't mean she won't someday say yes. 

Sarah has started allowing a partial blanket roll. This is another part of Becky's program and is one that Sarah firmly opposed at the beginning. Now I have the blanket on the floor and I wrap part of it around her just to roll her a bit and then I unwrap but keep her in the new position. 

For the past 3 days I have done no official Sarah-Rise and barely any of Becky's program. It feels good to be getting back into the swing of things. And it is good to remember that the world didn't fall apart when I didn't meet my usual daily goals. 

There was something circulating on Facebook recently about how to talk to your daughter about her body or something like that. The thing that impressed me most was about not ever letting my girls see/hear me judging my own body harshly. Whoa. So, in the name of what I want for my girls I am endeavoring to be kinder to myself - to judge my body less and to be more at peace with my decisions and how things go in a given day. Right now this feels awkward, sort of like Sarah trying to throw a frisbee. So I will celebrate that I am even considering such a radical notion of being totally happy with my body and my decisions and myself. Just because it might not happen the first 10, 20, or 100 days, it doesn't mean I won't get there someday. 

Here's to attempt #101.

August 4

This week we got 35 hours and 45 minutes. 

We have added a small amount of raw fruits and veggies to Sarah's diet. Yay! Aside from a stomach bug for a few days this week, she is doing well and I am thrilled that she has more food options available to her. 

Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop are visiting at the moment. Sarah is often glued to Pop-Pop and his striped shirts. She has also had some lovely Sarah-Rise sessions with Mom-Mom, who noted Sarah's increased verbal clarity, imaginative play, and inner calm. Sarah spontaneously told Mom-Mom "I love you." During family meals, Sarah has been saying "we are having a feast!"

Sarah is often quite chill after I do Becky Blake's program with her. She also begins each session of doing Becky's program with playing the piano. I'm not sure how exactly this became a habit but I'm not going to stop it! It was completely Sarah's idea. The extra adorable thing is that she turns the pages of piano music and looks at them while plunking the keys. Her playing sounds pretty too. This is just her experimenting; we haven't done any sort of piano lesson and I have no plans to do so anytime soon. I just love how she wants to play. Watching her continue to do more pieces of Becky's music movement is lovely. My favorite is when Sarah tries to gallop. It is like watching a filly learn to walk, she is so wobbly and earnest. 

Sarah still has her big upsets around snail shorts, door-play restriction, and lack of making new shakes (when the thermos is already full).  With our recent goal of politeness she is sometimes able to quickly switch from a whiney voice to a normal voice when asked. She is also sometimes switching from a yelled "no, no, no!" to a sweeter "no, thank you" when prompted.

On Tuesday we went to a reunion of an old playgroup from when Sarah was a baby. It was full of running, loud kids (as to be expected). When we first got in the door, Sarah asked to leave. It wasn't the easiest experience for her. There were tempting doors but we weren't allowing her to play in them. She did well with not being able to have the food, and even enjoyed playing with the closed bottle of lemonade. The most exciting thing is that in the midst of the chaos, when one of the dads walked past her she looked up at him and said "hi." This was completely unprompted! 

Despite the fact that I have this written account of Sarah's progress with the programs we are doing, I can still have times of wondering if it is doing anything. I sometimes notice that I think any progress is because Sarah is amazing and any lack of progress is due to a lack of mothering excellence. That is not clear thinking. I think the truth is that Sarah's progress is due to Sarah being amazing and wanting to learn. And what we aim to do with Sarah-Rise, GAPS, and Becky's program is create the most helpful learning environment that we can. 

One of Sarah's favorite games (started by a volunteer)  is to pretend to eat popsicles or ice cream. We pretend they are too hard and hurt our teeth or that they are melting all over and we have to lick them quickly. We pretend to put lemon juice on them and then make sour faces. This week we had a small playful battle where she put salt on my popsicle and so I put pepper and paprika on hers. She countered and won the day by putting garlic on mine! Bleh. 

May your popsicles be the right temperature and flavor.

July 27

This week we got 37 hours.

