You two started out the year with a trip to the dentist, Josiah’s first, and we survived. I never know what to expect walking into new situations like this with him, but I also don’t worry very much about it either. I think you’ve broken me of embarrassment in most situations, son. I pretty much anticipate that you will be loud and that whatever I expect for you to do, you are likely to surprise me with the opposite. In this case, you had a moment of fear in the chair. You didn’t like the reclining bit. I tried to convince you it would be okay, but you weren’t having it and seemed genuinely distraught, so I asked for a minute with you. We had a private conversation in the bathroom. Repeat x2, and you bravely held my hand and allowed first the hygienist, then the dentist to do their jobs. I was proud of you, and of myself for managing to help you overcome that obstacle. Two cavity-free mouths for now!
Adela, you received an Academic achievement award this quarter for your continued perseverance in learning how to read. Mrs. Hermanson talked about how you like to say “I can’t,” but then you somehow manage to do it when you try. The trying is what earned you the recognition, the getting better at trying and by trying, doing.
In the couple of months since then, you’ve at least doubled, maybe more, your reading ability. You are shocking me these days with the things you can read! It’s so neat. And you are so motivated. There aren’t many “I cant’s” heard around here these days. You are constantly asking to read, pulling books out on your own. It is never a chore with you. You enjoy it, and all the time and effort you’re dedicating to becoming a reader is paying off. You’ll even pull out books and read them to Josiah, complete with singing in the case of the photo below where you “read” (at this point it was mostly telling the story, but today, since I’m writing this in March, you’d probably be able to read most of it for real!) the Three Little Pigs. You’re singing “whose afraid of the big bad wolf?” one of Josiah’s favorite songs. And that moment was at your initiative. I was upstairs and came down to find you entertaining your little brother while he ate a snack.
One of Mimi’s Christmas presents was a set of tickets to see the La Brea Tar Pits, so we took a day trip out to Los Angeles and saw some really old bones, and “really stinky” (according to you both) tar pits. Afterwards we stopped at Griffith Park, a childhood memory for me (after a very long, and crowded drive, going the wrong way, ending up in the wrong place, but eventually finding it… the observatory area was absolutely mobbed with tourists), and you guys got to ride the carousel before we headed back home. One of my most vivid childhood memories happened in that park. My friend and I rode the carousel and left open cans of soda on the benches while we did so. When we came back and she took a swig, she pulled the can away from her mouth with a shrieking scream, her tongue lolling out of her mouth, bee firmly attached by it’s stinger, dangling from it. Mimi had to pull the stupid bee off her tongue. Yikes. Always check your soda cans, kids.
We had our first outdoor picnic in January when it temporarily warmed up for a few days. But it got cold again. January was a mostly inside month. One game you played repeatedly was “Toy Shop,” your idea, Adela. You get Jo’s tools (his “toodles” as he calls them, hehe) and measure and hammer and “make” toys to sell in your shop.