Thursday, July 28, 2022

 Thursday, July 28, 2022 

 

  Today was our first driveway yoga class in months. Yvette did it because Jared's husband, mother, and sister planned to attend. They were all here to honor Jared, who died from what is assumed to be an accidental overdose. I hadn't heard anything, but I thought he got something laced with fentanyl. Deb, one of the yoga regulars who moved to Seattle, came in for the memorial service and was here today for the class. Yvette told us that Jared was the inspiration for driveway yoga. He proposed it to Yvette at the start of the Covid pandemic. He was the inspiration. 

  The class started with just Jared and Scott. Then Yvette got me to become a regular. I was the most regular. Of course, I didn't have far to travel for the class. Initially, Yvette had class three times a week. Then she dropped it to two to get one day to sleep in. Then she dropped it to one. Then it was none for a while. She planned to do the Thursday class regularly for the time being. I valued the class and was so glad she started up again.

  When I got up from my mat at the end of the class, I still had to lean on the chair and push myself up with my arms. In the process, I flexed the toes on my right foot. I felt that stretch through my arches and the muscles at the bottom of my toes. It felt like just what the doctor ordered for my hammer toe. It relieves any discomfort I have in the foot. I also recall the chiropractor I saw for the toe fungus made some comment about my hammer toe, suggesting there was something she could do about it. 

  At 9:30, I had a session with the M & W sisters. I continued working on the spelling with going-into-second-grade M. W chose to continue with the Gating Game. The activity stresses me out. I have to think of good clues. Sometimes nothing comes to mind, and I have to give her the answer. 

  I left to do some chores in town after that tutoring session. My first stop was at the cemetery to measure the cement pillows and photograph them. I forgot to take a measuring tape and headed to the parish office to get one. An unfamiliar woman came walking across the parking lot in the other direction. She said she would be back in the office in a minute. Getting up to the office required me to climb stairs. This was the first set since the surgery. I did about as well as I did before the surgery. I was generally doing as well as I had done before the surgery. That was my baseline level of satisfaction with the procedure. I wasn't in excruciating pain before the surgery as most people with total hip replacements, so my standard of success was higher than most.

  There was no one else in the office but this woman. That was odd. There are usually several people. Susan, the previous administrator, retired and moved to the mainland a few months ago. I had yet to meet the new administrator. Brenda used to be on staff, and TJ was always around. Today, I was just this one woman. She was a volunteer and a recent member of the church. She didn't know Mike. That made me sad. The river moves on. Soon there will be no one who knew him and valued him.   

   The woman found a ruler, and I headed to the gravesite. One of the pillows was more stained than the other. I realized the design of the pillows wasn't quite what I expected. The granite gravestones will have to be fixed to the cement. That was going to be the case anyway.

   My next stop was Ace Hardware to look for cement paint. They didn't have an appropriate selection. I used to love dealing with Home Depot, but I discovered the service at Ace is usually better. People there know their products, but Ace didn't have what I needed in this case. 

   I saw a customer at Ace Hardware wearing a shirt with Kua Bay on the back. Damon and August are Kua Bay fanatics. Both their birthdays were coming up. Matching shirts would be perfect. The man said he got them at the Kona Brew Pub. I headed over there after I was through at Ace.

   The shirts were sold at a kiosk at the entrance of the pub. Tourists, who didn't know what they wanted, were lined up to buy them. I knew what I wanted. I texted Cylin to ask for shirt sizes for the two boys. With that information, I didn't need to know anything else. I read my Kindle as I waited. The transaction was quick. I bought two very expensive pieces of crap. The shirts are 75% polyester, with some cotton and some rayon. They're flimsy. Damon will appreciate the matching set. August may be at an age when this is all from his 'childhood.' I have to get him something else anyway.

   I went to Lowes next to see if I could find paint there. They carried a whole line of paints suitable for covering cement with a pamphlet showing me all the colors - perfect. Then I was home and had some time for a nap before my session with Adolescent D.

  In the last session, I laid out the six syllable patterns for D. I had repeatedly shown him the VC (Vowel + consonant, the closed syllable, and the VCe, the vowel+ consonant+ e). I had written out examples and the letters VCe or VC on top of the words and the letters in the word. I finally thought to ask D if he knew what the V stood for. He said no. Ow! This was the first time I had run into this problem. I have repeatedly said "vowel" when writing the V, and "consonant" when writing the C, and he still didn't get it. Holy cow! Whatever caused this problem, the only solution was to start from scratch. There has been no question about D's intelligence. There were several possible causes for this problem, neurological and psychological, or a combination of both.

  I said, "The V stands for vowel. Can you name the vowel letters?" He did that with ease. That was good. It had been a while since we reviewed them. He not only remembered them; he remembered them in the correct order. 

  We started with the open syllable. I don't know how often I discussed the idea that there could not be a consonant after the vowel within the syllable. We also worked on syllable division ad nausea at another time. He repeatedly pointed out that there was a consonant in the following syllable. I finally said there is a difference between having a girl sleep in your bed or a bed in another room. That's how big the difference is between having nothing behind the vowel within the same syllable and having a consonant in the same word but in the following syllable. I had to repeat that over and over and over. There are concepts he gets immediately, but these. I asked him to repeat the words I said. He couldn't. He also couldn't remember if the vowel in an open syllable was long or short even though I had said what it was minutes before. The bad news is obvious. The good news and it was very good news, was that he let me see how bad it was.

  Why didn't I see this sooner? D uses his intelligence to hide his disability, and he is good at it. Why didn't I test him and out him? Because I didn't think that would be the best strategy for him. I knew from the beginning he was very ego defended. If I outed him before he was ready, I would lose him. He had to be handled with great care. This change indicates an increased trust in me. More importantly, it indicated an increased confidence in himself and his ability to learn. 

    D didn't let me see his face when we worked on Zoom. When I say he was hidden, I mean he was hidden. His father walked through the room in one of our first sessions and said, "Wouldn't it be better if you could see his face?" I yelled after his father, "No, this is what your son needs." It has taken me this long to win his trust in himself and me. He has learned in our time together that he can learn; that's where the faith in himself and brain plasticity, which I sell big time, comes in. Now let's see how long it takes for the following:

1. For him to consistently recognize the V stands for vowel, and the C stands for Consonant

2. For him to write an example of all the patterns, for instance, writing an when he sees VC, ei when he sees VV, writing ide when he sees VCe, writing a when he sees V, writing or when he sees Vr. The sixth pattern is the final stable syllable. A whole other can of worms

3. For him to consistently correctly identify the primary vowel choice for each pattern: VC- short, V, VV, VCe – long, and the sound of the V in a Vr pattern. 

  I told D over and over to pay attention to the vowel pattern. He revealed that he was sure I was teaching him the wrong thing. He also revealed that he only recently understood that if he wanted to learn something, he would have to take charge and make himself rise to the challenges and do the work. When I asked him when he understood that, he said, "When I was fifteen." He's fifteen now. Oh, boy. This kid is one massive challenge on so many fronts.