June 28

The girls had their first ballet class on Tuesday and it went beautifully. It is a small class with only 5 or 6 students. Sometimes when I think about our efforts with Sarah I picture being up to bat and going for a home run. With the ballet class, it felt like a home run. Sarah was focused for almost all of the class. I only had to block one of the doors for the last 15 minutes. Sarah also ran away into the room when it was time to leave and also tried leaving out the main door without me, so those tiny moments show us the path forward for our goals. But, I digress. Sarah did an amazing job in class!! Both girls did. Sarah easily participated, listened to the teacher with minimal prompting, engaged in pretend play, answered questions, and repeated ballet terms flawlessly when asked to do so. Wow!! Holy moly!!

We went blueberry picking for a field trip and had a wonderful time. Blueberry picking is one of my favorite things to do in this world.

We went to the pool again and both girls practiced closing their eyes and mouth at the same time and then also getting their faces a bit wet. Sarah even tried to blow bubbles. Awesome! My main goal for our pool time is to have the girls enjoy being in the water and feel safe in it. The more they have that then the more we can refine the details of swimming.

Sometimes Sarah reads the new word card (with three words) all by herself before we even read it to her once. When that happens I can think I am making the cards too easy! And then I think that is precisely perfect and how all of this should work so that she moves easily into reading multiple words in a row.

Earlier in the week I saw one of our past volunteers, and Sarah kept asking for her to come play. Sh. and I scheduled time for Friday afternoon. When Sh. arrived, Sarah was so delighted and excited. She was also quite socially sparkly and graceful. She greeted Sh. by name, with eye contact and a smile and going up to her. G. had just finished his session and was putting on his shoes. Sarah then paused with her greeting Sh. and went over to say something to G. about his leaving and what he was going to do next. She was so present and connected my socks went flying.

I had an SR session where Sarah wanted to play Hello Kitty bingo by herself for many minutes. I played Hello Kitty Uno by myself for a couple games where I played both hands. I reminded myself that joining is just as important as play that feels more connected. After many minutes, Sarah came over to me and we played a long game of Uno with the same level of guidance that I give to Amy when she is learning a game. We didn’t finish the game because it seemed like it would never end. This was such an excellent reminder that joining works and that I don’t have to force connection. I can just be there and offer the opportunity.

Friday morning I played a song on our music system that I hadn’t played in ages. Instead of resisting it in any way, Sarah seemed ok with it. Then later it moved into a whole playlist that we used to listen to in the past. The playlist includes lots of action songs. Both girls independently did many of the actions! Sarah was running and galloping around with clear delight. Awesome!!

Sarah also got on an escalator easily by herself as if she had done so a million times before.

So many moments this week have affirmed that what we have been doing is bearing fruit. Not that this is a surprise, but it is nice to notice it. Go team!!