Halloween Jokes

Miss Kat learned some Halloween jokes last week and got to use them tonight when trick or treating. She worked really hard to memorize them. The jokes earned her literally SEVEN pounds of candy (we actually weighed it!)

$25.31

Something incredibly cute happened this week-end, and I wanted to share it with the world 

Miss Kat came up to me and told me that she wanted to sell candy. She had made a sign, selling it for 1¢. So, we did it. We set up a little table, made a bigger sign, and sold salt water taffys  We sat outside for about an hour and a half, in the most beautiful fall weather, listening to music and waving at the cars going past. Miss Kat sold approximately 33 pieces of taffy and made $25.31!! What a sweet gig!  She went to Target and bought a cool remote control car and then got herself a Happy Meal. I just want to send some love out into the world and say how great it is to see such generous people in the world. Everyone who stopped was so sweet to her and really went out of their ways to make her day. (Even those who didn't stop, I think she brightened their day.)




Oh, I also wanted to update about our church situation. We were still struggling with our local church, but thanks to another mom, we found a new home.  It is wonderful. Miss Kat makes the 6th deaf kid! That is more than when we attended the Deaf church back in Utah! The oldest kiddo is 12 or 13 (and they have been attending for at least 6 years) and the other families have really blazed the trail for us. The leaders "get it" and are more than willing to go the extra mile to make us and Miss Kat feel comfortable.

Our life is really great.

Behind enemy lines?

I need little advice from the wise (and moderate) world out there!

We are thinking about heading to a Deaf community event here pretty soon. It is being hosted by a local organization that we have no experience with yet. That is all fine and dandy, we love meeting new people and our experiences with the Deaf community (in real life) have never been anything but positive.

But, there is a catch.

One of the leaders of this particular organization is very outspoken against my daughter's school, spoken language and cochlear implants. I'm concerned on a couple fronts.

First, I worry that he might recognize Miss Kat from my blog and choose to "out" where we live. I have chosen not to disclose where we live and what school my daughter attends for safety reasons. It is a very small school and it just worries me. So, if that were to happen, I think I would have to make my blog private, which is something I am trying to avoid.

Second, I don't want a fight. I just want to give Miss Kat the opportunity to hang out with other kids who sign and fluent ASL users. I want her to always feel like she is a part of this community, no matter how well she hears and speaks. She is deaf and always will be, so I want her to retain her ASL and her connection to the Deaf community. While I have never had anyone be negative about her CIs, (at least not to our face!), the issue is with her school. As you know, Deaf people inquire about your (or in our chance, our daughter's) school as part of getting to know you. I worry that because she attends this particular school people will be negative.

I really hope this isn't the case. I really have never had anyone be mean or nasty to us. We usually explain a little bit about our story, (that she has a progressive loss, that we started with ASL and a bi-bi school, but then got a CI and are now focusing on English) and they see that we are a moderate family who has chosen spoken language in addition to ASL. That we sign, that Miss Kat signs, and that is generally "good enough". This is actually the first time that I have ever hesitated about going to a Deaf community event.

Am I being overly cautious? Is the world still moderate? Even in a city with an oral deaf school?

It's broken

It was bound to happen at some point, we knew it would. I'm surprised we made it this long, to be honest.

Last night, as Miss Kat was getting ready for bed, something happened. Daddy walked into Miss Kat's room and she was up in her bed. He asked her to give him her implants, (so he could put them in in the Dry & Store) and....crap.

Miss Kat's right processor was tied in a knot and hanging from the side rail of her of her bed . Argh, that isn't exactly the respect for a $7000 device we like, but things actually got worse. Upon further inspection, it was broken. The connection between the processor and the headpiece had been snapped and the tiny prongs were still stuck inside. Oh, and did I mention that we just passed out of warranty? 

We were upset to say the least. What on earth was she doing?! WHY was the implant tied to her bed??? And what the heck happened?!?

So, we got Miss Kat out of bed and we had a serious discussion. We explained that we were very upset and we wanted to know what had happened. She was very penitent and told us that she had taken her processor off and was crawling around in her bed and had accidentally leaned on it and it had snapped. Alright, it was kinda her fault but it was a fairly reasonable explanation. And the hanging? Well, now it was broken and she couldn't put it back on her head! 

So, we explained to Miss Kat that the only two places the processors should be are either on her ears or in the Dry & Store. If she is taking them off, she needs to hand them to an adult or take them and put them away herself. We thanked her for her honesty and told her we loved her and she went back to bed.

In the meantime, Daddy got out his pliers and was able to pull the little piece out of the processor, so all we need is a new headpiece! (Oh, and we discovered we still actually have 2 months left on the warranty). We actually made it to nearly 3 years without kid-related damage. In retrospect, we actually should be celebrating that!