Painful Conversation

Conversations have been painful, extremely painful, for the past 2 weeks at our house. Not the kind of pain that causes one to cry. Painful in its complications. Painful in its slow process.
Prema and Isaac have both reached the developmental stage of playing with others instead of mirror playing. They also are in that "mine" stage, where sharing becomes impossible in their eyes. With Prema home full time again for some of the summer, I feel like crying, ripping the hair out of my head, or just doing it for them by the time the end of the day comes, especially on Friday. This stage is hard enough when you have a normal situation. But instead we have a deaf child who can only sign and doesn't fully understand and/ or fully engage half of he conversation involving her AND a very smart hearing child that understands everything but struggles to sign at the level he speaks/ thinks. So with EVERY conversation held between Prema and Isaac I become referee ("don't hit... sign", don't take that... sign), sign language teacher, external moderator ("pay attention", "look at her/him", "think about what he is saying"), and interpreter of unclear signs. Its painful to watch and be a part of. With each situation I struggle to not just take over and interpret every interchange. At least Isaac is willing to sign again (he used to get frustrated that he couldn't get his fingers/ hands to look exactly like an adult's signs) and Prema is patient enough to physically stand waiting for Isaac to sign.

May Happenings

This year we have a pool pass to our neighborhood pool. We get the key to the pool and can go swimming any time we want from sun up to sun down for such a cheap price. We live about a 4 minute walk from the pool. Every time we go there is barely anyone there, which is ideal for the kids to explore the water and learn new things each time they go. Prema thankfully is no longer drinking the pool until she pukes. She is keeping the water out of her mouth and floating in shallow water herself. Yesterday she started pushing off the walls to float. Her legs are so weak that she can't get them to do anything but a bicycle kick, which doesn't help you swim much. So we'll see if she begins to swim herself completely by the end of the summer. Isaac has it all together (kicking, paddling) but refuses to put his face in the water while doing those things. He'll only put his face in the water when he is standing or hanging on the wall. He loves to put a noodle under his chest and move all about the pool. Eli thinks he can swim. Thanks to his rolls of fat he can almost float himself. He is definitely a water dog. Hopefully I'll have pictures soon. Usually I take the kids myself, so any attempt at pictures may result in a drowning.

During Prema's last week of school, the boys and I took a "field trip" to a friends house to see some new baby chicks. The boys loved the chicks, digging up the mulch and trying to stay standing around chester the dog.

We've taken a few trips the the beach and continue to visit the Candy Kitchen on a weekly basis sometimes with friends.





May is practically summer here in Florida. This May was extremely dry and very hot, so a lot of our summer activities started after our return from Kentucky.