I haven’t posted much lately; the past six weeks have been . . . well, let’s just call them “challenging,” why don’t we? We’ve all had a series of minor illnesses (I’ve had a sinus infection twice in the same month). My dad had quadruple bypass surgery–but we haven’t been able to visit because we haven’t been healthy enough. Work has been incredibly slow (thank goodness), except for when it’s been incredibly urgent. We’re going through the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) process with LAUSD, and that’s challenging and dismaying, too. We know what Baguette needs and how she’ll thrive, and it just shouldn’t be this hard to get that for her.
All of this at once? It’s a bit much.
But then there are the wins, and this weekend was full of them.
- Baguette’s been signing the alphabet since Christmas 2013. This weekend, she moved on to words. And she teaches them to us, demonstrating and then saying, “What does that spell?”
- Lately, when we read her favorite alphabet book of the moment, she grabs the stuffed animal that corresponds to the book. Friday, when we got to “T is for Tiger,” she said to the tiger, “Stay right here” and then ran to get the hat she insists that it wear.
- Verbally, she’s been adding to her arsenal of stock phrases; today’s addition was “Want Mommy hold hands” while we were in the pool (which has opened! Huzzah!). Last night’s was “This is my penguin.”
- She’s been improvising lines to songs and books. To my knowledge, Eric Carle never wrote, “Cookie jar, cookie jar, what do you see?”
And apparently it’s time for the tooth fairy to start coming to our house.
Ah, the IEP! been through that. It’s a pain to get through the initial business, but then it’s worth it. Then you can be a REAL pain in the ass to school admin, and they have to let you! That’s when you find out which teachers are good, and which are going through the motions. Back in our day, it only lasted through middle school. Like all problems would be solved by high school!!
I hope it turns out well. We’re dissatisfied on a number of fronts, particularly with the (lack of) required preparation done by the IEP team. I may write about it later, but I’m not there yet.
Oh, I love the “what does this spell?” Leila has been playing it with alphabet magnets — meaning WEFIUBVDSOFIH773kSDJ. Though, she’s now able to pick vowels out of words, and that’s fun.
The Eric Carle variations quickly turn to toilet humor around here “Bat Butt, Bat Butt, what do you see?”
What’s especially cool about “what does this spell” in Baguette’s case is that she’s not spelling. She’s using signs for whole words, not just letters, and she knows the difference. She is also a big fan of alphabet magnets, but right now she likes them best as the alphabet (upper-case properly paired with lower-case, IF you please). Words will come soon, I have no doubt.