L finally lost her first top front tooth at school on the last day of school. She also informed me that she must leave it in a glass of water and that when she woke up the tooth would be gone but the water would be colored to prove the tooth fairy had been there. This new mythos courtesy of a sleep story that was in rotation for a while. However, she ended up opting to put it under pillow instead which also me at that I ended up scrabbling around under her pillow trying to find it at way too early in the morning. And I think she saw me? But it also doesn’t seem like she’s super…connected to the tooth fairy, if that makes sense? She cares not for money or drama so I don’t know if she’s so much mourning the loss of this narrative as just bummed that she lost the tooth. And this last part I think because it happened on the last day of school and it’s starting to sink in that THIS was going to be IT.
The constant smell of cookouts in the air and the distant sound of reggae mean summer to me now. The Close Park is still being closely monitored by Youths to the best of my knowledge so we made the trek across the bridge half a mile away to go to one of the other three that are close to us. There are people playing tennis, a scant two spray paint tags, and other seven-year-olds so - the main complaints have come from children's parents by proxy and/or age-appropriate weapons and social concerns. What does that mean? A little girl she just met telling L, "My dad doesn't like it when you pull on my body." ...which is something L's older friend Li brought up at one point too. Specifically Li's dad. Specifically L pulling on Li. And another was a little boy playing with them aiming an orange nerf pistol at L while she was winding up to hit a birdie over a net. She asked him to stop, and while I'm not totally clear on if he did or not (and he probably wasn't clear on that either) she then brandished her racket at him, winding up with it held behind her back as if she was about to hit him. She didn't, but I get it. It was threatening. He said, "I'm going to tell your mom!" and started marching across the field to me. I started marching across the field to him and, calmly but with an edge, affirmed his concerns, let him know that it wasn't okay for her to do that and it's important for him to not aim guns at people. I was kind of on preschool teacher autopilot so hopefully it hit, but who knows? Then I did basically the same thing with her and she cried and the person she was playing badminton with sort of tried to defend it with, "Well, he was being mean to us the whole time." Uh...that's cap, probably? But even if so I tried to pivot it to to, "Well, ask an adult for help then." I don't know, bruh. Nobody's completely right, nobody's completely wrong, and if we pull gender into it I guess I feel kind of like extrapolating that AMABs maybe feel more comfortable asserting dominance in increasingly sophisticated ways ("Ima tell your mother!") while AFABs maybe feel more comfortable trying to solve the problem for themselves. But this is barely a case study. So maybe I'll stop going off about it.
I don't know really what I think about the pulling on other peoples' bodies thing yet. I gather that she's sensory seeking and low registration with sensory avoidance for specific sensations (sound, mostly), and pathological demand avoidance (PDA). Well, maybe just pathological with me, but still. I'd bet dollars to donuts that she masks like a motherfucker all day at school and then has to kind of let it all out at home which means nothing gets done. And wow! Much relatability! For me anyway. That's no way to live, however. There's the piece where I was like that as a kid too (I think?) but I had a sibling to work it out with who was also all those things x10 and in comparison I probably didn't seem all that sensory seeking, etc. Plus I had this temperament my genes plus being born in the 80s saddled me with. So. Yes. Note to self: hockey, rugby, social stories, heavy work, scaffold at home, and rehearse before going to playgrounds. I'll uh...talk about the parts of me that are super-duper worried about what other people think of her/me another time because that certainly is a factor and I am very ashamed of that part of myself but just ignoring doesn't do anybody any good. Least of all L. *ahem*
Hey! I'm on fieldwork, remember? The kid I was to plan an intervention for yesterday morning cancelled so now my main concern for this rotation has become GETTING ENOUGH HOURS. Ya girl will need to do a detailed research project or something for real!
Last week I got to shadow for an evaluation at a preschool and I had some Feelings about that. Some of the feelings were concern that we were not taking into account the classroom environment or schedule or, indeed, talking to teachers about The Things. But I can hope that the OT I was shadowing did that at a later time…right? I have some strong opinions about daycare settings and OT. Come at me if you dare!
Last week I also successfully wore makeup for five days in a row. I’ve always wanted to be the type of person who wears makeup for work and maybe THIS TIME I’ll get it together? I’ve been trying to pack it gym bags that I prepare by day and line up on hooks and everything!
But actually? Probably not, fam.
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