Truly Inspiring

As you all are probably aware from reading this blog, kids do not like to wear their hearing aids. Some days are better than others, but in the end, kids just want to be like everyone else. Here is an awesome story about a little boy and his journey. It's awesome that a company like Marvel would reach out and help this little guy...




If the above video is not working for you. See it at: http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/18597572/2012/05/22/marvel-comics-creates-superhero-in-honor-of-nh-boy
Thanks to my Delta Gamma Great-Grandlittle Erin for sharing this with me!

Our First Break

It's insane how something so expensive can be left on a 2 year old's head 12 hours a day. Thus the breakage issues. Today was our first break. Don't know when or how, but when Kate took off her hearing aids today and handed them to me, the volume button was missing. I didn't notice it at first, but if you look carefully, the left ear has a gray toggle switch and the right no longer does. You can see the inside of the aid now. I immediately called the audiologist and they will look at it on our next appointment June 6th. For now, electrical tape will have to do! A little ghetto looking, but at least they still work!!

Enlightenment

Last week, I had an meeting with the Fluvanna County Public School system to set-up speech therapy to begin in August for Katelyn - since she is not eligible until next year. Katelyn went to a friend's house for a play date. The meeting went well and I went to pick Kate up. Immediately after walking in, Kate takes her hearing aids off and hands them to me. She had not touched them the 1.5 hours I had been gone. ::sigh:: SUPER frustrating!

While talking to the mom of Kate's friend, a song from the Fresh Beats came on the television. Kate's friend began dancing along. Katelyn ran over, followed her friend's eyesight and landed her eyes on the TV. Immediately, Kate ran over to me and pointed to her ears. She actually ASKED to have her hearing aids put back in! She realized she was missing out on the music being played by the band. While this may not seem like a huge deal to some people, it's a complete breakthrough.

She has yet to repeat this request, but it is good to know she realizes the benefit of the hearing aids! All I can do is pray and praise the baby step successes.


UPDATE: Within an hour after I published this post, Kate was watching Sesame Street and one of her hearing aids came off. She brought it to me while attempting to put it back in her ear unsuccessfully. Making strides every day :)

Sign of the Day - Rain

Recently the weather in Central VA has been filled with lots of precipitation. Katelyn loves it, I am apprehensive. The hearing aids make me nervous because they can malfunction in the rain, therefore she has to take them off when going outside on rainy days. Kate always walks outside and looks up with a questioning look. Recently she has begun pointing to the sky and putting her hands up to ask me "whats that?". Today is the day I have decided to try and teach her a weather sign. "Rain" is our beginning. I don't really think she got it, but it was worth a shot.

Rain is made by opening both of your hands flat with curled fingertips into a "5 shape" and bringing it up to your eyesight. Your palms should be facing the floor. This is an action sign. You have to bring your hands down to your waist, while stopping intermittently to represent rain drops. See below for a diagram:

Sign of the Day - Mom

With Mother's Day happening this past Sunday, the ASL sign for "Mom" seems appropriate.

Mom is made by opening your hand flat into a "5 shape" and bringing it up to your chin. Place the tip of your thumb on your chin as seen below.

Mother's Day 2012

Photo by Michael Campbell
DESCRYstudios

Sometimes I have unrealistic expectations for what holidays should be. Birthdays are usually themed with decorations to match, 4th of July has an abundance of Red-White-Blue food & attire, Easter should have cute baskets and egg hunts. Not everyone does these holidays the same. Therefore, I have been disappointed in my adult lifetime on a regular basis due to a lack of excitement or "to-do" about certain holidays.

Thus, I set the bar low of Mother's Day 2012. My first two, 2010 & 2011, I worked the entire day and it was less than glamorous. Dinner cooked for me both years, but with a infant there's not much else to fuss about when you are at work all day. 

Mother's Day 2012 started off differently. I received my first Mother's Day gift last Sunday. Eric's daughters picked out a pair of earrings from a vendor at the Montpelier Wine Festival. Earrings fit me perfectly and the girls were too excited to wait a week to give them to me. I wore them all day yesterday and they noticed with big smiles on their faces. 

Yesterday began with breakfast in bed from Eric. Katelyn's gift was that she slept in until 9am. Although I think her sleeping in was a coincidence, an extra hour of peace to eat a hot breakfast in bed was enjoyable. We then went to church at Calvary Chapel Fluvanna. Pastor Steve gave a sermon based on Proverbs 31- what being a woman should be about. The sermon reconfirmed my decisions to stay at home to be a homemaker and mother. 

Although the day was not about gifts, they were perfect. I received a blueberry bush and a photo album from Katelyn. Recently I have been talking about putting a garden in our backyard and Eric gave me a blueberry bush to start the project. The photo album was from a secret photo shoot my Mom, Brandi, and Brandi's friend Michael organized. Michael shot many awesome photos of Katelyn at Darden Towe Park (see his facebook site here: https://www.facebook.com/descrystudios).

The day ended with a family dinner at my Parent's house. Tim made a big BBQ rib dinner for all 10 of us. Perfect way to end the evening. Although I set the bar low for Mother's Day this year, I feel I underestimated the people that are now in my life. This Mother's Day was exactly what I thought Mother's Day should be. Perfect day.

Sign of the Day: Help

Katelyn is 2 years old. Meaning, I am there to assist in almost every activity she is interested in. Despite her determination, her height and strength often prohibit her from doing the tasks she wants without some help. The latest sign/speak combo we are working on is HELP.

Photo Credit: http://mykidentity.com/?p=309  

Lift your hands together in an upwards motion.

First, you form your right and into the sign for the letter A. 

Next, open your left palm and place the A on top. 

This sign varies with how you lean the help motion. If you want someone to help you, then start the sign farther away from your body, and as you lift it bring your hands closer to yourself. 

Persistence is Paying Off!

Sometimes I do things with Katelyn & her hearing aids wondering to myself, "is this going to pay off in the end? Or is this a lot of effort for nothing?". I know patience is key and will pay off in the end. If you have experienced a Katelyn sized frustration tantrum, then you know why I would consider quitting instead of standing my ground.

This week magic has happened...

After one month of hearing aids, Katelyn is attempting to communicate in a structured way! For key words and phrases I sign and speak simultaneously. My hope was that she would also do both so I can tell what word she is trying to say. SHE FINALLY HAS!! It is relieving that she can tell me she wants to "eat", "drink", "up", "down", and has a few other words such as "please", "thank you", and "ready, set, go!". 

Currently, when she attempts to speak it is not clear what she is saying without a sign accompanying it 90% of the time. Many sounds come out the same. Speech therapy will fix this with time.

After this 6 month long frustrating journey, it's nice to see the hard work beginning to pay off!

When I Grown Up, I Wanna Be Famous!

Being a stay at home mom has allowed me to experience so many new things with Katelyn. One of my favorites recently was the Dogwood Parade held in April. Typically, I would have to work making a parade impossible. This year that wasn't the case. It was awesome to see her little smiling face. She LOVED the horses...

Although the rain had me a little worried, she waved throughout the entire thing. She's overcome some amazing obstacles. I believe with her determination and interest in being the center of attention, she may just become famous. It's also a good thing she could wave almost non-stop for an hour. 

These are the special memories that make all the difficult daily tasks worthwhile.

"Foto" Friday

With all the serious posts I've put up recently, I wanted to share a happy photo of Kate at the Discover VA Wine Festival a couple of weeks ago. She LOVED this train. Rode it over, and over. No need to hear -- just feel the bumps and see the surroundings. She was in heaven!