Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell.
Decided to read a fluff book - fun so far! I also decided I'm going to "assign" non-autism related reading to my clients' parents that are agreeable to this idea so that they can get a short escape. I will assign this book when I'm done reading it.
Going to Durham later to see a play with Adva. Haven't seen her in a while. It's a shame we don't see each other more but she's got her super strict schedule and it's hard for her to veer away from it, and as we all know I've been ridiculously busy, so it's hard. My mom gets super happy when we do figure out a time to see each other though. I just hope we can do it a few more times before she graduates and we don't live within 30 minutes of each other.
Speaking of being super busy, I may be giving Odge to the Secan family to keep for me for several days at a time, so that he can get a bit more attention than I'm able to provide him. Sara Rose thinks I'm silly and says she doesn't mind doing what she's been doing (she takes him out every day, and so does Lauren - my roommate), but I just feel bad because he shouldn't be their responsibility. The Secans are excited at this possibility because they have been wanting to socialize their own dog, and they say that their dog likes little dogs. Odge - you better be a good friend! I'll miss you though, we'll see if I can sleep at night w/o ya.
One of the most rewarding things of my life right now is my job. Everyone is worried that I'm not socializing enough, but I really feel fine. I still hang out w/Sara and Erica all the time, and I have movie nights, dinner nights, book club, DG alumni stuff - so just because I'm not going out to the bars doesn't mean I'm not socializing. I could do it a bit more and work a bit less, but I'm really happy with it. I really try to send my students' parents reinforcing e-mails, because I feel like usually teachers will only do that when they have to give a report, or will only contact the parents for negative things. Last week one of my students whose reading level in Hebrew was relatively low came back from break reading SO fluidly. I sent her mom an email and she responded telling me that her daughter looks forward to the once a week class, and thanking me for being such a good teacher. Several weeks ago I wrote an email to some moms of my clients (they know each other), telling them how good i was to work with such wonderful families, and I got a response telling me that they can sleep better at night knowing that I care so much about their kids. To me, this is the most rewarding thing that I've ever done, and hearing these comments just makes me want to work more!
Yesterday I went to the Davis' with Sara. They are a family from temple with two kids - Rebecca (2nd grade, brilliant, i've sub-taught her), and David (almost 4, has autism, verbal, SUPER sweet). Fiona (mom) is bravely battling cancer and had another round of chemo on Thursday, so I went over to help with the kids to give her some free time to rest. Sara Rose came with me. We played in the house a bit (Rebecca sold more girl scout cookies to Sara - I already purchased 3 boxes from her - thin mints and tagalongs of course). We played chase with David and had a lot of fun. Then we loaded car seats in my car and took them to McDonalds for some happy meals and playplace time! Rebecca is an instant leader and rounded up a bunch of girls to be on "safety patrol" it was so cute! She also went up to a family sitting next to us and blurts out "my brother has autism!" she was so proud of it! The dad just had no idea what to say - so funny! She had to make a "bio" for school and on it put 3 important facts about her, and that was the number 1 fact - that he has autism, number 2 and 3 had to do with favorite things and dancing I believe. I am glad we went yesterday and hope we do it again soon.
I want to write about Sara Rose and how proud I am of her. She's really gotten her life together despite what she's going through (a major break up and quitting her job). Wubby - I couldn't be more proud of you. I know since you don't have a mommy to tell you these things that it gets hard, and I know that whenever I make an accomplishment I love sharing it with my mom, so please know that I am here publicly sending you infinite positive reinforcement. I love you!
