Catching Up

It seems that I have spent time on Mike and Kat's blog this week-must see new pics of Will- but not on my own. So here's an update on us....

On Friday I went to Sophie's class to do Show and Tell with her. She was concerned because her classmates have been asking about her hearing aids, and I told her the best way to handle that would be to explain what they were. They weren't being mean, or teasing her, they were just curious. I offered to come into her class, and at first she flatly refused. But a couple of days later, she asked me if I would. Her teacher is now wearing a headset which sends the sound directly to Sophie's aids (Cobb County provided, hers are only 5 yr old, but not compatible with this latest technology) I asked the resouce teacher at our preschool for some coloring pages on the 5 Senses, and we started out talking about them, what they are, and what happens when one of your senses doesn't quite work right. (IE. People who can't see so well need glasses, people who don't hear so well need hearing aids.) I had picked up Sophie's own aids from the nurse, and I showed them to the class. We talked about making ear molds, how to put them in, even showed them the double sided tape that we use for swimming and gymnastics. As you can imagine, the tape was a huge hit, we passed around several pieces of that. Then I told the kids if they wanted to, they could listen through the stethescope to the hearing aids, and hear how loud they are. The kids loved this, and Sophie loved choosing who got to go next. A little power goes a long way! She also regaled them with the story about her "gook" and having to get it cleaned out, lisening to her description of that was funny.

I was so pleased with the reaction from her class, they were curious and totally accepting. I shouldn't be surprised, most 5 year olds are not jaded, but it was still nice to see the openess of the kids. I was proud of myself as well, it was hard to get started after her teacher introduced me. I got a bit choked up when she said, "And Sophie's mom is here to tell us about something she uses to help her learn." I never give the fact that she wears hearing aids a second thought, it is part of our daily lives, and has been since she was 6 ms old. But now being in a new school, having to deal with the FM system...all this has brought it into the spotlight. And I get emotional thinking of my little girl as being made to feel like she is any less "normal" than the other kids. However, any concern was dispelled when I heard the rest of the class do their show and tell. Sophie's vocabulary, articulation, intonation....all the elements that go into speech and language are at a level above most of her classmates. What a relief to see, and hear!

All sorts of objects were brought in for show and tell; some kids rambled, some barely knew what to say. I was impressed with Mrs. Miller as well. She could halt a rambler, or help a stumbler with such patience and respect. It made me feel better to see her in action, and how good she is with the kids. Tomorrow I will spend the time the twins are in MMO in Sophie's classroom helping with Centers. This is a Kindergarten teaching tool, the lessons are divided among centers; one for math, science, etc. Mrs Miller asks that 2 parents be in the class each day M-Th, from 9-10:30 to help her with this. I will do that twice a month, and work in the Media Center once a month.

Lilly and Bella came home from the bus with us on Friday. All I will say about that is having 3 girls play together is quite different from when Noah comes over to play. Noah and Sophie require no direction or interference from me; they rarely if ever, argue. And if they do argue, they work it out without my even knowing about it. The girls did ok, but there was some bossiness, some crying over who took whose doll, and some running to find me to come and settle their dispute. When Lilly's father came to pick her up early, Bella decided she wanted to leave then as well. Sophie didn't really seem to mind. I think she and Lilly may have more in common than she and Bella. Bella is very into dolls, and as Sophie has told me, they are "so boring, Mom". I did get them started painting, and they were fine doing this until Bella decided she had to play dolls. Maybe next time we will just have one other friend over. 3 can be difficult.

I was going to add more to this update, but this is already too long. Will post pictures of Art in the Park another time.....