Shoes off Mummy

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?

HICCUPS - toddler group

We attend a special toddler group on alternate Mondays for Hearing and Visually Impaired children. It is called Hiccups which stands for Hearing Impaired Children Coming up to Primary School. It started out with the HI children and we have since melded with the VI children. It is very interesting to find out the different challenges those children and their families have.

Back to Mary, our Deaf adult friend Gavin was there and Mary spent a lot of time watching his signing. She also wore her ears very well even in the noisy environment. It was so great to see her mixing with the other children. Brilliant day. Then after Hiccups we went to our new friends house. Mum is lovely, her daughter is only 5 months and HI and VI. Be wonderful to watch how she develops. Mary found that her big sister had a rocking horse and merrily signed horse. Then after being on the horse for a while signed up and off. She was tired but is starting to sign such a lot. What a clever girl.

After a bad weekend with the ears Mary wore her ears very well today and I noticed her making a range of different sounds. I tried getting it on video but as soon as she saw the camera she stopped.

But the best news today is that she can say Mummy properly. No Mummummumm. She has said it twice today so I know it was not a fluke the other day. Now does she actually need to say anymore???!

New Word
Mummy

Scooting on a lovely Sunday

Two thing happened today that made me well up with pride. Mary 's physical development has been delayed by her Glycogen Storage Disease Type IX. Totally unrelated to deafness but affects her gross motor skills. Anyway yesterday she scooted by herself for the first time. And we had a conversation in sign about the scooter and scooting and it falling over. Mary was having a deaf day and refused to wear her ears all day. She was keen to copy my signs.

Check out the video... There is only a little sound on this which Mary makes - her "Eee" no other sound.

The sign conversation went something like this (In BSL)

Me: "Want to scoot?"

Mary: "Scooting yes"

At end of scoot Mary would try and turn it around and it would fall over. She would coever her mouth in a "oops" fashion. Later on when it stopped falling over she pushed it over and went oops. I told her in sign that no she shouldn't do that. She seemed to understand.

Nice

Tonight at dinner Mary asked as usual for food. She had beans on toast in front of her which apparently is not food. We gave her the remains of herr lunch, which had been refridgerated, ham and soft cheese on bread. She is signing good. Both thumbs up.

I sign "Lovely" (Thumb up on dominant hand and scrape your thumb across your chin, making a lovely type face)

Mary copied. And then repeated it when she started the next peice of bread.

It's lunch time Mummy

We had a busy morning shopping, sorting and unpacking. Oh and also playing in the garden.

I shouted out our upstairs window (our kitchen is on the first floor) to Mary who was sat in the garden. She heard me and managed to locate my voice. We then had a conversation about coming inside and upstairs. Which resulted in me going downstairs to fetch her! Her legs were obviosly a bit weak after hard shop. After a bit more sorting out she climbs excitedly onto her chair. Then tells me in lovely sign:-

"Time lunch mummy, now."

I repeat "Dinner time now"

Mary signs "Good"

Her "Good" is cute cos she doesnt always raise her thumb and sometimes raises her index finger instead. Today we got both. Sorry too slow for a picture though.

Mary signing driving and making the car sound. We have not specifically taught her to make the sound for a car. She picked that up herself. What a clever girl.

Wicked

Oh yeah Mary learnt a new sign watching TV on Wednesday morning with me before swimming.

We were watching the new TV show called Wicked, signed and deals with issues involving Deaf people. http://www.bslbt.co.uk/wicked/

Mary after the show was signing Wicked with a big grin on her face. Who says kids cant learn anything from telly???