Sarah made up a new word, unintentionally, as she tried to say "envelope." Her new word is "empty-lope," referring to an empty envelope.

She is pointing out when things match, sometimes correctly and sometimes not. When we eat she says we have matching forks. She also says "matching pants" which is not true because no one else here has snail shorts.

Sarah is easily allowing almost all of Becky Blake's program for her. The only thing she still doesn't want at all is to be rolled in a blanket but she does let me roll her without the blanket. She does a lot of the brain gym moves herself. With the music and movement component she does some of the moves but mainly just watches me intently. With Sarah-Rise I believe the first level of participation is observation so I'm ok with her just watching. I figure that when she is ready she will get up and move. She does some of the movements in an abbreviated way from her seat on the sofa. Her favorite part seems to be watching me gallop. The great thing about the music and movement is that it gets me moving. It is humbling how challenging it is for me to hop like a frog for more than just 2 or 3 hops. 

I had an extremely helpful talk with M. (our Son-Rise advisor and mentor) on Wednesday. We have revised our current SR goals to be flexibility and politeness. This means nudging slightly against Sarah controlling everything in the SR room and asserting our own desires a bit more. We do this gently, playfully, and flexibly. We also now request that she say things in a normal or nice voice instead of a whiney voice. What is lovely is that she can do this! And she does it easily and willingly most of the time. I have also been asking her to change her requests a bit from "making a..." to "I want to make..." During my session yesterday a few moments after my request she then said  "I want to look at pictures of baby Sarah." It was so perfect that it took me a moment to register what I had just heard. 

Yesterday Sarah and I had the longest and most official session of playing a board game we have ever had. We were playing Chutes and Ladders. Sometimes she wanted to just hop her piece around the board but she was amenable to following my prompts to leave it in place or leave my piece in place and to take turns spinning. I think we took at least 10 turns each. This is really huge progress.

Last night Carl had hist first official session in a long time and he was amazed at Sarah's eye contact, connection, and imagination. 

Sarah loves doors and doorways. As I have mentioned, we currently do not allow this play with outside doors or with the SR room door during sessions. Yesterday during my session she said she wanted to play on the sheet porch so we made a porch/deck out of a sheet on the floor and used blue planks to be doorways. She loved it. As she walked over a plank I said "Slam!" and she cracked up. It felt lovely to in some way be able to cater to her love of doors. 

Usually I get mad at myself when I get mad at the girls. What I want to notice and celebrate is my fast turn-around time. Yes, I do get mad/grumpy/annoyed. Sometimes I yell. But within 5 minutes I have usually regrouped and can talk about it in a way that I think the girls understand or at least in a way that they enjoy. Sarah loves the story of when I sat on our big blue ball and said "this is not going to work!" She also loves it when we go too far (driving, biking, on a bus, etc). So yesterday after being grumpy and too abrupt with stopping what the girls were doing, resulting in lots of crying on their part, I regrouped and talked about how sometimes I think something is going to work and then realize "this is not going to work! I went too far!" The energy shifted and laughs and snuggles were had. Some day I dream of not getting grumpy and abrupt to begin with, but for now I am endeavoring to notice my recovery and not just berate myself for my grumps.

Another thing I want to notice and remember is that I stay much more focused and energized regarding our SR program when I frequently listen to CDs by Bears or Samahria, listen to webinars by the Son-Rise training staff, listen to parent-testimonials, read any Option or Son-Rise books, and talk to M. on a regular basis. Any complimentary things we are doing are also great but for me, now, immersing myself in Son-Rise is what feels best and most effective.

July 21

This week we got 22 hours of Sarah-Rise time (sort of low by my current standards) but we also had an outreach with Becky Blake where she stayed in our house for a few days and worked with Sarah and taught us new things to do to help Sarah. Then we went camping for a night. This was the 5th weekend in a row of either not having all of us at home or being away or having company. It has been an incredibly packed summer and will continue to be so. At the time of filling our calendar each individual thing always seems like a good idea but once we are in it sometimes it can feel like too much for me. That is what happened with the camping trip. It was supposed to be 2 nights (coordinated with several other families) but as the date drew near I caught myself fantasizing about car accidents that would make things stop for a while. I know it would not actually simplify matters so there is no worry about my doing something rash. The point is that when I start thinking injury or sickness would be nice that is a red flag that something needs to change. 

