Wishing you and yours...

The night before Christmas...

Or in this case, two nights before the big day!! My husband has been reading Sophie this book for the past few weeks and she has the entire story memorized. She even runs around the house reciting verses to her baby dolls. Tonight, I had to take the opportunity to get a little bit on tape:

Who's the boss?

On this lazy Saturday morning, I had actually had chance to document one of the many silly conversations heard around our house. Two-year-old reasoning never fails to amuse me. :)

We're still here!

So much for blogging weekly, huh? It's been so long that I forgot my Blogger password. ;) Anyway, we are still here! We have had some pretty exciting and crazy things going on lately, but I will save that for a later post.

It's now my absolute favorite time of the year and we are busy getting ready for the holiday season. Sophie is at a really fun age and is super excited about all things related to Christmas. She tears through the house singing Christmas songs and demands to drive by the "silly house with LOTS of lights" on our way home each night. You should see this house though, it really puts the Griswolds to shame!

In other news, Sophie's time at the Moog Center will most likely be coming to end much sooner than we originally thought. She will continue to attend next semester, but may likely be mainstreamed after that. While we are extremely proud of her success, I feel a little indifferent about this change. We have been with Moog since Sophie was four weeks old and they have been an incredible support system in many ways. I know that we have the tools to ensure that she will continue to succeed, but it is still a bit scary.

In light of this, we have begun to research different pre-school options for Sophie. Obviously, we are concerned about finding the right environment that will help accommodate her hearing loss, but we are also concerned with keeping her challenged and engaged. Many of the professionals that have worked with Sophie have told us she is highly intelligent, maybe even gifted. At this point, we are trying to research all of our mainstream options (public, private, Montessori, etc...) and hope to find the perfect fit. If there are any parents out there with gifted kids, please give me your advice!!! :)

I hope everyone is having fun this time of year. Here are a few holiday pics so far:

Fall Photo Dump

Here are a few of my favorite pics so far this season. I'm sure there will be more!

Pinch me

“I continue to believe that if children are given the necessary tools to succeed, they will succeed beyond their wildest dreams!”

 

 

When Sophie was diagnosed with hearing loss and we began to research cochlear implants, we were told that the best case scenario will be mainstreaming her by kindergarten or shortly after. At that time, we set that as our goal and were pretty happy with the fact that she may be able to go to a regular school like a typical hearing child. We figured it would be a tough five years, but with hard work and the right resources, we could definitely make it happen.

 

I can say now, only two and a half years in, that Sophie is excelling beyond what we ever could have imagined and will definitely exceed this goal. About a month ago, we were approached by the director of Sophie's daycare/preschool because she really wasn't sure what to do with Sophie anymore. Sophie was in a class with other two-year-olds, but her language and social abilities were so far beyond the others. The director wanted to move her up with the three-year-olds and after some thought, we agreed to do so. I was a little hesitant because she wasn't yet two and a half and there can be a big development gap in that age range, but I knew she was ready. So, she has been with the "big kids" for a few weeks now and is doing great. Have I mentioned yet that this is a mainstream school?! Sophie is the only deaf child there and the director continues to tell us she is one of the best talkers among the three-year-olds.

 

Some days, I can hardly believe she is doing this well and I feel like we are living in a dream. Just a short time ago, we were so uncertain and worried about what her future would bring and now she is thriving in a mainstream setting with children who are older than her. Sophie still goes to her deaf school part-time and is excelling there as well. At this point, my uncertainty about the future has diminished and pride has taken over in it's place. I know that she will encounter many other hurdles in life, but I also know that she is a very special and talented child who will continue to excel and surprise us along the way.

Who's your sunshine?!

I just have a quick video to share. This made me laugh earlier:

She sure loves her babies!

I have been really behind on blogging the past few months, but I have a couple of weeks off work and hope to get caught up!

I hope everyone is enjoying the nice fall weather. :)