Summer

The last week has been fairly tranquil. Janey is calm most of the time. I'm not asking much of her---I'm getting into my default hot weather mode, which is going no-place and doing nothing. I HATE hot weather and it's been a hot summer. Janey has been watching more TV than I'd like, but she likes it and is really reacting to it---not just sitting there staring at it, but laughing and playing close attention to her favorite parts. We are working on workbook pages and papers the school sent home a lot. Janey will try if I have M&Ms. She is getting pretty good at tracing paths, like when the paper has a little maze to follow (but not really a maze, as it's all the right way). I am trying with letters, but I don't think she gets them at all. Numbers are a little more promising. Shapes still a struggle. Her best area is naming things, like when there are pictures on a page. IF she knows she might get a reward, she'll name all kinds of things. She often just uses the name of the last thing I showed her, though, if she's not really trying---like I'll show her a pig and name it, and the next thing is a table or something and she'll say pig. It's frustrating. It makes me feel like I'm trying to get her to do a party trick she really doesn't get. Her talking has lessened again lately. It's mostly all the old mold---"I want...." She fits everything into that mold, creating sentences like "I want turn off the light" "I want I will get you that"---meaning she wants me to turn off the light or she wants me to say "I will get you that". Sometimes she emphasizes the "I" part with pointing to herself.

I think she does a constant monitoring of the areas she wants to explore. If I leave the fridge un-bungee-corded for ONE SECOND, she is there taking things out. She checked the door to the hall many times an hour, as she does the bathroom door---she very much wants to start a bath for herself with her clothes on.

We had a very delightful day last week. I had everything locked, and I knew she couldn't get away, but I looked away and couldn't find her when I looked back. I checked everyplace (and we have a sadly small apartment) and didn't see her. I was starting to panic, although there was literally no-place she could have gone. I looked again and found her where I hadn't looked the first time---in the cat litter box. Like it was a sandbox. I admit I screamed at her. I think it's the first time I all out screamed at her. I am not a screamer. But I was so worried at not seeing her the first time, and so sickened by her thinking that was a place to play, and so annoyed as I had just given her a bath. She was very upset by my screaming. I was surprised it affected her so. She looked so sad. I gave her another bath, of course, the bath of a lifetime. During the bath I asked her more times than I needed to to tell her she was sorry, which she did. Afterwards she wanted me to hold her for a long time. I talked to her about not going in the kitty litter box, how we NEVER EVER EVER go in there, etc. She hasn't been back. I hate screaming like that. But I guess it was a natural reaction and probably did make an impression.