It has been a rough week.
Last Thursday we found out that Don's uncle had a heart attack and passed away. It was quite unexpected. We are sad about it. He was a wonderful man and will be sorely missed by the family. Our thoughts continue to be with his wife, three children and 6 grandchildren. It has been hard for all the family to cope with.
Last Thursday, as well, I got a call at 9 in the morning from N's school that I had the choice to either come pick him up and take him home or to come shadow him in the classroom. I had to quickly arrange coverage for my classroom and then headed out by 9:30. He had run away from his teacher 3 times and was going out the school gate (kindergarten playground gate). It was a safety issue for the school. N has such a low tolerance for frustration. He was upset about something with his backpack and it just spiraled out of control from there. Had his teacher been able to catch it early this could have all been avoided. However, the reality of the situation is that she has 18 other children in the classroom and can't focus solely on my son. He enjoyed having a day of mommy in the classroom (admittedly I did too...I just wish the circumstances were different). We talked a lot all that day about what happened and it has been better. No more calls from the school. He has had several days of tough separation from me and Don when we drop him off at school. I was late to work on Tuesday because he would literally not let me go. And he was sobbing. I am normally pretty tough with the tears but I don't want to have him start the day off poorly and then end up right back there an hour later having to take him right back home. Luckily for me, my boss is understanding and she knows I am working hard with him.
H tried out for a play last week and had her heart set on it. She got notice yesterday that she did not receive a call back or get on the final cast list. She was heartbroken. I talked her through the tears. She has an audition tomorrow for her school's winter play The Nutcracker and has practiced her little heart out. She has to sing a portion of The Good Ship Lollipop. I'm not quite sure how to get that song out of my head.
Last Saturday, we had a bright spot in our week. H was in our town's annual parade with her school. The theme was Magic. H and N's school won 1st place among the school entries with their Peter Pan/Cinderella/Wizard of Oz combo theme (the last three plays the school has done). We had a great time watching the parade and H survived her first year of walking the entire way (in past years she has been able to ride on the float because she was little...no more of that once you hit 3rd grade!). Don walked the parade with H and wore his Peter Pan hat the whole way. H was a mermaid.
Today was another day of sad news. I found out that a teacher at my school who I had known previously in Arizona (we both worked in the dorms at the school for the deaf) lost consciousness during a meeting Wednesday afternoon. Apparently it was a brain aneurysm. She was taken immediately to the hospital but never regained consciousness. They did a brain scan today and found that she is brain dead. Her organs are being donated. This is such sad news. She was a very dedicated teacher and hard working. It does, however, make me so thankful for my own Dad. He had an brain aneurysm when I had just started college and we were very fortunate that it gave us some warning. He was able to have surgery to have it repaired. It was a long recovery. I still remember my pirate daddy with his eye patch. I love you daddy.
Don will present at the second annual International Day of Signed Languages tomorrow at the state capital. It should be a wonderful day to come together and celebrate ASL as a right for all Deaf people. There is so much work to be done. More and more deaf babies are receiving cochlear implants rather than just allowing them to be who they are -- deaf. It breaks my heart to know that the "experts" who are steering families down the path to oral language and the use of "residual hearing" do so out of ignorance of Deaf Culture and with disregard for the frustration these deaf people face trying to be a square peg in a round hole. Just yesterday, I dropped H off at school and she ran up to her new friend who just joined her school this year. As the girl turned away I saw the cochlear implant attached to her head. H tells me she has to sit in the front row so she can hear. I told H that, no...it is so that she can lipread. That is where I saw the girl's eyes on my daughter. My beautiful daughter who could so easily sign with this deaf child. I digress... Reading Don's speech made me so sad. I know his background of how he was raised and the choices his family made as they put their trust in the "experts" that they were doing the right thing. It is heartbreaking because these choices have such far reaching and long lasting consequences. Still today it is visible and the scars have not healed.
Time to stop. It has been a hard, very sad week.
Next week should be better right? A little bit anyway. Here's hoping.
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