getting around

June has been quite a busy month. First, the girl and I spent a week in Missouri for a dance competition. Now, I am in California with both kids visiting family and places I love. Here is a small taste, maybe I'll post more later. 

Branson, MO

Yosemite

Morro Bay

Brynley weaves

sight seeing

Dyslexia and the learning process

Thirteen years of watching my son and puzzling out how he learns has finally led to some insight. These are some thoughts I would like to share with all his teachers, and a reminder for myself.  As his seventh grade year comes to a close, I can say that I have seen some breakthroughs that I have been waiting for for years for my dyslexic son. The biggest is that I can now say he is a reader! Not only has he finally started reading for pleasure in the last year, he now devours books almost as quickly as I do. When he was 10, I wondered if he would ever read and enjoy the Harry Potter series. The answer is yes, when he was 13.

So what do I know about dyslexia that was so hard to understand? I think I finally understand how smart my child is. And I finally understand that although I don't understand his learning style, and it takes a little longer usually for him to master something, he will get there.

My new analogy for understanding how my dyslexic son learns uses the image of building a puzzle. Most people build a puzzle in a linear fashion, finding one piece and then another and systematically building the picture. Dyslexia means building the puzzle in a completely different way. One day he may build a small piece of the puzzle. When he comes back to it the next day, this piece is gone. This pattern may repeat for quite a while. Putting small pieces together, only to seem to loose them. But suddenly, almost overnight, some kind of grand reshuffling takes place in the brain and the next day the dyslexic looks at the puzzle and the picture is complete. Complete and mastered, never to be lost again, and occasionally just a little more brilliant than the average puzzle.

Be patient with my son. Keep giving him the pieces. He may not get the puzzle on our time frame, but he will get it, and it will be better than expected.

the journey.... beautiful Iowa

I'm tearing myself away from Farmville to update my much neglected blog. It seems like things have been pretty busy. We enjoyed some beautiful weather over spring break, and I spent it teaching Brynley to weave.  Hobbling around in first a walking boot, and graduating to an ankle brace. Last week, Tracy Sklenar came to Iowa, and I got to spend four days working on moving to a higher plane of awareness in my agility journey. I'm pleased that Bryn is weaving, but I came away from the seminar with a page of things to work on in his training before we think of trialling. I'm sure I'll find the time somewhere. I have a new awareness of foundation training we need to focus on.

Meanwhile, the foot and ankle are progressing in healing. I hit a low point early last week when it seemed like it just hasn't gotten much better. (fortunately, I didn't have to run much at the agility seminar)  I've been doing physical therapy for almost three weeks. I think the last couple of days have seen a turning point. I seem to walking with less pain, and today I even went for a short bike ride (though I won't be locking in my pedals with cleats any time soon).

The agility seminar took place just over the river in Iowa at the beautiful Fairacres Agility. The views are just
fantastic, and I think this must be the prettiest agility field that I've ever been fortunate enough to run on.

Having a ball!

My foot and ankle are slowly healing. It has been almost two weeks now since I hurt it. I go back and forth between optimism that I will be running soon now the swelling and bruising are going down, and pessimism because it still hurts, and I can not yet walk on it unsupported. Meanwhile, the weather is starting to feel a little more like spring. I'm bummed that I'm not out walking and training my dogs. Yesterday, I took the dogs, a couple of different sized tennis balls, and my camera out in the backyard so we could at least enjoy the sunshine. We did!

Annie got the ball first. Hurry back so mom will throw it again!

Brynley got the ball and ran!

A short break to watch the world go by.

Little papillons play ball, too. 

Mickey is the fiercest ball dog of all. Throw it already!

slowly progressing

Today is Day 5 since the ankle incident. There is a noticeable, significant decrease in the amount of swelling in my foot for the first time. The bruising is changing from purple to green (yuk, says my kids!). Best of all, I'm walking around fairly comfortably in my walking boot. Later today, I will try to drive my minivan.

I have reluctantly decided that I have to pull Brynley from this session of agility class. In a handling system that focuses largely on the handler's movement and body position (Greg Derrett), I don't want to mess up Bryn's understanding. I keep reminding myself that it is only a temporary setback. April 10 is the day I am supposed to work Brynley in a seminar here with Tracy Sklenar, so all my focus is on trying to heal enough to be able to run him by that day. With that in mind, I'm focusing on being a good patient and laying around with my foot up most of the time. (Okay, that's not so rough, but it's less fun when you HAVE to).

Meanwhile, here is a picture where I caught Brynley and Mickey in a rare moment of sharing space. They  were under my kitchen desk.