Sunday, February 12, 2023

 Sunday, February 12, 2023

 Elsa was at the bathroom door this morning, asking to be let out when I got up. I walked over to the doggie door and called her. She came to me and went right out on her own. This is huge progress.  

  I went to church with Judy and Paulette this morning because of my unusable car. I handled Paulette, sitting in the back seat, a small bag of lilikoi, sharing my stash from Carol. I wore a mask while we drove. Judy made a comment, "We're driving with Zorro." I corrected her, "Zorra."   

   After mass, I spoke to Margaret, who runs the catechism program on Sundays after the nine am mass. A few weeks ago, I asked her to let people know I wanted to tutor their kids. I offered a sliding scale. No one responded. From what Judy and Margaret say, I know many of these students need help. She suggested I speak to the parents directly. She meets with the children and parents a few minutes after the mass and before the classes start. Only a few students were there today. It was Superbowl Sunday; we all have our priorities. The following weekend, classes were canceled. I would meet with the parents the weekend after.

    Judy accompanied me to the gravesite. I wanted her to look at the stained cement wedges for the gravesite. She had the same reaction he did, "It looks like marble." I still didn't see it. I will wait until I do before I ask Fr. Lio to glue the granite plaques to the wedges.

   Judy and Paulite had to make a few stops on the way home. We went to Safeway. I picked up a few items. I checked Hersey's milk chocolate kisses with whole almonds. Whadaya know? They were on sale. I grabbed five packages. Judy had to go to the airport afterward to pick up a Turo car. They drive cars back and forth from the airport for Mei and Peter's Turo business.

    When I got home, I read the Kia manual more carefully. I found the answer in a special section of the manual. When I saw it, I yelled Scott's name. He came out immediately concerned. I don't usually yell in alarm. He said he found the answer, too.

   Scott lifted the car hood. He knew where the knob for the cable was because of his research; I would have been stuck. When he pulled it, we could hear the release. I was pretty pissed the service men at Kia hadn't told me what to do. Then again, they may not have known. I planned to call them tomorrow and tell them- so much for being a dumb old lady.

   I had a session with second-grade M at four pm. I reviewed three-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping. She knocked it out of the park. I gave her a challenge. Subtracting a three-digit number where the top one had a zero in the tens place. 405- 296=. She had no idea what to do but wanted to keep trying. I loved it. She got as far as changing the 405 to 3 10 15. She didn't get that she had to switch the 10 to a 9. I begged her to let me show her. I was really frustrated. I pretend bawled. Her dad came to the door concerned. I called him after the session and explained my behavior. M was unperturbed. She knew I was kidding. This girl is a totally different human being than when I started working with her. Her dad told me it shows up in many aspects of her life. This is one of the things I work on with my students.

     If she has a stick-to-it attitude, she can learn anything. I told her how proud I was of her. I told her that she was so uncomfortable when we first started that she'd get up and walk around the room. She reacted similarly to Mike when I praised him by comparing it to his old behavior. He saw it more as a criticism than a compliment. Am I naïve about my own reaction if someone did that to me? I imagine I would feel good about my accomplishment. See how far you've come!   I think I managed to convince her I was praising her.