In the beginning Harper sometimes couldn’t think of three.

I would offer examples, careful not to pressure her: the dog we had seen on our walk, Grandma’s pancakes, the cloud that looked like a whale.

Later she began volunteering her own, many of them things I would have overlooked.

A yellow butterfly.

A good eraser.

A classmate sharing a pencil.

She was teaching me to pay attention in a way no therapist’s worksheet could have done.

I went back to work gradually.