December 7, 2020

I searched this blog for the first post about Robert learning to solve Sudoku. I found out that two and a half years ago, in July of 2018, I posted this: https://krymarh.wordpress.com/2018/07/18/on-sudoku-and-screams/ .  Since then, I wrote dozen of posts in which I mentioned Sudoku as a part of the daily routine. I know that at least in a couple of posts, I wrote  paragraphs about teaching Robert to write a specific number under a column or to the side of the row to which this number belonged when the exact cell couldn’t be yet identified. Sadly, given how chaotic this blog is organized, I couldn’t locate these posts without reading all of them. Nonetheless, it was illuminating to recall Robert’s first encounters with Sudoku.  His first struggles to understand the concepts behind the puzzle.

1. In the morning of one, sunny, September day, I prepared a few pages for Robert to complete them later with my assistance. I left them on the table and went outside to sweep the deck and water the plants. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, I heard Robert calling, “Mom, mom.” I rushed inside, to see him sitting by a Sudoku which was already more than half filled. Robert called me because he realized that he made a mistake and needed help.  That was a moment to remember because:

a) He started Sudoku all by himself.

b) He filled most of the cells correctly.

c) He realized that he made a mistake and stopped.

d) He asked for help. !!!!!!!

2.  Three days ago, Robert began solving Sudoku while I was busy in the kitchen and he completed it while I was still busy.  Then he showed it to me.

a) He solved the whole Sudoku.

b) He shared his success with me.

3. Yesterday, I asked Robert’s sister, Amanda, to practice pronunciation of words with both voiceless and voiced “TH” sounds. I asked because I still don’t say those sounds correctly. Moreover,  my throat hurt. As Amanda went down the list of words and Robert kept quietly repeating them, he also reached for the page with Sudoku and began solving it. At some point, he stopped, tapped one Sudoku cell with his pencil, and looked at Amanda expectantly. She understood, looked at the puzzle and suggested the next number to look for. Robert did and soon Sudoku was solved.

a) Robert accepted Amanda (someone beside me) to model his pronunciation.

b) He was able to repeat the words almost as if that was the natural conversation while simultaneously, he did something else.

c) He asked for and accepted Amanda’s help.

Of course, of course, there is a lot more for Robert to learn. He could /should learn to fix his errors even if that meant to start from the beginning. He could/should learn to more often utilize writing number below or next to a column or a row, if the proper cell is not completely specified. Yes, yes, yes, of course there is always more to learn and do. But today is the day to brag about Robert’s achievements.  So let’s brag.