Christian's Mom blogged this video yesterday and I couldn't wait to wake up this morning to post it...she said,
It's hard to describe the anticipation I had leading up to this Christmas. I felt like I was 5 years old, only this time, I wasn't asking Santa for Cabbage Patch Dolls. I've been dreaming of our first Christmas with Christian since the day he was born. I was anxiously preparing for the holiday by learning how to sign "Silent Night" (it is MY FAVORITE CAROL)so I could sing it to him at the Christmas Eve Mass. I even learned a whole slew of Christmas signs, thanks to this amazing book I found at DeafResources.com.
Remember Christian? Well, here's his first Christmas video, forget the kleenex, go for the roll of toilet paper...
Trying to compose myself. You know there are so many things I'd like to say about this video, but there is just no point. If you've been there, you get it, and if you haven't been there, accepted it and chosen to Live*Laugh*Love and LEARN, then you will never get it.
Note: I first heard the song on the blog from Christina's blog and fell in love with this song...Per request, here are the lyrics to Colbie Caillat's song Bubbly (my latest obsession)
Showing posts with label sign language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sign language. Show all posts
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Thursday, December 27, 2007
HOLIDAY DEPRESSION IS AN INTERNATIONAL THING
I'm about to get deep here, hold onto your pants...The Holiday season brings gifts, hustle-bustle chaos, exasperatingly nauseating lovey-dovey couples and serious depression. The holidays are a time to celebrate family, reminisce, review the past year and suffer for those who have lost loved ones and dreams. As we go through the motions of our daily lives, we don't have time to sit back and ponder our failures and successes nor do we take the time to tell our loved ones how much they really mean to us. The holidays give us a pause just long enough for it all to come crashing down on us...especially for the mom of a newly diagnosed deaf child. The relatives sitting around that table look at her and her baby with...PITY. THERE WAS NOTHING THAT PISSED ME OFF MORE THAN WHEN PEOPLE LOOKED AT MY CHILD AND SAID, "POOR LITTLE BOY, HOW DID HE BECOME DEAF - WAS HE BORN THAT WAY?"
A 26 year old mother of a child diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural deafness just posted the most desperate cry for help I have ever read on these groups. She is in serious difficulty financially and emotionally and is drowning. The most blinding aspect of her letter was how much she was in love with her son and didn't know how to help him because the system kept slamming doors in her face. She was denied three times by her insurance carrier for a cochlear implant. Here's your son's future just a four hour surgery away, but I'm sorry, he can't have the surgery. How does a mother deal with something so damn frustrating? How do you manage the overwhelming feeling of impotence in not being able to help your child no matter what you do, where you go, with everyone saying my least favorite word "NO, NO, NO, NO" in your face. How do you think she is passing her Christmas?
I wrote her a long letter and told her to begin signing. What an amazing opportunity to take control back, to feel like she is doing something productive in a time period
where she feels completely out of control. Take action. Give yourself and your son a method of communication that will then serve as a bridge to better communication when he receives the cochlear implant.
Jordan received his cochlear implant three years ago during this time. We were sitting in the hospital room in the SANTA CHIARA HOSPITAL in Pisa, watching the devastating Tsunami that hit Thailand during his ci surgery. We spent six days in the hospital and the most beautiful woman named Josephine shared the moment with us. She had had rhinoplasty and there we were Jodi, Jordan and Jo, the three JOs lined up in a row (something impossible in Italy, no one has a name with a J). They had given Jordan an iv for his antibiotic and the last bag was taking forever, so I had Jordan in my lap and JO jumped up on a chair to hold the bag in the air to make it drip faster because the line was ripping out of Jordan's arm and he was in pain. She stood and held that bag for thirty minutes, the longest bag of antibiotic ever, she was just an amazing person, a total stranger, and we managed to get through one of the most difficult periods of my life together.
After the cochlear implant surgery and Jordan's tragic mapping experience I went into a major depression. When I saw that Jordan could hear and repeat sentences two weeks after his activation and my speech therapist for the first time in our eight year journey, smiled, my walls crashed and so did I. I began having panic attacks while driving, didn't want to get out of bed, didn't want to leave the house and suffered. I went to my doctor to ask for help when I started fearing for my kids because I was after all the chauffer. He told me about a new wave medication for depression called ciprolex that had NO SIDE EFFECTS, I think that was the name, I can't remember and I said "bring it on." I said bring it on, but the idea of taking a drug terrified me. My life has not been as difficult as most, but it certainly hasn't been easy and I couldn't understand why at that moment when everything FINALLY was on the upswing, I was crashing. And yet, I did understand. No one needed me to be strong anymore, I could be weak and I was. I took the medication for one year and it saved me. It rendered me just numb enough to work through all of what had set me off.