Normally I love camping but to have it on top of so many weekends in a row of not just being us at home and to have it when we are doing GAPS and I'm just learning a new therapy regimen (meaning that I am going through a bit of overwhelm), that was too much, despite my kind friend bringing my potluck contribution herself!  We compromised with just doing 1 night and then came home earlier than we initially thought because it was raining and I was feeling stressed. The sun came out as we were driving away so I do regret not being able to stick with it longer. It is hard for me to take care of myself sometimes when it feels like it directly contrasts with what Carl wants to do to take care of himself. This conflict of interest very rarely happens for us but it happened with camping. It is hard for me to take care of myself and not feel like there is something wrong with me for not being able to handle everything more easily. I so much appreciate Carl's understanding and compromise. As we move forward in time we have new rules for our calendar so we don't overfill it (these can start to take effect in the fall). The rest of the summer is quite full, but with only one more trip. Trips of any sort are just a bit more work these days because of GAPS.

Anywho, let us all take a moment to breathe.

Becky Blake is a neuro-developmental specialist (www.creatingsuperkids.com). She observed and played with Sarah and then explained to us what she thinks needs some help. She thinks Sarah's eyes aren't working together and that Sarah mainly sees with one eye until it gets tired and then she switches to the other eye. She often tips her head to look at things and has done so since she was small; this is the first time someone has offered a possible explanation (all vision tests have always come out fine). Becky also thinks there is a vestibular component to how Sarah is in the world so we are doing things to slowly get more movement in the inner ear fluid. We are doing things to help move and balance the energy in her body and release excess energy. We are doing things to help her regulate her stress and hydrate better. We pay attention to her ears and when they turn a shade pinker than her normal pale skin tone we offer her water or a shake that she drinks from a straw. We do massage to help her digestive system. We are doing things that are supposed to help her feel where she is in space (her kinesthetic sense) and to help her right and left brain talk to each other and with her body in a more connected way. We are combining massage, lymphatic drainage, PACE, HANDLE, Brain gym, qi gong, craniosacral therapy, and reflexology. The new routine can be spread throughout the day in tiny pieces or done all at once. Most things can be done more than once and the more the better. I have been getting most things in most days but I think I always forget something, despite my checklist. Sarah's willingness is another factor. She enjoys or allows most things but will absolutely not tolerate even any mention of being rolled in blanket. She doesn't even want me to roll a doll in a blanket. I'm not pushing that part. 

My mom gave me the best permission ever after I talked to her about Becky's program. She gave me permission not to know. It is ok not to know yet if it will help and not to know yet how Sarah will respond. I think maybe I should tattoo that permission somewhere on my psyche for all of life. I so much want to know what the right decision is for everything and I get myself very tight sometimes about not knowing or about trying to know the answer before I possibly have enough information.

Overall, Sarah continues to be her amazing self making her amazing progress and surprising us daily with the things she says and the clarity and spunk with which she says them. As of a couple of weeks ago, we are cresting the wave of correct pronoun use. She is starting to do it more and more and I feel it as if we are in the ocean with pronouns eddying around our ankles. It's coming and it will open up her language even more. G. noticed that during his session the correct pronouns came out when Sarah was most relaxed and then when she got a bit more stressed she reverted to her less clear pronoun use. One thing I really appreciate about Becky's program is that it helps me be more aware of when Sarah is stressed. If we can help her clear the stress then she can put much more energy into learning and growing.

What I know is that Sarah and Amy are amazing. I know I am surrounded by a team of incredibly loving and creative people. Thinking of my volunteers is one of the best ways to fill my heart with gratitude. I know Sarah is progressing daily. I know that I love Son-Rise and that it has helped our family tremendously. I know that GAPS has helped our whole family eat more healthily. I know I function better when I am less stressed. 

