About Willa

This girl's headaches are going away!  Hooray!  We went to a physical therapist who gave her some exercises that have done her a world of good.  She has stopped taking handfuls of supplements and just does some stretching and strength exercises a couple of times a day.  (Feel free to Skype her for a demonstration.)  We are so hopeful this will last as school starts next week!  She has felt well enough that today she worked out, walked Mo, painted a pair of chairs, and went shopping for school clothes with me.  This is all new and very, very good!

The one thing that does hurt is wearing rubber bands on her braces.  Her teeth are pretty much straight and the orthodontist has promised her to take the braces off this fall if she is good about wearing these rubber bands that give her a new kind of headache.  The first night she couldn't take it and ripped them out in a half-asleep state in the early hours of the morning.  I think it is starting to get a little bit easier.

Willa has been getting an education by documentaries this summer.  She comes up with all these amazing facts about a huge array of things and when we ask how she learned that, she tells us, "Oh, I saw a documentary about that on Netflix."  She has watched movies about Chipotle, whales in captivity, tiny houses, a woman who lied about being in NYC during the 9/11 attacks in a big and public way, the McDonald's hot coffee cases, discrimination against women in the military, kids who went to a performing arts high school in LA, and people who escaped from cults.

Most of Willa's back-to-school budget has been spent on makeup.  She is really having fun buying lipsticks and pigments and having her two favorite beauty advisers here to approve of each purchase.

Willa took driver's ed last month ("The tests were a joke, Mom.  They told us to take notes and then that we could use the notes.  I didn't even USE my notes and still got 100%.  And got done way before everyone else too.") And she is practicing driving our little Civic stick shift.  I took her out today and she really has turned a corner.  She is getting the smooth starts and shifting like a pro.  The only time she had trouble and stalled was as she was starting as a light turned green going up hill on a wet road.  Luckily the car behind us wasn't too close to us, so all turned out well.

She is dreading starting school.  But other than that, this summer is ending much better for her than it started.  She's pretty much back to her fabulous self.