Why do I love these yahoo groups so much? Because I have been where these new mothers are now and I understand their suffering, so maybe just maybe my experiences will help the next. This season brings so much suffering and pain but it also brings unexpected gifts from people we don't even know. Look around at all the people we love and who love us, really look at them and tell them how important they are to you. I guarantee that for one brief moment, all that is difficult, stressful and tragic will pass. I have music back in my life after I had gone a long time without it, and it sounds so good.
A 26 year old mother of a child diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural deafness just posted the most desperate cry for help I have ever read on these groups. She is in serious difficulty financially and emotionally and is drowning. The most blinding aspect of her letter was how much she was in love with her son and didn't know how to help him because the system kept slamming doors in her face. She was denied three times by her insurance carrier for a cochlear implant. Here's your son's future just a four hour surgery away, but I'm sorry, he can't have the surgery. How does a mother deal with something so damn frustrating? How do you manage the overwhelming feeling of impotence in not being able to help your child no matter what you do, where you go, with everyone saying my least favorite word "NO, NO, NO, NO" in your face. How do you think she is passing her Christmas?
I wrote her a long letter and told her to begin signing. What an amazing opportunity to take control back, to feel like she is doing something productive in a time period
where she feels completely out of control. Take action. Give yourself and your son a method of communication that will then serve as a bridge to better communication when he receives the cochlear implant.
Jordan received his cochlear implant three years ago during this time. We were sitting in the hospital room in the SANTA CHIARA HOSPITAL in Pisa, watching the devastating Tsunami that hit Thailand during his ci surgery. We spent six days in the hospital and the most beautiful woman named Josephine shared the moment with us. She had had rhinoplasty and there we were Jodi, Jordan and Jo, the three JOs lined up in a row (something impossible in Italy, no one has a name with a J). They had given Jordan an iv for his antibiotic and the last bag was taking forever, so I had Jordan in my lap and JO jumped up on a chair to hold the bag in the air to make it drip faster because the line was ripping out of Jordan's arm and he was in pain. She stood and held that bag for thirty minutes, the longest bag of antibiotic ever, she was just an amazing person, a total stranger, and we managed to get through one of the most difficult periods of my life together.
After the cochlear implant surgery and Jordan's tragic mapping experience I went into a major depression. When I saw that Jordan could hear and repeat sentences two weeks after his activation and my speech therapist for the first time in our eight year journey, smiled, my walls crashed and so did I. I began having panic attacks while driving, didn't want to get out of bed, didn't want to leave the house and suffered. I went to my doctor to ask for help when I started fearing for my kids because I was after all the chauffer. He told me about a new wave medication for depression called ciprolex that had NO SIDE EFFECTS, I think that was the name, I can't remember and I said "bring it on." I said bring it on, but the idea of taking a drug terrified me. My life has not been as difficult as most, but it certainly hasn't been easy and I couldn't understand why at that moment when everything FINALLY was on the upswing, I was crashing. And yet, I did understand. No one needed me to be strong anymore, I could be weak and I was. I took the medication for one year and it saved me. It rendered me just numb enough to work through all of what had set me off.
Why do I love these yahoo groups so much? Because I have been where these new mothers are now and I understand their suffering, so maybe just maybe my experiences will help the next. This season brings so much suffering and pain but it also brings unexpected gifts from people we don't even know. Look around at all the people we love and who love us, really look at them and tell them how important they are to you. I guarantee that for one brief moment, all that is difficult, stressful and tragic will pass. I have music back in my life after I had gone a long time without it, and it sounds so good.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
AN INSPIRATIONAL MOM BLOGS HER NEW JOURNEY
(Note:copied with permission from Christina's blog)
MEET CHRISTIAN'S MOMMY
I'm a 29 year old first-time Mommy to my gorgeous baby boy, Christian. Christian has severe-profound sensorineural hearing loss in his right ear and moderate-severe in his left, and we learn more about his loss everyday. I've been married to my fabulous husband, Chuck for 2 years. He's an amazing husband and father. I'm making the transition from working full-time as an Event Planner to working 24 hours a day as a Stay-at-Home Mom.
CHRISTIAN'S MOMMY'S BLOG 3 DAYS BEFORE HE RECEIVED HIS HEARING AIDS
FINALLY! We are only 3 more days away from getting Christian's hearing aids. It's hard to believe that it has taken us THIS long to finally get him aided, but it's almost here. I can't even begin to describe how excited we are as a family to get the little guy his ears. Christian's aids will be set low, and gradually increased to high settings as the weeks go by. I JUST CAN'T WAIT!
