Of Good Report

My oldest baby just turned 20 on August 10th.  Yesterday I went with him to his therapist, Dan Daley. Most of the time he has been going alone for the past year or more, but I wanted to go with him then to discuss an observation that Destry had made. I'm so glad I did, I learned more about what is going on with him and maybe how to look at him differently.  Destry mentioned that there were about two weeks straight where he was very forgetful at work, not just forgetting things that he was newly learning, but also forgetting things that he already knew. He also could not find things that were literally right in front of him. Spencer seemed to be unusually worried about his car racing event in the days leading up to it. Destry and I wondered if that was the cause. It wasn't. He was better afterwards, even though he had lost his radiator and missed one of his track times.  His radiator is fixed, but he now needs four new tires. He is taking all of this in stride. He has be...

We recently bought some new bookshelves to put in the front room of your home that I now lovingly call "The Library." I have always wanted a library and I finally have one. My mom's piano is in there too and I love it! I want to put a comfy chair in there for reading to make it complete.  While I was going through books that we had boxed up when we destroyed our old entertainment center that had stood in as a bookshelf for many years and going through the bookshelf of children's books that were in Sarah's room, I came upon a book of memories from her 5th grade year. Her teacher had written in there about how kind Sarah is and how she could always count on her to lift others' spirits. I loved that!  She does have a very kind heart. She gets along well with difficult personalities while establishing her own boundaries. I have watched her with a couple of her friends who are strong-willed, even bossy. She doesn't get offended by them, but she doesn't ...

My girl, Estelle, has become quite the dancer this past year. She decided to stop taking tumbling and move on to dance classes. This was inspired, in part, by watching the Westlake Dance Company perform at the high school where Spencer was taking some dance classes. She progressed quickly in her tumbling class and is flexible and graceful.  We were too late for her to audition for a team, but I found a studio that would let her compete on their beginning teen team. She enjoyed it, but her skills and her motivation surpassed most of the other members of the team. She learned a contemporary solo dance from a neighbor, Sara Fike. It was a beautiful dance and Estelle placed at every competition, taking second twice and first once. She was told by at least one judge at every competition that she should move up to a different level. Since this was her first year dancing she competed with the beginners. Her tumbling skills definitely helped her. She also learned skills by watching YouTu...