Puzzles

I love puzzles!  All kinds of puzzles!  I love jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, number puzzles, all puzzles.  I used to get excited in math class when we got to do logic puzzles.  You know, the grids where you had to figure out which of five people had which of five pets and went to which of five restaurants from a list of clues.  Don't remember or have no idea what I am talking about?  Check them out here.  Try one, have your kids try one.  You will have fun, I promise.  Anyway, as I have gotten older, I have found that life is full of puzzles and some are more fun than others.

I am studying to be a school psychologist.  If you don't know what a school psychologist does, we do evaluations for special education determination, provide school based psychological services, and implement interventions to improve student outcomes.  We have a lot of roles, but that covers the basics.  When a student is referred for evaluation, it becomes my job to solve the puzzle of why they are struggling and what we can do to help them be successful.  Is the student failing all her classes because she just doesn't care or because she doesn't understand or because she can't see the board or because she doesn't speak good English?  I think that is part of the reason I love school psychology.  I love solving the puzzles!

There are also puzzles in parenthood.  Caedmon has gone through many stages where his behavior changed in some way and we were trying to solve the puzzle as to why.  For example, he was an extremely fussy and challenging eater and we discovered it was because he was eating too much.  He has been screaming when we try to put him down for a nap in the evening and it seems to be because he doesn't really need that nap anymore.  It is constantly a game of puzzles.  Some puzzles we still haven't solved, such as why he spits up so much and why some nights he sleeps really well while others he is a hot mess.  Some we will never solve.  That is hard for me to handle.  The reality that I won't be able to solve the puzzle.  I don't like to leave a puzzle unfinished. 

In both my career and my life there will be puzzles that I can not solve.  It is a learning process to be able to let go and accept that fact.  Some puzzles have to remain undone, or half done, or almost finished and that has to be good enough.  So do a logic puzzle and remember that sometimes it is okay to not know the answer.



*UPDATE* I am down to 172lbs.  That is 3lbs lost since my last post.  Slow progress, but progress none the less.  I look forward to continuing to reclaim my health and remain accountable.

I want to re-name my blog.  The first title was just too long, I am not sure about what I changed it to now.  I am going to think of some options and put up a pole next week to try to find a name that really fits my purpose and my personality.