Spelling Practice

“SUN,” I say to the lass.

She has a list of words she’s working on for spelling. We were taking a couple of minutes for her to practice them. This week, the letter ‘U’ seems to be the focus, as all the words involve that letter.

The lass was sitting on the couch. Upon hearing the word she looks up. She sticks her tongue out for a moment, grimaces, says “SUN…. S.” She now puts both arms back against the couch with her hands up by her ears, shifts her weight to the side and flops over so she is lying on her side on the couch. Then she says “U.” Now, she rolls over onto her belly and stretches her arms down by her side while swimmer-kicking on the arm rest with her feet. Finally, she says “N.” She brings her arms up under her chin and props her head up. Her feet are now kicking back on forth in the air behind her head. This all transpires over about 5 seconds.

She’s now looking at me waiting for the next word.

“RULE,” I say.

She starts by face planting into the couch, followed by pushing herself back up into a sitting position. “R,” she says. Her face is contorted with concentration. She flows from a sitting position to draping herself over the arm rest on the couch, her back on the rest as she stares up at the ceiling. Her hands tap-tap-tap against the wall next to the couch. “U,” she says. Now she rolls back over onto her stomach. She is facing away from me, her feet are closest me while her head is on the opposite side of couch. Again, she pushes herself backwards and up into a kneeling position. “L,” comes next. As she’s doing this her hair is flopping from one spot to the next and she starts playing with it. “E,” she finishes. She stops moving, waiting for the next word.

Things continue like this for the next several words. She snakes all over the couch as she spells her words. Eventually, she rolls off the couch and barely seems to notice. For the final few words, she barrel rolls across the floor saying letters as she goes. She pauses her movement after she completes her spelling. She never does work her way back onto the couch.

I was exhausted by the time her spelling practice was done.