Bullet Updates

We've been super busy here lately but here are a few quickies from the Blakely kiddos.

• We have realized Gman isn't growing out of his lazy phase. He MUST get it together with this whole homework issues...or lack there of. Good thing we can access a few of his text books online now and I can see his teacher's lesson plans for the week....hee hee, can't get away with much that way.
• Gman goes for a tune up the 11th of Nov. No real noticeable probs yet, but we are looking forward to seeing his Audiologist again who keeps laying out of work, having babies.
• I am subbing quite a bit. Cheerleading is over. I spend all my "extra" time at home or at church...am I boring or what?
• We are looking forward to the PEEPs in the Park event coming up Sunday. The Delta Zeta girls from the University of Alabama are coming to give us all a big ole Fall Festival
• We are scheduled for our annual visit to the University of Montevallo where we go talk with the Speech/Language class my friend teaches. This will be the first time both kids have attended...but we are out of school that week for the Thanksgiving holiday so what do ya do? This should be interesting. They may demonstrate wrestling or Fight Club while we are there for the students!

Other than that, we are just going to work/school, keeping busy with life as most everyone else.

The Church Festival

We had so much fun at our church Fall Festival. I'll just have to give it to you in pictures. We had so much fun and are so glad our friends Brenda and Roger invited all the church members to come out to their land to enjoy it's space and beauty. As you'll find, B finally grabbed a mic, she's very self-conscious about singing in public...she wants to so bad but she's still timid. She understandably has a harder time learning the words than the other kids in church but she keeps trying! That's my girl. You can see her looking at her friend for guidance.

Her very best friend in the whole wide world!! Could she look any happier?

Don't forget my other blog-I write on it mostly now...The Road (click here)

I still cringe

I know I've strayed away from "advocacy" for quite a while. I feel comfortable with my kids getting what they need at school. However, I still cringe when adults say to me "Oh, she could hear me!!"

Brook had mic issues the other day. According to her, the sub turned the mic on when it needed to be off and off when it needed to be on. They apparently had issues with Brook's behavior and I hate that. Brook immediately told me as she got in the car this day all of her troubles. Unfortunately, when no one listens to Brook, Brook gets very angry, and sometimes even disrespectful. She got in the car with ATTITUDE pouring from her. She vented, and I assured her, the teacher didn't hate her. I was gonna address it but when I'm met with the words "Oh she heard me!!" I simply brush it off as, why even try?

It's not always VOLUME she needs, it's clarity and people just don't understand. Plus the mic will buzz when it's out of range and on unnecessarily at times so I can see Brook's side. I however, haven't written down the steps for the mic to be left for sub teachers, and believe me, I know how subbing can be. You are lucky to have a clear moment to figure out anything much less technology.

I am only aggravated at myself because I've reached the point where we are too comfortable, and it's affecting my kids. I must put back on my advocacy hat at some point and go back to educating the public. Maybe I should just do a presentation somewhere, lol- like the old days. I shouldn't have ever got that comfortable--no, I won't be receiving Mom of the Year!! Darn.

HEAR Center Zoo Trip

We had a great time last Sunday at the Zoo with our HEAR Center family. The zoo hasn't changed a whole lot since I was a kid, and somehow I always forget HOW BAD IT SMELLS!! But we had big fun and we can't wait til our next PEEPs event on Nov 6.

Gage had his MAPping last week also, so he's still looking good! He's glad to have /L/ back, which he was missing on both ears. He was repeating /m/ or /n/ for /l/ but we got it all worked out!

We hope our audiologist comes back soon, not that we have any problems with the 'stand-in' one, but we miss our girl!! She's been busy having like her 14th child in 3 years....or something like that...but we look forward to seeing her again!!

Cheerleading is now over for the season...all but the final end of the year party. I'm gonna miss those practices but glad to have gained our Saturdays back so we'll be 4-wheeling all the time now.

Our school's Fall Festival is Friday, so I'll be volunteering for that ALL DAY, followed by more volunteering at a 1/2 night lock-in for the kids followed by our church Fall Festival the next day! Whew, busy but FUN weekend ahead!

We are good

Just a quick update on these Blakely kiddos...

• Gage has had no issues whatsoever recently with pain, itching, weird sounds, nothing! And let me be clear, the weird sounds only happened once in class and after I put his processor in the machine that night, he never heard it again. It was a clicking noise which could have been something in the room or near his classroom interfering. So we are good.
• Having said that, some people are getting really confused on the Cochlear recall. If you want the most current/accurate info, just go here and read first hand about it. Here's a sample of what they are saying:

"The recall is only for the unimplanted CI500 series cochlear implant. The Nucleus CI500 series cochlear implant was introduced in September 2009. Those implanted prior to that date are not affected."

• Brooklyn's behavior has been really good the last few days and she even got to move back to her table (she was sitting alone) and she was thrilled about that.
• I've been subbing almost everyday which is great. I'm always between the elementary and high school and we have one more football game to cheer at and our season is over. So I've been a busy girl.
• We are still loving our new church. Click here to read all about our adventures there. There's a bunch of good stories that have been given to me from there.
• And don't forget my crazy blog which has nothing to do with hearing loss but it's the lighter side of the Blakelys...and my adventures as I make my way to the insane asylum. Click here.

