June 3

Sarah just finished first grade! I know her age peers are already moving onto 5th grade or something that sounds impossibly far away. But here we are! I worked hard to keep her with her developmental age peers as much as possible. That gap continues to widen because she isn’t at all like a neurotypical second grader at this point, but she is much more like a second grader than she is like a fifth grader. While I sometimes feel sorry for myself about this, that isn’t how I am feeling at the moment. I feel proud that we are where we are. She is the size of a small second grader. She is continuing to learn and grow. She is in a school that she enjoys with a team of people who love her and tell me they feel blessed to have her. She seems excited to be a second grader. 

We had a wonderful bus driver for the last several weeks of school. He actually seemed to enjoy his job and to enjoy the kids. He talked with them and joked with them and would tell me what Sarah had said about the bridge construction they saw. We probably won’t have him next year because he is brought in when routes seem broken in some way and need to be fixed. He certainly helped my experience with the bus go from terrible to wonderful.

Thanks to Sonia we are borrowing a wedge pillow. I have it under Sarah’s bed so the slant is gentle. So far she seems fine with it. There have been a few nights that she has told me her ear hurts. I am not certain if this is true or if this is because I explained the pillow might help her not get ear infections, thus bringing up a memory for her of when her ear did hurt. I hope it is just a memory and yet I also want to be able to trust what she says and act on it. This morning when I asked her she said her ear felt good. Fingers crossed. It better feel good given that she is still on her antibiotics! I am less certain about my thinking the infections might be related to gluten. She has been consuming wheat for well over a year (which I hadn’t previously remembered) and the ear infections have just been in the last few months.

On Wednesday Sarah told me that she got in trouble at school for picking up her chair and not listening when her teacher told her not to. I love that she told me all of this so clearly. That is amazing.

Sarah’s vision therapist showed her a book about a fish that goes through all sorts of emotions described by lots of different words, some of which are quite large. The therapist was floored that after reading it to Sarah once Sarah proceeded to read it right back to the therapist. This is not a book that we have. I have never seen it before. Sarah’s teacher didn’t think they had it at school.

Swim lessons on Friday went very well. Sarah took 3 turns with the teacher!!!!!!! Amy is getting better at all of her skills too. What I love most is that they both look forward to the swim lessons. 

J, the massage therapist, came to work with Sarah again. She keeps chewing on her right cheek, which is the one that she bit accidentally a while ago and then bit again and it got swollen and infected and she needed antibiotics. Now I think there is scar tissue in there. I was hoping that getting some work done there would help her leave it alone and I am pretty sure there is no way she will let me do it. She did let J do a little work in her mouth and on her neck, back, and head. She also let me work with her more than she sometimes does and has been asking me to rub her feet a lot since then. While she sat up or moved or  tensed her body often, she also had many moments of stretching out and relaxing. 

G noted that during his time with Sarah she kept requesting that he rub her arms or legs but did so verbally, clearly, and specifically whereas in the past she would physically move his hand to her arm rather than making a verbal request. She is quite clear with her requests to me as well, specifying whether the foot rubs are to be with or without her socks.

Along with most of Pittsburgh, Carl and I have been watching hockey. Carl was explaining to Amy what the word “predators” means because that is the team playing the Penguins. He asked if she could think of an example of a predator. She thought and thought and then said, “frogs?” Well, yes, indeed! Especially if you are a fly. Maybe the Predators should consider changing their mascot.