Sunday, January 22, 2023

 Sunday, January 22, 2023

     I was up by 7:00 am and did three thousand steps by 7:30. I called my Hanai sister, Jean, while walking. It was her eighty-first birthday. When she heard my voice, she started singing Happy Birthday. I asked if she was singing to avoid having me sing. Yep! I do the famous Ross -version, designed to compensate for Mike's inability to sing. It sounds a bit like caterwauling, but it's fun. Something to look forward to. I would. Each one is different. There's listening to it and wondering what is going to happen next. I don't even know. I follow my instincts.

     I got ready for church and then had a last-minute emergency. I arrived at the library parking lot a little after nine. As I approached the church, I heard the first reading. Since I had the second large box of diapers in my hands and would have to work my way slowly up the stairs, I figured I'd be good and late for the mass.

    Before I started on the steps, I spotted a donation box for contributions for expectant mothers. I put my box of diapers on top and was free to make it up the stairs quickly.

    The south lanai, which is usually empty, was packed today. Finding a seat would have been easier if I hadn't wanted to avoid sitting close to someone. I found a bench free.

    First, a woman joined me. There was plenty of room; it was a three-person seater. When the deacon started reading the gospel, she went inside the church. A bit later, a man sat down on the bench. While his behavior suggested he was devoted, he didn't know much about our parish. He asked, "Isn't the parish house done yet?" No, there was a problem with the flooring.

   While sitting there, I turned around to look behind me. I never do that. I saw a man with a four-year-old in tow, looking confused. I figured he wanted the bathroom. I pointed in the general direction. After mass, a woman approached me and asked where the bathroom was. I have never given directions to the bathroom before and wouldn't be surprised if it never happened again. Very strange.

   I stopped at Mike's gravesite after church. I had a paper copy of the color chart from Direct Colors. There were few choices. It looked like the coffee brown would be the best. Then I checked again. I found a different internet site that offered an antiquing product for grey concrete. Now, that sounds the best. There is a company in Oahu that stains concrete. I will call them tomorrow. Hopefully, they will be glad to give me advice.

   I published last year's update on the blog site, washed the kitchen floor, and went to my neighbors to get some Chinese food. When I ran into Mei this morning on my walk, she told me her daughter was having a birthday party. They were ordering a lot of Chinese food. I should come over and get some. These folks went all out. They ordered enough for two hundred people instead of the twenty that were there, mostly kids under the age of eight. How much were they going to eat? I looked forward to having Chinese food for the rest of the week.

   Second-grade M. was in a totally different mood today than last week. Her dad was right; she was upset about everyone getting ready to leave for Oahu while she was stuck working with me. I told her I owed her an apology. Did she want to know why? I apologized for dismissing her statement that 'everyone was packing to go to Oahu.'. They went on Monday night and returned on Wednesday; the kids missed two days of school. She knew why this happened. Her parents had meetings in Honolulu, and no one was left to care for her and her sister.    

       Her work today was the opposite of what it was last Monday. She executed the double-digit addition and subtraction without regrouping perfectly. She made some errors in the addition with regrouping, but she wasn't thrown by it and pushed ahead to figure it out. She had more significant problems with subtraction with regrouping but was much better than last Monday; I felt I was working with a different child.

   I discovered two major weaknesses in her grasp of math. While she knew 7 +7 = 14, she could not figure out what 14-7 was. I showed her pattern with fact families: if 1 +1= 2,  2+1=?; if 2+1=3; 3-1? & 3-2=; and 2+2=4, then 4-2=? etc. It took a lot of work to get her to focus on the pattern rather than try to figure out each answer by counting. Counting on or up was also a problem.  

     I tried to teach her to use counting-on to solve subtraction problems. Instead of trying to recall the answer or count down from the larger number, count up from the lower number. For example, if subtracting 10-4=?, make a fist, touch your chest or the desk, and say, "4." Then count up 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 on your fingers. The number of fingers is the right answer. As I write this, I realize I never asked her why she doesn't want to do it as I recommend. I will have to do that.

   I ran into several people as I walked around the neighborhood. First, I joined Phil and Carol with their dogs, Luke and Max. Carol talked about how they participated in a pickleball game on the site of the community pool in town. It is a lovely, relaxed process. People of all ages play. The court is a narrow tennis court. It only involves a little running. The person who loses sits down and waits for their turn to come up again. People who always win will sit out to get a break. Anyone can participate.

    I continued on my walk as Phil and Carol turned into their driveway. Mei was walking up the other side of the street. I caught up with her as she made her turn onto Hiolani. I thought she was going to visit Cha, but no. She had parked a few Turo cars there to make room for more cars to park on their property during the party.

   A child pushed another off the trampoline. She must have pushed her hard enough to go right through the net. The trampoline was several feet off the ground, then she fell another six feet off a rock wall. The girl who did the pushing has anger problems. Mei said her daughter often cries because this little girl gets angry when she doesn't do things her way.

   I ran into this little girl's mother as I left the party with my food earlier in the afternoon. She said that Anna was her daughter's best friend. She also told me that her daughter's second-grade teacher in this private school told her she would have to go back to first grade because she had made no progress in reading. I know the teacher. She can be stern, but I have also seen her deal compassionately with severely disturbed children. Listening to the mother, you would think there was nothing wrong with her daughter. All the problems were caused by other people. I mentioned that I did tutoring. After my conversation with Mei, I knew I didn't want to work with this child. I might have been willing to deal with the little girl; it was the mom that I didn't want to deal with. She is cultivating a sociopath.

    Mei was distraught. She was badly frightened by the incident for the little girl and herself. I gave her a big hug. She resolved never to invite the pushy little girl to another party and ensure that Anna had nothing to do with her.

   Mei got in her car to drive it back home, and I continued around the block. On my last stretch, one of the neighbors came to the fence and called to me. Joe had moved into the neighborhood fifteen months ago. He found it a friendly place. The woman standing by his side was his mother. They bought a small prefab house for her. It is about five hundred square feet. It's fully hooked up to utilities, electricity, and water. Joyce said it has two bedrooms. All the rooms are small, but how much space does one person need. I've seen expensive Manhattan apartments that were smaller. Besides, Joyce spends time with his son in his house, and her home sits on half an acre. In addition, she has moved a large container onto the property for storage. Joe said she moved to be with her favorite son. I could hear them laughing together in the evening. How lovely!