She Hit Not a Soul

I've been dreading this trip for a long time. In fact I rescheduled it twice before I said to myself GET THAT CHILD TO A DENTIST.  Most of you are long time readers of this blog and know how awful un-delightful our previous dental visits have been. (Click here if you wanna know just how bad it used to be "Rabid Child").

Anyway, it was her idea today to be a big girl. She had no intentions of hurting anyone and she wanted to just make it through the appointment and get back home. Well, no x-rays. They tried several times and were super sweet but B shut her mouth tighter than a clam. Not happening. But she hit not a soul! Improvement.

I left the room and the lady chatted it up with Brook and somehow managed to clean the top choppers. B tried to knock her hand down a few times but in a gentler way than she typically has done in the past. The lady didn't push Brook and for today, that's all they accomplished. The lady did come out, and she seems sensitive and I was worried B had hurt her feelings but after we talked she was fine. She felt like a failure but after I told her how wonderful I thought her accomplishment was, she was pleased and relieved. Brook wouldn't even sit down our first visit there (this is a new place we have started going to).

I have high hopes that this child will get all teeth cleaned on our next visit and possibly even some x-rays by age 10...? This is a very good dental office and they communicate well with my kids, with and without their processors on. We only remove them for the x-rays even if it's probably not necessary, we do it anyway.

Tomorrow we have the Homecoming Parade and we both look forward to riding and cheering in that. Big fun!

For no reason at all

I don't have a lot of patience with my children. In fact, if I want to see any of it, I must pray for it before I start my day. Yesterday, was horrible, which made me feel horrible when I went to bed. I said right then, I wasn't going to forget to pray for patience when I wake up, if I'm lucky enough to get another chance.

So I did just that. I had the best day ever. Sure, the kids were at school for the most part but afterwards, we went for a walk...like we used to do everyday. The kids are getting older so part of me thinks they'd rather be doing 'other stuff' than walking around with Mom. I couldn't be more wrong. They loved it.

I remember doing these walks for speech/vocabulary purposes...I hear a dog barking, where is the dog, let's find something that starts with a /t/ sound or let's find things that are living and things that are non-living...

So it's hard for me to remember to do things for no reason at all. Doing things just for fun, or because I want to see something pretty or because my kids missed me all day. Today was an awesome day, I am thankful !

We are looking forward to our Zoo trip Sunday where we'll see all of our HEAR Center families. We love events like this and look forward to it.

Gage hasn't been hearing his best this week so far, he has MAPping/audiology next week so they'll fix that hopefully. His ADHD appointment is in the morning so we'll see if he's gained any weight at all...

Brook's behavior has improved so far this week. We are thankful for the good days for sure! Our high school has Homecoming this week so lots of exciting events lined up this week at school.

We look forward to what tomorrow will bring the Blakelys!

Boundaries

Oh, we're getting back to where we were last year as far as behavior. She's been doing so well and then WHAM...we had a rough week.

One of her main problems is when she gets sent to the Principal, she starts crying and doesn't give her side of the story. She gives it to me when she gets home and it always goes along with the teacher's version but if she would plead her own case, they could resolve things much easier and more efficiently.

I feel like her underlying major issue is that she doesn't understand boundaries. Not sure if it's actually hearing related...I know that people give us cues with the tones in their voices when we cross the line, but they usually also give us visual ones as well such as furrowed brows, and various other gestures we pick up on...

She has a little boy she likes to play around with and they make each other giggle by calling each other silly names "Old lady," etc. and they both giggle and think it's funny. However, it gets them in trouble, and I completely understand that this 'game' will eventually go too far and they need to find something else to talk about...before someone gets mad.

So Brook asked him a question...just an honest seven year old question about his family. He got offended and said she was making fun of him. She got in major trouble, likely because she started crying and didn't plead her own case. She was so confused when she got home. "I still don't know about his family. Kids are supposed to look their parents." I have no clue about the child's background but we discussed foster care, adoptions, extended families, and anything else I could think of. I don't think she was intentionally making fun, she just had a question that people got mad about instead of answering for her. We need to figure out a way for her to stop crying so much when she feels "wronged" and ask the appropriate questions instead of crossing boundaries. I wholeheartedly believe this is the underlying issue rather her trying to be mean. She likes the kid...but she's only seven too. So that's what I am going to focus on for a while and see if that helps. I'll have to get the teacher's help though since I won't be there when the situations occur.

Now don't get me wrong, she still gets into trouble for other things (mainly talking) but for this particular issue, based on the info she gave me...she was just looking for some information about his family...not really trying to hurt his feelings. She just has to learn when to STOP!

Oh goodness, this will all work out in the end (we hope) and she'll grow and learn from her mistakes. Let's just hope she learns to do this outside of the Principal's office rather than inside it!

On a different note, we are looking forward to our Zoo trip next Sunday with The HEAR Center! We love seeing all the kids with hearing loss explore the zoo for a day.