lanalu

a few months ago i was having a parent teacher conference with lana's 1st grade teacher. it wasn't a very good one. she sat there and told me how lana's test scores were way below the normal. and i looked at the paper mapping her assessments and saw they were way below the normal. "now, will she be held back a year? no. that wont happen. are we concerned? yes." these were the words told.

lana's teacher and i sat there and discussed lana. "is there any add/adhd in the family?", she asked. "well, yes, on my side and my husband's side," i answered. i asked her if this was an issue and if she thought lana may have something going on here. she said it was maybe something to look into later on, but for now, she thought it was just a maturity thing. we discussed lana's reading. she still had not mastered it. we discussed her work habits. she still was not completing classwork. we discussed staying focused. she was having a hard time.

i of course was a bit worried. and i also mostly agreed it was a maturity issue. i was still getting phone calls during the day : "mrs. thomas, it's betty. lana's had another accident." sometimes twice a week. she still has accidents at night. she still wears pull-ups.

lana also brings a folder home each night. inside is a calendar and each day is colored a certian color. green for a good day. yellow for a warning. blue for a bad day. red for VERY BAD DAY.
lana's calendar is a lovely shade of yellow with hints of blue thrown in.

today as i think about lana, i think she has passed a milestone in her maturation.

lana's behaviour calendar is bright green now. no more yellows.

we've gone about 6 days without any wet pull ups in the morning. (that streak ended on tuesday. but this morning it was dry.) i haven't had any calls from her teacher saying i need to come bring clean, dry clothes to school in a long time. (oh, how that makes me happy.)

but what makes me even happier? lana's reading. i'll sit with her and she'll read to me and i'll be amazed that she actually knew a certain word. a word that she would not have even tried to attempt to sound out a few months ago.

word: baby
lana looking off into space, sounding out: "pistachio..."
me: huh?

now lana is reading and she loves to read. she'll sit with a book and read. alone.
and i think her test scores will rise next time.

because life changes when words make sense.

does she still suck her thumb? yes. all. the. time. thanks to grandma jill, lana confidently tells all that her grandma sucked her thumb UNTIL SHE WAS 16!
(i'm thinking lana will suck her thumb for eternity.)