Happy Birthday Sophie!

Since her party was a week before her birthday, it seems like Sophie's birthday has gone on for quite awhile now. She has received packages and cards in the mail, and that has kept the excitement alive. On Friday, her "real" birthday, we had Grandma and Grandpa Maier over for one final celebration. I made an ice cream sandwich cake, and we sang once again. That day in school was neat for her too. I made cupcakes, and she and Lily helped decorate them. Another new Kingergarten thing I learned...she was allowed to take a cupcake to her "specials" teachers, so she brought one to the nurse, her PE, Music and Computer Lab teachers. And, she got to pick a friend to make the delivery with, I think that is big for this age.



It is amazing to me that she is 6, I know it was yesterday that we arrived home from the hospital, shell shocked. I remember telling Terry when she was about a week old, that we would have to get my mother to come, or hire a baby nurse, what where they thinking letting me take a baby home? Time and Zoloft helped lift that depression! This year has been a challenging one on many levels, and I feel I am again that brand new mother, with no idea what to do, or how to discipline. Sophie is changing in SO many ways, and I think I was unprepared for many of them. I had an epiphany of sorts the other day, when I realized that not only was her going off to school an adjustment for her, but an adjustment for me as well. I know it's not like she went off to war, but having your child "out there" in the big elementary school....for a control freak like me, was a bit scary. I think we have both calmed down. Our mornings getting out of the house are a lot smoother, we hardly ever have tears over clothes or shoes. And our afternoons are better as well. Much of this is due to me learning that it really doesn't matter what she wears (within reason) and that she doesn't want to rehash her day the minute she gets off the bus. When she gets home, all she wants is a snack and to be left alone for 30 minutes to watch a show. So that is what we do, and after that she is much less grumpy. Telling about her day is usually saved for bath or bedtime.

Using an FM system in the classroom has been challenging, and she's really done well speaking up for herself. Each morning, she goes to the nurse's office, where she changes her hearing aids for the county supplied pair. In the classroom her teacher wears a headset, really a loop over her ear connected to a microphone on a very thin wire. This lets her voice go directly to Sophie's hearing aids, and helps reduce the background noise. Her teacher has been wonderful about it, letting me know about any problems or issues. And Sophie is doing well too. When parents come into the classroom to help, she will remind them if they are instructing that they need to wear it. It also goes with her to her specials classes. At the end of the day she goes back to the nurse, and picks up her own hearing aids. The hearing specialist from the county has told me repeatedly how impressed she is with Sophie's self advocacy, and how that will serve her well all her life. We did run into the "I hate my hearing aids, I wish I wasn't different" scenario about a month ago, but she seems to have gotten past it. A big thanks to Aunt Mary, a school nurse herself, who suggested bringing a friend with her each morning and afternoon, that seems to have made all the difference.

Here are some pics from our party at home: