Today we went to a friends house. Her daughter too has bilateral cochlear implants. But the daughter is nearly six years old so does not really play with Mary at the moment. However it is nice to meet up with another mum who understands Mary and her needs. She signs to Mary and replaces her ears without any thought and I can truly relax.
Mary too enjoys our visits there and let out a big squeal and waved her arms when we pulled up in the driveway.
The girls were playing in the garden and us grown ups were in the kitchen. This scene reminds me of the issue I have with translation of BSL into English for the subtitles. I am beginning to understand BSL and find the subtitle translations very amusing. On a TV show we watch, Wicked, one of the presenters merely shrugged. The translation was "Well I suppose so then" accurate but wordy.
Mary's Language
M: Mary comes into the room sits on the floor and thrusts her foot in my direction.
Translation "Mummy please will you take my shoe off?"
Mummy: I sign "Want shoe off"(dominant hand inserted into non-dominant hand and pulled out as though taking a shoe off)
M: Mary looks at me, rolls her eyes and thrusts her foot at me again.
Translation "You know I want you to take my shoe off. You also know I know how to sign shoe off so will you just take my shoes off so I can get on with playing, thank you very much."
Needless to say I did not get her to sign "shoe off" on that occasion. She had her shoes and socks removed and promptly left to go back outside.
This highlights the biggest difficulty I have with my daughter. Her independent, know it all spirit. In one respect it is a blessing with all the added hardships she will have in life. However it makes for a frustrating time trying to get her to respond to us and show us what she does know. Why waste time signing what you know when you can be outside playing?
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