With Jessica and Namine both feeling under the weather, I took the day off a couple days ago – and the afternoon yesterday – so Jessica could relax, recharge, and just get some rest.
The day before yesterday, Namine had occupational therapy and speech. She always impresses me. Even when she doesn’t get a new concept or idea right away, she’ll show soon enough that she understands. Case in point: in OT yesterday, one of the exercises was to draw a straight line from one dot to another. In therapy she didn’t get it. The therapist told me that it was a more advanced concept than she expected Namine to get; she just wanted to see if she’d at least try it or stonewall completely. (She did try; she wasn’t able to do it, though.)
But later that evening I tried it again with Namine. The top one is mine, as I showed her what to do. The bottom one is hers – only her second attempt, the first being at therapy. I think she did pretty well.
That evening, Namine asked me if she could play “my elephant game.” I admit I had no idea what she was talking about. “You know, Haha! My elephant game with music, on the big giant TV!” Oh, that game. I had downloaded a demo of a game called PooYoos a while back. It’s a learning game, and the demo has an elephant that goes with you through a matching activity and a song. So I took some pictures of Namine as she played, and anyone who’s seen my face while playing video games should recognize some of her expressions.
When Namine played the demo for the first time, she had some difficulty. But even though it’s been a while since she’s played it, she jumped right back in like a pro. Laughing and squealing with delight, she played through the demo twice. After she finished the second run through, she handed me the controller and said, “Haha, I’m ready for my bath now. Will you go fill my bathtub?” She never particularly likes going to bed – and sometimes getting her to sleep is quite the adventure – but she always loves baths.
Yesterday Namine didn’t have therapy, but I took off of work so I could take Jessica to the Urgent Care clinic. After we got home and had some lunch, Jessica went to sleep and I took Namine out for ice cream. Namine ordered for herself: “Nilla ice cream, with chocah-yat and MIP MEAM!” I translated: hot fudge sundae with whipped cream. Oh, and put a cherry on there. As I said that last bit, Namine exclaimed, “Oh, a cherry? For me, Namine? I love you so much, Haha!” When we sat down and ate our ice cream, Namine told me, “This is the best ice cream I ever had!” She even ate nearly all of her sundae.
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