Teaching Cianna

I have decided to keep a log on teaching Cianna. There are so many things that she does that touch my heart and surprise me! I never thought that my life would be so content in my job. At this time in my life I find it hard to even call it a "Job". Cianna is part of my life and I am so thankful that Andrew and Blaithin trust me to teach and care for Cianna.

I will add a short story on how I met Cianna. I answered an ad to be a part time Nanny in Mercer Island. I did not know that Cianna had special needs. I knew that they were looking for someone that would be consistent and patient so I called and met with them. I can not believe how easy it was to meet Cianna. I felt at peace when I met their family and it has been a wonderful adventure ever since. Cianna is like the little sister I never had but always wanted.

I will be keeping a teaching log but also using this to remember the little things that she does that touch my heart and teach me everyday to remember all the things that we take for granted. I am so grateful that I was lead to the Solan home and believe that this was no mistake in my destiny. I trust in my instincts and believe that this was intuition at work.

Cianna is going to NBA now. She works with Eileen who is very patient and a great teacher. She has been going for about 10 weeks and is doing very well. I will also add all the appointments that she has and add details for my teaching in this log.

Thursday July 21 -
Marianne 8-9 am Seattle. Breakfast . Teaching ABA Home therapy 10-12. Lunch. NBA Bellevue 1230-215pm. We also ate Mexican food today in Mercer Island. Cianna was very grown up at Lunch. She ate everything on her plate and "shared" her chips with me. I guess I must have been eating too many because she moved the chips to her side and let me know that they were hers. She gave me a specific amount of chips on my napkin that I was allowed to eat. We talked about how proud I was that she was sharing. At the very end of our meal Cianna was drinking from a glass with a straw. I told her to be careful because she was going to spill her water. She lowered the glass and dropped it under the table. I think she was very surprised that it broke. She got upset until I moved over to her side and hugged her and told her that we could get more water. I was surprised that she recovered so quickly. Usually she will go on and on about what happened and continued to be very upset. We promptly left so they could clean up the glass. Over all it was a wonderful experience to sit with her and have lunch at the restaurant. We went home and she wanted to swing in the back yard. The wind started to blow so I was talking to her about the wind. We talked about how you can not see the wind but you can hear it.... feel it......and see the trees moving. She than said "it needs to stop winding!" She awakens my soul when she says the most innocent things like this.

Here is another thing that she did one day when we were on the freeway. We were driving and she got very upset and kept saying "GET DOWN" "GET DOWN"! I could not figure out what she was talking about until I saw a tow truck that had a car on it. She was very upset and said "Cars DO NOT go on Cars!" How interesting that we just take things for granted and she is right.... Cars don't go on other cars! She is like a mystery to me that I try to understand and solve. I love her just the way she is!

Friday July 22 -
Bath - new toy Sponge Bob watering can. We will only use for bathtime. She used it to rinse her body. We also talked about how plants grow when you water them. She responded very well to rinsing her body with the watering can.

Cleo 750-850. She rode her bike and did Yoga and other PT things.

Breakfast 9-10 / NBA Home Therapy 10-12 / Lunch 12-1 /