Life Lessons

Today I taught Summer how to remember her right from her left (I hope). Sometimes gets them right, but I think it is pure luck. She writes with both hands, so I can't just say your right hand is the hand you write with. I also can't use the L is on the left hand because your thumb and finger make a L. They both look like L's and I think she might flip her letters sometimes anyway. She starts writing letters usually where you would end your stroke. Anyways, I finally figured out how to get her to remember. I told her her port is on the left. The right is the side with no port. Her port is something she is VERY aware of! I never would've thought I'd be using that to get her to remember, but it just might work...if she can remember left = port. :p

We worked with some rhyming cards today, and I was trying to get her to actually look at the word and not the picture. Yeah right, I know. That's why they put the pictures on there. :) But, I am trying to get her familiar with the letters and how they form words. These cards actually have lower case letters which is not her strong case. She has trouble with a few of them, namely r, k, h, & y. It is fun to see her learn and grow, but it means a little more of my "little" girl is going away. She has grown so fast and it has been a pleasure watching her, but I am not ready for her to grow up. Not at all. I keep saying we are going to start learning to write, but I haven't actually got it scheduled into our day yet. Maybe after her treatments, we will be able to set aside specific times for it. But for now, every day is unknown as to how she we will feel and where we will be. I guess there is no need to rush it anyway. She did work on S this week with me and also my mom. She wants to start with her name which is probably the best, then we will do the rest of the alphabet. Right now I think visual recognition is good enough. Plus I am already working on phonics so she can sound out the letters she sees and read the word. Yesterday, she told me that "rrrr" wasn't an R though. Oh yes, she already thinks she knows everything. Of course, I think also she just likes to challenge what I say and see if she can get away with it. Kids are so fun.

She is still feeling good, dressing herself and playing independently with her dolls. I have noticed her nurturing her stuffed animals and dolls more lately. I remember when it was me playing dolls. My sister and I used to play with them together. Good times. Summer doesn't have a sibling to play with though. I'm not real sure how I feel about that, but I am pretty sure I'm not going to have another. Too scared about losing the two people already in my little family to add another one to the heartache. I can't wait until Summer is healthy again and we can get her back in some classes so she can socialize with other kids. Thankfully, she does have several friends her age to have play dates with.

We are both glad to be home. I am so thankful she is still feeling pretty good after all the chemo this week. Hope it holds out through the weekend because there are quite a few things we have planned to do. She's got another photo shoot this weekend for a calendar that is featuring kids with cancer. We also have a cancer survivor dinner party to attend. Next week is Lexie's 1st birthday and I really hope she is feeling up to going to it. I am glad it is outdoors because that means we can go even if her counts are not so good. Keep on praying and sending positive thoughts our way! They are working.