We went to the Dillion International Christmas party because they had invited the local FCC to come celebrate with them. A good friend Kammy K. got volunteer of the year for Dillion she does so much for the people in our local FCC group too. Kammy was one of the people that brought us meals when we got home from China with Norah. She was the right choice for Volunteer of the year in our book.
Norah, Lori and I went to go get in line to meet Santa and there was a family waiting that had a girl the same age as Norah. She saw Norah and came right up to her and asked Norah her name. We told her that Norah was deaf and had just started to learn how to speak but that she could talk with her hands. She noticed Norah had made the same necklace as she had at the craft table and reached out for Norah’s necklace. Norah tried to back away for a little bit but this girl kept coming in close and showing Norah her necklace too. So Norah relaxed and started playing with her. She grabbed Norah by the hand and they were off to play and let there parents hold their place in line. It was such a delight to see Norah interacting with this girl even though they could not communicate with words or signs, they ran around playing with no problem.
I know it will not always be this way, as Norah gets older the gap in her communication with her peers will grow faster and faster. This will lead to her being left out of things, that will be painful for her and painful for me as a parent to witness. We will work hard over the next couple of years to lesson that gap that will build between her and her peers. Only time will tell where we end up with as Norah’s communication skills but For now I sit back and enjoy how two four year olds can still run, play, laugh, and giggle without words.
We hope to get the girls together for Chinese New Year to play.
HAHA! Norah wouldn’t turn around for the traditional photo with Santa. She was so fascinated by Santas beard, poor Santa had to hold onto it.
3 comments:
I know EXACTLY what you are saying. When Jazzie first got her cochlear implant and wasn't speaking yet, there would often be times when people spoke to her and she could not respond. But like with Norah, no words were necesarry for Jazzie to find friends. Of course now Jazzie's speech is so well that she NEVER stops talking :-)
It will take time and a lot of hard work on Norah's part, but if she is anything like Jazzie, she will become a chatterbox. It's the most beautiful thing in the world...
Yep, right there with you! Little T is coming along in her sign language (thanks!!) but watching her with her peers is hard. They talk to her and she doesn't answer. Most of the time its like what you saw, 2 little girls playing together but sometimes they will just walk away and leave her. THAT is hard! But, it will get better!
Hugs,
Carla
I enjoy checking in on your blog to see how your beautiful daughter is doing. I forget how I stumbled across your blog... but I'm a fellow adoptive parent/blogger too. And I couldn't agree more about how GREAT the holidays are this year! (Our daughter came home from Vietnam in May of this year.) Happy holidays!
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