Return to LVM...

While my daughter was undergoing her dyslexia and language processing testing, I treated myself to some fresh fall air in my old neighborhood. There is a conical mound in the woods near my childhood home that I used to go to by myself. In those days it wasn't identified as an official Indian Mound, but I knew it was a very special place. Here's a few pictures I took there today.

The leaves are so colorful - I tried to catch a few with my camera before the rains and wind whoosh them all away

It's a tough one...

I suppose today's favorite part of the day would have to be when I found out I don't have skin cancer. My sister and my dad have had it and I figured it was time to be checked over by a professional. Done! One less thing to worry about for a while. Plus, I got some good suggestions for sensitive skin products!

And...then I was able to take a picture because the rain had stopped, even though the skies were gray.

Spelling Practice

Amazingly, I enjoyed the spelling practice this evening. My daughter has dyslexia and her spelling list is a bit too random to be easy, so we turn it into a wider educational adventure -- discussing the rules involved in the weird words and the strange idioms they sometimes live in. Here are the sentences she came up with (with the spelling word in parentheses) -

Her mom yelled at her. (her)
"After you," I said when I opened the door. (after)
Matt is playing a song about you. (about)
These dogs are barking. (these)
Can I have your phone number? (number)
I sleep on my pallet. (pallet)
Sometimes I'm sad. (sometimes)
The quarters are on the table. (quarters)
Honestly, I was honest to my friend. (honestly)
I was taking care of business. (business)

A few moments at Cherokee, a baby exhibiting true relaxation

It's challenging for me to think of this as a positive day, but there really WERE some nice moments...

I love this man! Andrei Codrescu did an EXCELLENT piece on NPR yesterday.

Suzy's Blog!

What a lovely entertainment from a new old friend on Facebook (college roommate...)

Luminiferous Ether

Reading, Learning, Letting Go

I'd have to say my favorite part of this day just happened a few minutes ago as my daughter willingly read out loud to me for 20 minutes from Stuart Little 2 - The Movie Storybook. Fluency, word attack for longer words, excitement for exclamation marks! Such a simple time but such joy it gave me, as we have been struggling for so many years. What's different? I'm sure she has dyslexia, so I'm helping her break things down to break up the syllables and see the connections in figuring out "weird words." She's trying, she's really trying. I think she knows that I'm trying to help her too so that things come a little bit easier for her during this schoolyear.

The second favorite part of the day was talking to Jackie Carter about doing dyslexia testing. She also mentioned that it sounds like she might have a Language Processing Disorder. She said there are a lot of modifications that can be made to her instruction that will take more time than just reducing the number of questions to answer... I'm grateful that I'm going to have someone in my corner on this. I think we are going in the right direction. My daughter and I are both very willing to work, but we need to also have good communication and cooperation with what's going on at school. That's something I need a professional to back me up on. Maybe, just MAYBE things will get better.

The letting go part Jackie also helped me out with today. I'm starting to forgive myself for not getting more help for my daughter earlier. I did the best I could at the time. The professionals in her life just weren't coordinated and aware enough about her particular mish-mash of "issues," and I freely admit there are many. I think I'm almost ready to just forgive us all and move on -- there is no conflict, only an ever-increasing circle of cooperation.

Smiling Baby Blessing

 

Getting a few sweet smiles from Baby Abby

This was so wonderful today at church. I've been feeling kind of out of it, but this baby's smiles when she heard my voice and looked straight into my eyes really made me feel good. This photo was taken a few seconds later but you can still get the idea. I just love those Buddha Babies!