A Little Summer Goes a Long Way

Summer has been great. I love not working and having time to be with Miles, having some time to myself and paying attention to the smaller things.

Miles started his Early Start program here in Santa Clara County. We were given the choice of the auditory/oral class, where they only speak to the children, and the total communication class, where they speak and sign. I guess I knew this was a controversial issue but I had no idea just how loaded it was. When I visited the two classes in the spring, I chose the oral class because the children in the class had the strongest oral skills and I wanted Miles to have those good models. But once we had been there for a week or two, the teacher told me that, come fall, I wouldn't be able to sign to Miles while in the class. Not that she has any problem with it, but she explained there were major legal battles over the issue. She then suggested that I check out the TC class.

As was the case in the spring, the children there had little in the way of oral skills. But, I was reminded, there will be many changes in clientele in the fall and things may change radically. So it came down to my own philosophy of what I believe is best for Miles. I chose the signing class. I'm sure I will hear from many of the HOH community, but I chose based on what we do at home including what I know as an educator- children learn best when they are presented with multiple modalities for learning. Also, he will only be at school for six hours a week so he will have plenty of time with strong oral models at all the other hours of his week, especially with his parents.

Will all choices of his education be so fraught?

Meanwhile, we spent the summer perfecting the "staycation" concept. Miles has become completely obsessed with trains so last Saturday we biked down to the local train station, took the train a few stops, biked to some local parks, took the train home again and biked back. He was totally amazed that you could actually go inside the train.

The grandparents came to visit for a week plus a few days after a trip to Oregon. It was really nice for Miles to spend more time with them as we are so far away. Plus, it meant that Jeff and I were able to go on a few date nights. Always good for the marriage. We spent plenty of time in the complex's pool and got some cute video and photos.

Early in the summer, my husband totaled his bicycle, luckily without any damage to himself. It then necessitated him purchasing a new bicycle. He was so tickeld with it that we then bought one for me. Since then, we have had all sorts of family bicycle outings and I have taken my bike out for a few long rides all by myself. It's nice to have a new physical outlet that challenges me and gets me outdoors.

Back to school soon- I'm trying to pack in as much as possible in the short time left.

After all the sadness of this past year, it can be hard to feel grateful. I recently heard a segment on NPR about a man who went from praying for things, to praying to get out of jams and finally, after a bad motorcycle accident, went to a prayer that goes like this: "Thank you, thank you, thank you for this life."
I am tapping into the gratitude for fresh food from the farmers' market, trips out with my family, the sunshine that warms the tomato plants, the crisp green leaves against the crisp blue sky. It fills my heart and keeps me from despair.

Sign Language Club

In an attempt to get a few extra bucks, I did a sign language club with students from my school this year. They learned "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in sign language and performed it for the school at the annual talent show.
Check out the video!

Miles learns to play tee ball

It is girls' softball season around here and when we take Miles to the park, he has become very interested in watching the girls of all ages playing softball. He knows to clap when a good play has been made and he has learned to squat like a catcher. He likes to stand right up near the fence so he has a really good view.

The other night we noticed that he was chasing a ball around with a stick and Jeff thought he might be playing "hockey." But eventually we figured out that he was trying to play baseball like the big girls he had seen at the park. Jeff rigged up a tee using a tube from one of my vacuum cleaners and found a long cardboard tube to use as a bat. See the video below to witness the final results. We've since bought him a real whiffle ball and bat. Next is the tee so he can play for real.

Amazing Miles

Here is a wonderful and amazing Miles story:

He was at daycare and everyone was outside playing in our daycare lady's backyard. One of the other children was just arriving to school and having a hard time of it. She sat down at the beginning of the walkway to the backyard and cried. The provider encouraged her mom to just come into the backyard, expecting that the little girl would follow after a moment or two.
Miles heard her crying, left the playhouse and walked to where she was sitting. He began talking to her, which made her stop crying, and then offered his hand to her. She took it and then joined everyone in the backyard!

Beyond being the sweetest story ever, I was amazed to hear that my boy was so adept at empathy. I expect he will accomplish great things.

Spring Break and Great America

I had a week off which was much needed. Unfortunately, much of it was spent dealing with a sick baby. Miles has had a crazy awful cold. He came down with fever the Thursday before my break and I took off half of Friday to be at home with him. The fever went away after two or three days but I got a call on Wednesday from his daycare telling me that he had thrown up. I went to get him and Leila told me that he had woken up from his nap with ear wax down his cheek. I knew he had an ear infection and that we were going to have to make another trip to the doctor. He's now on oral antibiotics and ear drops but his ears still look horrible.

On Saturday, Jeff's choir sang at Great America, a local amusement park. We met everyone at 9 am and the park opened at 10. They set up, warmed up and then the choirs sang their pieces. During the warm up, I let Miles run around the roped off area and he walked right up in front of the group as if he was going to conduct them. It was adorable.


Surprisingly, there were lots of rides for him to go on. They have two areas specially designed for the toddler set and we took him on all the appropriate rides. It was his first real experience with rides and he loved it. There were a number of "car" type rides that went around in circles. He also loved the toddler sized carousel where he got to ride on a "train." A few of the rides went slowly into the air and he seemed just fine with that. It was a full day but he had a great time. Jeff and I even had some time to go on adult rides while Miles spent some quality time with our friend Vicki.

My dancing boy

We've just returned from a fundraiser for Jeff's district. It was a crab feed/auction dinner where they had all-you-can-eat crab, salad and dessert plus drinks you can buy for cheap. They had a rock band going during dinner. They were a fun band playing classic rock from the Beatles and the Doors to U2 and the Police. There was some Tom Jones and Marvin Gaye thrown in there for good measure.

What made the night memorable was the fact that once we were done eating and Miles was getting a little antsy, we got up with him and, rather than walking outside or playing with the toys I brought to keep him entertained, Miles wanted to dance. I was astounded by the sophistication he showed in dancing to the songs and stopping as they made their transition to the next tune. He also clapped for the band between songs. Miles got quite a bit of attention and there were a number of ladies who wanted to be his dance partner.

My son has enough personality to share with many other children and still be a complete charmer. He was too cute!

My singing boy

Miles has begun to sing.  Sometimes the songs are recognizable.  He can sound out an interesting approximation of the Alphabet Song.  I know when he's trying to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" because he does the hand motions.  But today, I heard him chanting something that sounded like "Ahseh, ahseh, all... Dahn!"

Knowing that he says "all done" I figured this is what he was saying.  But he kept chanting the line over and over.  Then I realized what he was getting at; he was singing "Ring Around the Rosie."  Jeff shook his head over the first recognizable song being about smallpox.  Go figure.

Sometimes his singing will be an amalgamation of all the songs he knows and it sounds like he is just composing his own.  It's not bad, either.  He obviously has his daddy's musical genes.

In this way, he's also starting to "count."  When we heat up his bottle in the microwave, we count down the seconds.  He has begun imitating the tone and approximating the sound of the numbers.  Smart baby!