Sometimes, I get this nagging voice in my head that the reason those kids down the street don't come to play with J anymore is because he's different, he's Deaf. They were fine until their parents met J... Sometimes I want to make an announcement at the grocery store: "Stop staring at us; yes, my baby has hearing aids; don't tell me you're sorry; don't stop talking to my son after he starts talking and you don't understand his speech or see him signing, he asked you a question; we, they, are just like YOU!" Sometimes, it's really hard to get things done and sign at the same time, like when I'm carrying stuff and trying to have a conversation with L. Sometimes, I wish I could just be fluent in ASL today! Why didn't I learm this earlier when it was just a fun thing for a high school girl to learn?? Too bad I couldn't have seen the future! Sometimes, I think about my life 10 years ago, and that if you had told me I would have 4 children, and 3 would have significant hearing loss, I'd tell you you were nuts. Sometimes, I see a purpose for myself. The divide between Deaf and Hearing is way too wide sometimes. Sometimes, I am overwhelmed with gratitude, and how much I love my children, and my husband... all the time~

Can I just say again how thankful I am for our D/HH program? L has been going to school now twice a week wince Christmas, and she's doing wonderfully! I ask her every Tuesday and Thursday morning if she wants to go to school today; every time she responds by excitedly signing all of her teachers' names and that she's going to go play at school, and that she needs to get dressed, get in the car, and the car will go up the driveway and down the street(using the classifier for vehicles and her own sound effects!)! :) We learn more and more about other programs for Deaf children, especially those in public schools, and how much they lack, either in funds, personnel, or otherwise... People really still think that Deaf people and Deaf children won't progress as far as a Hearing person?? Or that ASL doesn't have merit as a real language?? I can't begin to tell you how inflamed that makes me... However, we have apparently lucked out, and we have a whole team of fabulous people who not only care about our children, but push them to excel everyday. Yay!!

Spring!

Whew, Spring is always such a busy time in our house. (Hence, my lack of blog posts - it's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

Lots of new experiences, and opportunities for new vocabulary/signs! A few of the highlights: U-pick strawberry farm, our chicks hatched, planting in the garden, many festivals and seasonal events ,...

R's new favorite thing is to crawl ALL over the yard and anywhere else we go. We're at that stage, 12-18 months old, of constant movement. By the end of Spring, he should definitely know "grass", "dirty", "bug", "stay here", and "bath"! Haha! :)