I know that I want the first words he hears out of his aids to be "I Love You Christian", but I can't decide what the first SONG I want him to hear. Right now, it's a toss-up between Lie in Our Graves by DMB and In My Life by The Beatles.
We've been working on A LOT of ASL, and Christian has definitely picked up the sign for "Milk" and is almost there for "More". I know over the past couple of years, many folks with hearing babies have used signs as a way to communicate with their kids. I think that is AWESOME and a wonderful bonding experience for the parents and child. I will say though, as a Mommy to HOH baby, signing has taken on a whole new meaning for us. Right now, without his aids, signing is the only way that Christian can "hear" us. Even when he gets his aids, we still will have to rely on his signs.
AND NOW FOR CHRISTIAN'S BIG DAY...
TO FOLLOW THIS INSPIRATIONAL FAMILY'S JOURNEY IN DEAFNESS, READ THEIR BLOG! LIVE*LAUGH*LOVE (Christina, could ya tell me how to play music on my blog like you do???)
MEET CHRISTIAN'S MOMMY
I'm a 29 year old first-time Mommy to my gorgeous baby boy, Christian. Christian has severe-profound sensorineural hearing loss in his right ear and moderate-severe in his left, and we learn more about his loss everyday. I've been married to my fabulous husband, Chuck for 2 years. He's an amazing husband and father. I'm making the transition from working full-time as an Event Planner to working 24 hours a day as a Stay-at-Home Mom.
CHRISTIAN'S MOMMY'S BLOG 3 DAYS BEFORE HE RECEIVED HIS HEARING AIDS
FINALLY! We are only 3 more days away from getting Christian's hearing aids. It's hard to believe that it has taken us THIS long to finally get him aided, but it's almost here. I can't even begin to describe how excited we are as a family to get the little guy his ears. Christian's aids will be set low, and gradually increased to high settings as the weeks go by. I JUST CAN'T WAIT!
I know that I want the first words he hears out of his aids to be "I Love You Christian", but I can't decide what the first SONG I want him to hear. Right now, it's a toss-up between Lie in Our Graves by DMB and In My Life by The Beatles.
We've been working on A LOT of ASL, and Christian has definitely picked up the sign for "Milk" and is almost there for "More". I know over the past couple of years, many folks with hearing babies have used signs as a way to communicate with their kids. I think that is AWESOME and a wonderful bonding experience for the parents and child. I will say though, as a Mommy to HOH baby, signing has taken on a whole new meaning for us. Right now, without his aids, signing is the only way that Christian can "hear" us. Even when he gets his aids, we still will have to rely on his signs.
AND NOW FOR CHRISTIAN'S BIG DAY...
TO FOLLOW THIS INSPIRATIONAL FAMILY'S JOURNEY IN DEAFNESS, READ THEIR BLOG! LIVE*LAUGH*LOVE (Christina, could ya tell me how to play music on my blog like you do???)
Friday, November 9, 2007
Signs...of good things to come
If I could have left Li-Li's video another day, I would have...even a week, she's so beautiful, but I actually had a day worth blogging about...and it has been a long one. I began the day by Hokey Pokeying with one of my pre-school classes, then I bought myself a new military green coat for my birthday (November16th) and at 1:00pm I met Jordan and his class in the cafeteria. As I've said before, his typical school day is from 8-1, but twice a week he goes back to school to study Music. On Fridays,his class walks to the cafeteria of a private school for lunch, because there is no cafeteria or lunch service in his school. He is such a picky eater that he can never find anything to eat at the cafeteria (keep in mind it's an Italian cafeteria and this food is nowhere near the moon cheese pizza and rubber spaghetti of my fondest school memories)so I show up with a couple of pieces of pizza and some peach flavored iced tea. Jordan says, "Thanks!" and as I'm about to leave I see the deaf gentleman, Francesco who always drops by my house to say hi, leave information and ask how Jordan's doing. He was sitting and having lunch with his 10 year old son Roberto who is hearing and who signed and interpreted for me so that I could communicate better with his dad.
I had seen Francesco about a month ago when I asked if there were sign language courses available and he had said no. Keri, who left a comment on one of the posts had suggested that I attend a function organized by the Deaf Community or even an informal get-together. So, I proposed these ideas to Francesco, but he said there were no organized events planned for any time soon, then I asked about a dinner among friends, although I felt like I was inviting myself, but he said there weren't any get-togethers organized in the near future. I'm trying to learn sign language!!! Then, something so sweet happened, (aside from the fact that his son is unbelievably mature and it just rocks my world that he acts as an interpreter at age 10)Francesco looked over at Jordan, sitting at the table with his friends, laughing, hanging out and signed (that was then translated by his son)"He has a really nice group of friends." Francesco had this really happy look in his eyes watching Jordan as he signed this, it was just one of those can't-quite-put-words-to-the-emotion, amazing
moments.
