 |
| Opening a birthday gift |
 |
| Fairy birthday cake |
 |
| Birthday party |
 |
| Tzedaka box |
 |
| Driedel |
 |
| Canorah lighters |
 |
| Candle Lighting |
around. As in, “spring is just around the corner.” For you, it is that you are
turning the corner. You are turning from a toddler to a sweet little girl right
before our eyes.
You don’t share much of what happens at school with us but you have been
making some major progress. Your coloring and writing has improved
tremendously. Not long ago, your drawings would be mostly a scribble.
Now you draw a person with two arms, two legs and a head. And the
writing of your name is phenomenal. Just a few months ago I would trace
out your name for you to copy over but now you can do it yourself with out
the guide.
Those who are on Facebook have heard this story: One night getting out of
the bath you told me “triangles can live inside hexagons.” I was
flabbergasted and said I believed that too. That was one thing you learned
at school that you told us about. You also said that you were doing ‘reading
boxes’ but your mom was skeptical. Sidra backed up the story and we got
the full explanation of what a reading box is and where you were with it
when we had a conference with your teacher.
Here’s where you’re at: You are on the ‘at’ box. That means it’s about
words like cat, rat, bat, hat, etc. In the box are objects, a small cat, rat, hat,
etc and the letters needed to spell them. You reach in the box and get out
an object. Then you sound out the word and search for the letters that
would spell it. You are finished when you have gotten all the objects out and
found the letters to spell them. Then you get to have a punch on your card.
To ‘graduate’ from the reading box, you have to be able to find the letters to
the objects from all the letters in the alphabet, not just the ones needed for
the “at” words.
Another thing we learned from your teacher but suspected already is that
you save your worst whining for us. She says you are a sweet little girl
while at school after a brief transition period when your mom drops you off.
There is other evidence that shows you are turning the corner. You often
pick out your own clothes and get dressed without prompting. When you
play with your sister, you aren’t always just repeating what Sidra tells you to
say. She used to dictate the fantasy and all the dialog. She still does take
the lead and suggest your lines but now you are willing to add your own
twists to the story and suggest plot lines.
While you are turning the corner you aren’t quite all the way around it. Now
and then you revert to some of your quirky behavior. The other night after
brushing your hair and teeth I lifted you down off the bathroom counter. You
wailed, saying you wanted to get down yourself. So, I put you back up and
let you do it. Sometimes you have to have things just so. Like the bowl
should be right in the middle of the placemat. Maybe that’s something you
won’t grow out of, but the reaction you have in these cases is less violent
now.
I have a couple of stories.
In August, we went camping at the coast with some friends from back east.
It was unusual for camping because the campground was really in the city
limits. Since our friends were traveling and borrowing camping equipment
we ended up eating dinner at a restaurant. We had a table on the balcony
that overlooked the lower floor of the establishment. The balcony railing
had vertical posts with gaps.
The gaps were just big enough……….to get your head through. You got
stuck, your head went through but you couldn’t get it out. You weren’t too
happy about that and started wailing. Your mom was first over to you but I
was right behind her. She stepped back as if to say “it’s all you, dad.” So I
came your rescue, sort of.
As things developed your discomfort was become known to everyone in the
place. Behind me I heard the waitress shout “we need the manager up
here!” Soon, I could feel all eyes on us.
I tried gently changing the angle of your head thinking that it got through
somehow and we just needed to tip your head a little to let it slip back out.
It wasn’t working. You got more frantic. I remember thinking, “if she gets a
cauliflower ear out of this, her hair will probably cover it.” I decided I would
probably have to tug hard to get you out and it would be painful for you.
As I was looking you over and deciding just where to grab and how to do the
tugging you gave a good pull and your head popped out. By now you were
in full wail. As I was holding you and bringing you back to our table the
manager arrived and asked if everything is ok. I said “yeah, it is now.” He
shrugged and replied, “usually it’s a boy.” I got a laugh out of that later, but
not at the moment.
Later, as when we were recounting the tale your mom commented that it
was something we would remember and laugh about for a long time. I
agreed that you wouldn’t forget it, but said that you might not find it
humorous for a few years.
You did something else recently that was eerily similar to something I did
when I was your age. You had a cold and a cough. We gave you some
cough medicine at bedtime to help you sleep without interruption. It was
Mucinex, and came in a little packet of crystals. You are a supposed to let
them melt in your mouth before swallowing. They were orange flavored.
They are not unlike a pixie stick, the straws filled with flavored sugar.
I think you can see where this is going. You liked the medicine. You did
need it again the next night but not the third. You wanted more the next
day. You got a packet out yourself and I caught you going for the scissors to
try to open it.
After stopping you and hiding the rest of the medicine I told you what
happened to me when I was your age. I had been given some children’s
Bayer aspirin, chewable, also orange flavored. While responsible parties
were distracted, I climbed up on the counter to get the aspirin out of the
cupboard. I ate the whole bottle. This was discovered a short time later by
my mom and the next thing I remember is waking up with a hose down my
throat and my stomach being pumped out. I guess what happened to me
made it easy to recognize the same motivation in you.
My favorite picture here is the one where you are writing your nun on your
driedel. This happened at the event in Portland where we went for the
celebration of the first night of Channuka. There were crafts for kids to do,
making a tzedaka box and a driedel out of playdough. It shows how
determined you can be when you are focused on something and how well
you are writing now.
Love, Aba
No comments:
Post a Comment