Monday, January 30, 2023

 Monday, January 30, 2023 

   I introduced Elsa to the doggy door a while ago. Mike and I installed it in our bedroom for our two forty-pound Portuguese Water dogs. Both died right before we left, not at the same time but within a few months of each other. 

  The door had been hidden behind a chest of drawers sitting kitty-corner. I moved the bureau out to slide in behind with Elsa in my arms. She wasn't crazy about being pushed through, forced to butt her head against the plastic flap. Someone recommended throwing a treat through the door. That didn't work. When I lifted the flap so she could go out unimpeded, she unhappily complied. Whenever she went in or out to the lanai off the bedroom, I insisted she use the doggy door. By this point, she was willing to use the door to enter the house, but I had to force her to use it to go out. I pick her up from the bed and take her right to the door each morning. This morning, I got involved with something else and forgot. She did her business on the indoor lanai. It was my fault.

  This morning, I finished with the monitor for a WHI study. I wore a little gadget over my right hip held on with an elastic band around my waist for a week. I put the monitor and a record of my sleep schedule in an envelope provided and placed it in the mailbox. Done. 

  Saturday, I received three pairs of Oofos after receiving three pairs on Thursday. I was only expecting a total of two pairs. What was going on? Had I received four pairs I hadn't ordered? The clerk told me I had only been charged for two. She said she could not charge me for the other pairs or cancel the refunds. I had six pairs for the price of two. Of course, one pair wasn't even my size. I checked Yvette's shoe size first. Perfect. Now, I had five pairs. I had two sets of the same colors and one of the spiced chia from the original three pairs.

   I received my Master card bill and was distressed that it was considerably higher than usual. What was going on? I couldn't find any single payment that explained the increase. Then I saw this bill included my end year's charity payments. Phew! I didn't have to be concerned that my buying habits had gone off the rails.

  Hawaiian Solar still needed to replace defective panels. I call every few months when I think of it. The initial installment from this company included defective panels that stopped working. The company was willing to replace them. I had a few replaced earlier. That went smoothly. Since the pandemic, that hasn't been the case. They keep delaying. They say they have the parts in their Honolulu warehouse but don't forward them to the company.

  I had an appointment with Adolescent D. at 2 pm after a quiet morning. I still don't do well with limited activity. I need to interact with a person, a plant, the kitchen floor, or something, and it needs to be energetic.

  These days, I give D a choice of what he wants to work on, tracing letters to develop visual perceptual skills, healing work on his self-condemnation because of his handicap, reading Investing for Young Adults, the first book he got as a present in his life, or reading third-grade material that includes less challenging words and helps develop his memory for patterns. He chose to work on the letter tracing. I asked him why. He said it's a good start for the class. It is the only activity he chooses with some joy. It is relaxing.  

  I asked if he was seeing a difference in his reading. No. Was he seeing a difference in his attention? He said he didn't know. I asked if it was less irritating to listen to his teachers. Yes. That signals a change. I asked him if he had written anything during the week. He thought and said, "Yes, Once." Holy cow! This was the first time he tried to remember something he had done in school over the week – and he did recall. I asked him if he was seeing a difference in his memory ability. Yes. This would be incredible! One of his major problems is remembering anything that isn't very emotionally stimulating. 

  While there may be progress, I don't know what made the difference. It could be the psychological work we're doing, the letter tracing, or neither; perhaps it's nothing we are doing. Psychological work is a possibility. D's experience with failure has him avoiding trying to do anything he might fail at. The letter tracing activity can have an impact on focusing and attention. I have used comparable exercises with other students with success. I wish I knew so I would be sure of a tool to help other students. Oh, well.

  We also worked on reading. D consciously decoded two words. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it requires great effort for this boy. I divided the word stable as sta/ble. He decoded sta-, keeping the sounds in the correct order. I gave him the -ble. It is a final stable syllable with an odd pronunciation. The second word was effective. I divided the word as ef/fec/tive. I had him decode each syllable separately without any thought as to what the word was. This is a huge challenge for him. He always tries to say the whole word instead of making sure he has every syllable before he tries for the whole word. Then, he tends to reverse the sequence of the phonemes or the syllables. It is hard work for him. However, he won't have any chance of changing how his brain works if he doesn't try. It's a lot like watching someone try to walk after a stroke. It is painful and requires a lot of effort and will. When he does this work, it brings up all those bad feelings about himself. We take breaks while I do more EFT on difficult feelings. It helps. It reduces the shame load.

  It was damp and cold today with intermittent rain. We needed the water. We went through an extended dry spell. Between having little to do and the weather, I felt sluggish. I had plans to go out tomorrow, but I decided to get some of those chores done today -just for the stimulation.  

  I went to Bella Pietra to see if I could find another base slab for Mike's gravesite. Fr. Lio had picked up one that was grey. It didn't go well with the mottle brown granite I picked for the monument stones. I wanted to find a piece of similar material in another color. Grey was the only color it came in. The palette was made of compressed lava rock.

  I mentioned wanting to stain the concrete wedges a compatible color. The employee said he knew nothing about it, but there was another guy who would be in tomorrow who could help me. I hope to get a lead on someone to do the work for me. That would be great. I'm concerned about handling the acid stain. You're supposed to wear protective gear. Where was I going to do the work without coloring other surfaces? I struggled with those questions.

  I had second-grade M at 4 pm. I start each class reviewing addition and subtraction with regrouping. Today, I played a trick on her. I always use the same numbers in both problems. She has to pay attention to the operation sign. I usually put the addition problem on the left of the page and the subtraction on the right. I switched them today. She caught it. Wonderful! She struggles to remember the procedures. They don't come automatically. However, she sticks with it. She sees when she has done something incorrectly. When we started working together, she would be reluctant to try anything. If she experienced failure, she would get out of her seat and wander around the room, driven by anxiety. Now, she says, "Wait! Let me figure it out." How fantastic is that?! 

  I had time to start on a word problem. M couldn't figure out what operation she needed to use to solve the problem. I had her do one with numbers under 10, one she could do in her head. She understood the operation needed. I aligned the problem with the larger numbers with the one with the smaller numbers. She didn't see the pattern for love or money. She doesn't see patterns. Would she see them more if she looked for them, or is she blind to them?