Routine

RJC has an evening routine.

First she showers, then she comes to the living room, turns off all of the lights, puts on PBS and mutes the television. She will often (but not always) drift off to sleep on the couch, usually a few minutes before 10 PM which she considers to be her bedtime.

At that point I wake her, help her brush her hair and teeth and bring her to sleep in her own room. She says the first two lines of the Shema, we have our scripted goodnight dialogue, and she’s asleep in no time.

Tonight she fell asleep by 9:30 which rarely happens. I figured she must be tired so I woke her up to get her started with her routine. She opened her eyes, checked the time and said, “10:00.” Then promptly went back to sleep on the couch.

Moral of the story is: Don't try to mess with the routine!

Communication - Still a Challenge After All These Years

 RJC: “Mommy, can I put the table clock in the sunroom for the birthday?”

Me: (pause while trying to figure out what a table clock is).

“Can you say that again please?”

RJC: (looks up in the air and concentrates on what she is saying): “Mommy, can I put the table clock in the sunroom for the birthday?”

This time she says it more slowly, obviously wanting me to understand her.

Me: (perplexed): “Can you show me the table clock please?”

RJC reaches into a bag, picks up a plastic birthday tablecloth she bought for Hal’s birthday next month, and shows it to me.

Me: “Oh what a good idea! You can put the tablecloTH (and I over emphasize the “th”) on the table in the sunroom on dad’s birthday! Can you say ‘tablecloTH?”

RJC: repeats it exactly as I said it, with an emphasis on the th sound.

Me: “Excellent, you’ve got it! We can do that on daddy’s birthday.”

RJC: “Ok. Thank you mommy.”

She happily puts it back in the bag.

Communication is still such a huge chore for her but when she’s motivated to get her point across she’ll work at it.

We had another of these communication issues last night when I couldn’t understand what shirt she wanted me to buy her. That one took longer and her frustration showed as her voice got louder. We eventually worked it out.

I can only imagine how frustrated she is on a daily basis - both communicating and understanding. Very proud of my gal this morning for sticking with me as we figured it out!

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122Bill Chernock, Cindy Gervais and 120 others