Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

 

   I had a great night's sleep last night. The first time I checked the time, it was 4:45; my alarm was scheduled to go off at 5.

   It was driveway yoga today. I got down on the mat without hanging on to the chair. I also got up from the floor without using a crutch. I had Yvette spot me in case I toppled on the way up.

  When working on the blog, I read about my bad relationship with the grief counselor at the hospice center. I said I was relieved that Mike died because of the impact on my life he had lived. The counselor commented on how most people are glad the person died because they got relief from their pain. That's a given. I suffered because he did, as well as the way his condition would have changed my life. Some people believe you're someone who never thinks of others if you mention yourself. Fortunately, Mike didn't perceive me that way initially and never changed his mind about me.

   I spoke to Adolescent D's mother. She said she heard him read the other day and was amazed. I said, "You are so lucky you found me." She protested. "Teachers always said he was cooperative.," focusing on his character rather than the improvements he's made under my watch. I said, "He's a 'you can have my body, but you can't have my soul' kind of guy." He never invested in the process. I can't say he didn't invest at all. He continued working with me. His mom commented he was like that with everything. So sad.

     The difference in his performance is because he started investing in the process. He sees figuring out words as a game. He is prepared to use trial and error to figure out this game. I finally got him to use multi-syllabic words in our "give me a word, any word" exercise, where he has to use his knowledge of the sound of the word to figure out the relationship between the sound and the letters and then figure out the sound of each syllable before blending the word back together again- a simple but powerful exercise because it's a game.  

    I started working with him in the spring of 8th grade. He was still tested as a first-grade reader. Last spring's evaluation wasn't accurate because he had the computer read everything to him. But the previous spring, he tested on a 5th-grade level when he read the test himself.

   To my delight, Gokhale's customer service agent returned my call today. I called yesterday to get help accessing the Elements Handbook. I also asked if I could get out of the private classes I had signed up for. I found the teacher's presentation and responses robotic. She recited a script no matter what I said. I was expecting trouble from the customer service agent, but she was more than cooperative. I am concerned about instructions in the group classes, too, but I won't be expecting individual attention, and I will learn from the other student's responses. It's still $90 an hour. Outrageous. I am so relieved to be shod of those individual sessions. The instructor gave a private viewing of a public presentation. Even her posture corrections weren't designed for me and my body.

   Today, I spent time prepping for Dan to come and distribute the dumpster-sized pile of mulch over the 720 square feet of bare soil left after he removed the half dozen or so Ficus trees. I covered all the upholstered furniture in the common areas with linens and towels. I can't close off from the common living space from the outside. We get a lot of dust from the outside anyway. Yvette complained about the dirt when our house was under reconstruction. This should be a real mess.

   My acupuncturist arrived at noon. She didn't even notice the bedecked furniture. She asked why I didn't just cover the screens with sheets. Good question. I didn't even think of it. More evidence of my impaired mental state after the eight hours of surgery and anesthesia. When I thought of it, I had no idea how to fix the sheets in place. Push pins sounded too hard; staples would damage the sheets and the wood. Then I remembered I had shades over the top part of every section of the screens. Wow! It took some time before I thought of that. I remember a time when considering options was a given. I never came up with something afterward I should have considered beforehand. Scary.