July 14

This week we clocked 30 hours and 40 minutes of Sarah-Rise. 

Sarah had many moments where my jaw dropped at her learning, creativity, and spunk...

- driving the little toy car that she can sit in and telling me she is driving to the yogurt maker (she is temporarily off yogurt again)

- she has been putting her plate away on the counter rather consistently in the mornings without any prompting

- she was taking a bath and said "bump bump bump... riding in a white tub bus"

- at one point when I asked if she was trying to trick me she looked me directly and spunkily in the eye and gleefully said "yes!"

- again in the bath, she said "swim like a fish. Pop-Pop swim like a fish. Sarah W. swim like a fish"

- sitting at my desk she said, "do one more email. Sarah W. do one more email. I do one more email." (using "I" correctly is rare)

-from our trip I forgot to mention: on the ride home I saw her put a book against the back of the seat in front of her and hold it up with her feet

- yesterday she was sitting on the toilet fully clothed after using the potty. Sonia checked on her and Sarah said "what you doing the toilet paper?" Since it didn't seem that Sarah was actually doing anything amiss Sonia left. Sonia returned a bit later and Sarah said "what you doing the toilet paper, missy?" so Sonia looked more closely and found that Sarah had been unrolling toilet paper and stuffing it in the storage rack underneath the roll. Sneaky!

-last night at dinner we had A. (helping to build our new backyard playground) and Sc. (after her SR time and staying to babysit) joining us for dinner. Carl commented to Sarah that she was eating with two people she doesn't usually eat with. Sarah then counted the people at the table. Out loud. Correctly. Unprompted!

I love Sarah's increased sneakiness and that she comes up with new challenges or games for herself.

During some of my SR time, Sarah stood in front of the closet door and said she was pretending to be me. This means she is pretending to be me from when I was pregnant with her and I stood in front of a door for my picture. I grabbed a balloon and stuck it under her shirt so she could have a belly. She proceeded to gently touch the belly and say "sweet baby."

Snail shorts and lack thereof continue to result in huge upset. Being told no about going outside or playing with a door also results in upset. I think it is hard to see a playground being built and not being able to go out to it! 

Lest I forget some of the times that feel tough...for a couple days after sending my last update I felt frumpy, mad, grumpy, old, fat, graying, greasy, controlling, and overwhelmed. I am feeling better now, but easily still feel overwhelmed. I skipped my SR session on Friday to catch up on things that had been put off forever. I still have more to do but I am glad to have some things in order. For instance, I am glad I scheduled my continuing education classes for massage so I can maintain my licensing and certification.

This morning I go to pick up Becky Blake, a neuro-developmental specialist, who will live in our house for the next couple of days and hopefully teach us how to further help Sarah.

Yesterday marked 11 years of being married! Carl is still the bestest ever. Supportive, creative, enthusiastic, an amazing dad, and my best friend. 

July 7

This update is for the past two weeks. Two weeks ago we got 30 hours of Sarah-Rise time and this past week we got roughly none. Some interactions certainly had that energy but we were vacationing in Cape Cod with college friends so we didn't do any official time.

Sarah's imaginative play is wonderful. Before our trip she started talking about squeezing under the gate (which is a reference to Peter Rabbit). Carl had the idea of raising one of our baby gates up a couple feet so the girls could squeeze under. They loved it. 

In one of Sarah's baby books there is a series of pictures showing the progression of my pregnant belly. I am standing in front of a door, always in the same clothes and position. On our trip Sarah started standing in front of all bathroom doors at rest stops and saying she was "pretending to be me" (pronouns still need some work).

One of our favorite books of late is Dinosaur vs. the Potty and both girls do wonderful roars. I'm not sure that Sarah yet appreciates the humor of how much she is like the dinosaur that doesn't want to use the potty until the last possible moment.

