All the boys, including Elvis loved playing with the marbles!
Have you ever been in a situation where you are overwhelmed with emotion that you didn't even know you were feeling, until you burst into tears? This happened to me recently when I visited a private deaf and hard of hearing (HOH) school called N@rthern Voices. It is a curriculum that teaches children to listen with the hearing that they have and to speak English. Sign language is not a part of their curriculum. Anyway, I had been there a half an hour and the more I saw, the more hope I had for Kai Kai Sweetie Pie. The clincher for me was when they brought me to a boy that came into the school in March 2011 at age 4 and was totally non-verbal (like Kai) and he was saying to his teacher "pour water". Those two words, did me in...the water works began! Very embarrassing to the say the least, but I realize how much stress I have been carrying around about Kai's language development. I have been receiving literature from the Deaf and HOH teacher about language development and it is STRESSING ME out!!! In a good way though because it forced me to get Kai's hearing aids in and keep them in. I would LOVE for Kai to go to this school but we will have to figure it out from a financial stand point. It is EXTREMELY expensive. This school is about 20 to 30 minutes away, can you imagine if I am driving both boys to school how late we are going to be each and every day...yikes! Oh well, I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
There are two other options for Kai. One is a Deaf and HOH school that is in another school district but is in colloboration with our school district to send hearing impaired kids there. They turned Kai down the first time we requested to go there due to his physical needs. After visiting N@rthern Voices I went back to them and said this is crazy that I will have to spend $19,000 a year to send my child to a HOH school, when there is one that is available to taxpayers in our district. We worked out a proposal that was submitted where Kai would go 3 days to the HOH school and then get Physical Therapy and Speech from our district the other two days. I heard unofficially that my coordinator said "that is the Cadillac version and that Kai is not getting the Cadillac." Argh...money, politics, ego's! These are the same people that come into my house weekly to provide services and tell me that they are advocating for my son to go to the HOH school. So now I will have to put on my fighting gloves and fight the school district if I want the public HOH option. I haven't even toured the public HOH school yet, but I have heard it is really good.
The second public option is to send him a charter school called the Metro Deaf and Hard of Hearing School in St. Paul. It is a bilingual program where they are taught American Sign Language and English. I am sure this is all about funding and the school district doesn't want to lose the money is my guess. Frustrating to say the least.
The hardest part for me is the fact that I really don't want him to go to school. I don't want to be away from him. It took so long for him to bond and now he has become a momma's boy. A mom on another blog wrote that she really started enjoying her kids when they were 4 years old. For me, I LOVE 2 year olds!!!! Kai and I have so much fun together, we snuggle alot and dance and play with his toys. He is such a wonderful little boy, I LOVE him so much! I hate the thought of him not being with me 24 hours a day. BUT, I realize I have to take myself out of the equation and do what is best for my little guy and not what is best for me. HARD! HARD! HARD! The good news is that I am letting go of the anger and frustration of all of this with the knowledge that God has a plan for Kai. Could it be that God just wants my little boy to stay home with me???????? I know, I know, wishful thinking on my part!
Quick update on Kai's hearing aids...he continues to wear them! Yeah for Kai Kai Sweetie Pie!
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