Wednesday, March 9, 2022

 Wednesday, March 9, 2022

 

   I woke up at 3 am this morning. I was wide awake but not interested in getting up. I spent the time exercising while in bed. It would be a great time to get up and meditate, but no, I don't do that.  

      My wrist felt much better. The infrared light worked wonders. We'll see how it goes.

      Mike, the sprinkler guy, called at 6:30 to say he was leaving now and would be here around 7. I texted Josh to let him know and Yvette to make sure Josh saw the text.   Mike is a grumpy older man that doesn't have much tolerance for the rest of the human race. He criticized me for buying the valve. I told him I bought it because I hoped a friend could fix it. He said, "How did that work?" Then he asked me for one of the parts I had bought. He inserted the diaphragm while criticizing me for buying it. He lay down on the ground and put his ear to the valve. He could still hear water leaking. 

   He said the valve broke because someone drove over it. We needed to alert everyone to watch out for it. Better yet, I put a large rock on top of it, forcing people to drive around it. 

   Mike declared the area around the valve would have to be dug up. He couldn't do it. He was too old. I asked him how I could find someone to do it. He kept making sounds about finding someone but not telling me how. Josh was willing to stick with him, and I was allowed to go upstairs. Mike had insisted that I remain present because I was writing the checks. Josh assured me he would get the information out of Mike. Josh said he would dig up the area. He really couldn't because his broken ankle was still healing.

     Mike asked me to pay for three hours, two today and one yesterday. He wasn't here for a full hour yesterday. He screwed up by not turning on the water to the valve, making it impossible to learn anything about the problem. I paid without complaint. He's the only game in town. There are large companies that install sprinkler systems. I'm sure they provide follow-up service to their clients. Our sprinkler system was in place when we moved in. We had no idea when and who installed it. We had to rely on independent service providers. The one we used to use didn't even answer my phone call. Mike said he is the only one that answers people as quickly as he does. Also, he was obviously not well-heeled. I wrote off that hour's payment as a charitable contribution. When I spoke to Yvette, she said she would be digging out the area surrounding the valve, not Josh. His ankle couldn't handle it.  

     When I met with adolescent D, I asked if he had listened to the audio file. No, he went to bed too late. Had he changed his alarm setting? Yes. But it still made no difference. I asked if he had done any reading today, as usual. Yes. How did it go? Good. Was he able to read multi-syllable words better? Yes. Did he use the steps I've been teaching him? No. My interpretation. The work we are doing dividing multi-syllable words every day is working. His unconscious cognitive mind has been learning the process, and he is reading better. No, he will make no conscious effort to learn anything. Drives me nuts. 

   Everyone prefers doing things that come easily. That's what the flow state is about. It's wonderful. Most of us dislike having to make a conscious effort to do something. It's the difference between cooking by 'instinct' or by recipe. Following a recipe takes conscious effort. It's work.

   I continued decoding two-syllable words with D. Steps #1-3 are pretty automatic by now.   Step #1- Identify the vowel letters. Step#2- Identity which vowel letters make vowel sounds. Step#3- Divide the word into syllables. As for Step #4: Identify which consonants make sounds and what they are. He has some problems because he confuses consonant blends with consonant digraphs. This is probably what he was taught to do. It works for kids with a strong sense of phonemic awareness but not for kids like D.

   He continues having difficulty identifying the correct sound for the vowel letters and then holding on to that sound. Getting him to articulate each syllable before he blends them into the word is challenging. I find that kids who have problems all do this. At best, they mush the sounds together, dropping and changing them as they do, losing the word. Or better yet, they grab two letters out of six and say the wrong word.

    I had an appointment with my acupuncturist a little later in the day. She worked on my left leg again. The needles in my foot were painful again. She also commented on how much progress I'd made since we started. She is part of the progress. I also have two incredible PTs who each have made valuable contributions. But there is the principle that the rich get richer. The better I get, the greater my degree of improvement. Also, there is my contribution. I use what my PTs teach me and incorporate it into every move. 

    I put off Mama K's crew until 3 pm today. She told me they might be at the beach but could take a few minutes to work with me. When I called, they weren't at the beach; they were all sitting in the car, going somewhere. I thought, "Oh, boy!" I usually had trouble getting them to focus. They were behaved better while driving in the car together than when in the house separated. Everyone else was quiet while I worked with one child at a time. K described the game of kickball. Twin E had a story in mind about people camping in a forest who encountered a bear. Twin A usually had something in mind, but not today. Her mother encouraged her to write about the water safety camp all the kids would attend next week on spring break. Verbal expression skills were improving for all the kids.

   I received an email with a registration form from the endodontist. I couldn't figure out how to access it. I had to call them the next day to get help.

    I started watching The Sinner. It seemed like a typical detective movie. Then I looked it up on Wiki to check the plot. Yikes! No, no, no. Not for me.