The drive to and from Cape Cod was long. Sarah is a relatively easy traveler, as she always has been. Amy is, as Carl said, high maintenance. Just before our trip Amy started having tantrums in earnest. Throw yourself on the floor, go boneless when picked up, scream for 30 minutes tantrums. These have continued with at least one or two per day, often when it is time to do a diaper change and/or get in the car. Those were not my favorite parts of the trip. The great parts of the drive happened when both girls would be looking at books in the back and feeding off each other with what phrases they would say (usually Amy was copying Sarah). 

This was our first trip since starting the GAPS diet. I am rather impressed with myself for even attempting it. Overall it went well (I brought my yogurt maker, juicer, and blender on the trip) and I am also glad to be home in my own kitchen, with my own grocery stores, and with Sonia as my helper again starting tomorrow. We did many full or partial day trips so I loaded the cooler with everything Sarah could eat that was easy to premake and transport. She ate a ton of pea crackers and lots of shakes. I think this may have been the first college-friend-reunion trip that I really didn't worry about the quantity she was eating at all. Sarah handled it very well being around many people eating things that she couldn't have. (A special thanks to my friends for accommodating my desire to eat some things, such as pizza, after my girls had gone to bed). 

Every year for the past 6 years we have been getting together with the same group of college friends and it is fun to watch our collective size increase as more babies are born. The newest was just 2 weeks old and Sarah was very interested in her. Sarah was also keen on being near the 10 month old. Overall she was gentle and quite conversational with the parents. M. said that Sarah had many conversations with her with lots of solid eye contact. I. said Sarah seemed overall to be happier than she used to be (snail shorts tantrums excepted).

I felt like Sarah had several times of observing what other kids were doing and wanting to do it too, even if her version was slightly more subdued, such as when a bunch of kids were jumping on a bed.

At a playground with sand as the ground cover, Sarah initiated going over and sitting next to a boy who we didn't know. She didn't interact with him, but she sat across from him and played with filling her shoes with sand. Nearby, the boy's older sister was operating a pretend cake shop. Sarah went over to her and had about 3 minutes of interactive play with very little excited jaw or hand movements. The older girl gave Sarah a sand cake and Sarah pretended to eat it. Then the older girl directed Sarah to put a bucket and shovel on a shelf. Sarah did so. I stood to one side observing amazedly. It is the sort of play that we aim at and achieve in the SR room, but it is novel to have such an interaction with a stranger and to have a mostly calm demeanor, as if the situation was fun but not overwhelming in the level of excitement.

We had several beach trips and Sarah and Carl had lovely times playing in the water, including some moments of trying to swim. Amy, who loves her sandbox and loves baths, often did everything possible to avoid touching the sand and water at the beach. Usually Amy would look like she was doing Mission Impossible moves to stay attached to us, except for one time when the lure of doing ring-around-the-rosey with another child at our reunion was stronger than her fears.

For July 4 we found a place to watch fireworks. Overall the experience was underwhelming and somewhat frustrating, but there were two key moments. One was Carl's mad-dash search with Sarah to find a potty. We have not yet had that experience of a desperate potty search. They made it! The other moment was hearing Amy say "boom-boom" about the fireworks. So adorable.

One day we went to Provincetown, MA and climbed the Pilgrim Monument. This is a very tall tower and Sarah climbed over half-way up by herself and all the way down. It is the most perfect Sarah tower I can imagine, combining stairs, spirals, ramps, railings, and stripes.

I read more of the Anat Baniel book Kids Beyond Limits. What I really loved was how much it aligned with Son-Rise and gives more reasoning behind why our methods work.  She recommends having loose goals, having true enthusiasm and belief in the abilities of our kids, working with where Sarah is now and expanding the edges in tiny ways without trying to force her into achievements she isn't ready for, waiting for her learning switch to be turned on. We do all of these things already and she clearly is learning and thriving.

Some of my favorite Sarah phrases of late:

It's pretty low (re: her milkshake)

my goodness (re: her milkshake, using my expression for when she drinks it all quickly)

went too far (said while giggling so much she can barely get the words out)

It's pretty peppery.