Then, after I had a couple of afternoon English lessons, I came home and found an envelope from my dad of a book report that a nine!!! year old hearing child named Rudy Chacon Jr.had done for school on RALLY CAPS. Allow me to quote this highly intelligent eleven year old with exceptionally great taste in literature...Rudy writes, "After the injury Jordan(the hearing character) is fearful and does not want to play baseball ever again. His parents send him to a sports camp to overcome his fears. He meets a boy named Luca who is deaf. Luca has a determined attitude and teaches Jordan to love baseball again..." Rudy also writes, "Luca is a deaf boy that has a cochlear implant. Luca has had to overcome many hard times and teaches Jordan NOT to give up his dreams...Jordan realizes he has made a great friend that has helped him overcome his fears. I would recommend this book to all my friends and anyone I know because it teaches a good lesson in friendship and courage." Rudy Chacon Jr. read RALLY CAPS, wrote a book report and "got it!" He now knows not only what a cochlear implant is and how to spell it correctly, but that DEAF means DETERMINED. THANK YOU SO MUCH RUDY FOR WRITING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE REPORT!!!!(I heard he got an A++)
Just when you think life can't get any better, it does. Tonight at 6:45 pm Italian time, I translated an email from a small Italian publishing company requesting authorization from my publishing company Publish America to publish RALLY CAPS in Italian...the waiting begins. Will my own son ever be able to read the book he inspired? We're getting closer.
I had seen Francesco about a month ago when I asked if there were sign language courses available and he had said no. Keri, who left a comment on one of the posts had suggested that I attend a function organized by the Deaf Community or even an informal get-together. So, I proposed these ideas to Francesco, but he said there were no organized events planned for any time soon, then I asked about a dinner among friends, although I felt like I was inviting myself, but he said there weren't any get-togethers organized in the near future. I'm trying to learn sign language!!! Then, something so sweet happened, (aside from the fact that his son is unbelievably mature and it just rocks my world that he acts as an interpreter at age 10)Francesco looked over at Jordan, sitting at the table with his friends, laughing, hanging out and signed (that was then translated by his son)"He has a really nice group of friends." Francesco had this really happy look in his eyes watching Jordan as he signed this, it was just one of those can't-quite-put-words-to-the-emotion, amazing
moments.
Then, after I had a couple of afternoon English lessons, I came home and found an envelope from my dad of a book report that a nine!!! year old hearing child named Rudy Chacon Jr.had done for school on RALLY CAPS. Allow me to quote this highly intelligent eleven year old with exceptionally great taste in literature...Rudy writes, "After the injury Jordan(the hearing character) is fearful and does not want to play baseball ever again. His parents send him to a sports camp to overcome his fears. He meets a boy named Luca who is deaf. Luca has a determined attitude and teaches Jordan to love baseball again..." Rudy also writes, "Luca is a deaf boy that has a cochlear implant. Luca has had to overcome many hard times and teaches Jordan NOT to give up his dreams...Jordan realizes he has made a great friend that has helped him overcome his fears. I would recommend this book to all my friends and anyone I know because it teaches a good lesson in friendship and courage." Rudy Chacon Jr. read RALLY CAPS, wrote a book report and "got it!" He now knows not only what a cochlear implant is and how to spell it correctly, but that DEAF means DETERMINED. THANK YOU SO MUCH RUDY FOR WRITING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE REPORT!!!!(I heard he got an A++)
Just when you think life can't get any better, it does. Tonight at 6:45 pm Italian time, I translated an email from a small Italian publishing company requesting authorization from my publishing company Publish America to publish RALLY CAPS in Italian...the waiting begins. Will my own son ever be able to read the book he inspired? We're getting closer.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
A TOUCHING CI ACTIVATION...TAKE IT AWAY-LI-LI!
Li-Li may quite possibly be the most beautiful child I've ever seen! I don't want to waste your time by talking, other than to say, judging by this video and the comment her mom left on another inspirational kid video here, her parents are two very special people and Li-Li is one extraordinary little girl...
To learn more about Anna-Li's story, have a look at her blog (DEFINITELY CHECK OUT THE HALLOWEEN PIX!!! ADORABLE!!)
GRENDEL'S KITCHEN WHERE WE EAT NOTHING WITH FEET
To learn more about Anna-Li's story, have a look at her blog (DEFINITELY CHECK OUT THE HALLOWEEN PIX!!! ADORABLE!!)
GRENDEL'S KITCHEN WHERE WE EAT NOTHING WITH FEET
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