Reese

So I haven't given a Reese update in a long time. Where to begin? Reese has been hearing for over two years now. That is crazy. Her surgery and activation seems like such a long time ago. She is doing very well. For the most part she understands everything we say to her. She has finally conquered three beats. She can actually put more words together but we were having such a hard time getting her to consistently repeat three beats. It was frustrating because we knew she could do it but she didn't always want to do it. Especially when we wanted her too. Sometimes it is really frustrating because we see so much more from her at home than they do at school. Right after Christmas was rough. Troy and I had stayed up late talking one night about how far we felt she had come and how she was doing so great. I was feeling really positive and upbeat about her progress. I went to our parent/teacher therapy the next morning excited to share her progress with her teachers. It turned out to be horrible. I absolutely love her teachers and I think they are wonderful. They are the professionals and they know what they are doing. So much of Reese's progress is because of them. On this day though I left not liking them very much. I can't believe I said that! I came away from the hour feeling liking I was failing completely. They had some concerns with her progress. Mind you that she had just come back from Christmas break. There was a new girl in her class. She is three. She wasn't giving them as much expressive language as they wanted. Reese is super stubborn sometimes and I think that was part of it. Many of their concerns made NO sense to me because they were things that I was seeing from Reese at home. I barely made it out the door before I started bawling. I BARELY made it home because I was so upset. People were honking at me while I was driving. I probably should have waited until I calmed down to drive. I took all the blame on myself. I am the mom. I am the one that is home with her. I am failing. Reese deserves better. Anybody else would do a better job than I am doing. After being upset and having all these feelings I got mad and defensive. She does these things at home why is she not doing them there? What is the situation like at school? What are they doing wrong? I think this was one of the biggest struggles I have had since finding out she was deaf. It was a rotten week. Luckily I have a great husband, a great mom, the best sisters, and great friends. I needed some reassurance and some words of encouragement and that is what I got. Lots of praying and lots of talking. I know that Reese is supposed to be in our family. I know that this is a trial that we are supposed to go through. I think I was getting to used to it all and I needed a reminder that I need some help from my Heavenly Father. It ended up being a good thing. It made us work harder and kind of gave me the "I'll show you" attitude. Because of it we have seen great progress. Some days are super easy and I don't even think about it. Other days it seems like we have so far to go. We have had great therapy sessions since then. I still love her teachers. I am not mad or hurt anymore. I am glad they are there to push me and teach me.

Some of her success stories!

-She knows her colors.
-She is learning lots of songs.
-She picks things up fast. We got our Disneyland package today and after teaching her who Donald Duck is she has been talking about him all day.
-She is getting good at asking for specific things. Instead of drink she'll ask for milk or water.
-She speaks in sentences most of the time.
-She knows her birthday is coming up and she can't wait for it.

These are just a few of the great things we are seeing from her. She is a smart little girl. It is so hard to keep track of all that she is learning. In the beginning it seemed like we would see huge spurts and then plateaus. Now it just seems like a steady climb. I can't wait to reach the top!