Signs of Life : The Brownie Chronicles

  I have SO MUCH to learn.  I'm like a first-time mom all over again.  10 years from now, I'm sure I'll look back at some comments I've made over the past year and laugh at myself.  But I don't believe I'm going in blind.   Tian with a grandfather from his foster family in China. Well, it's been just about 10 years since I wrote that , and I was right and wrong. I DO look back at some things and laugh, but I also cringe at a lot.  I wasn't going in blind, but as I have learned, the more I know there is to learn. I cringe at posts like  this .  My statements about provision for the adoption are not even theologically sound.  It's just something I learned to repeat  without really thinking about the implications.  " This was God's plan " and "God provided the funds for us to adopt," are now phrases that I totally disagree with.  How can I say that God decided to give us tens of thousands of dollars to adopt, but not pro...

Travis had very few communication skills when we first met him .  The adults caring for him communicated with him by poking, prodding, and pointing.  He communicated back with smiles, crying, laughter, and head-banging.  That was about it.  Our first few days with him, he would drool, kick his legs, and even slam his head on the floor, wall, or crib.  When he was happy, he would smile, be silly, and sometimes laugh to the point it was excessive.  These behaviors reduced rapidly and massively within the first few days we had him.  I credit most of this to Ken and to ASL.  When Travis would cry to the point of drooling, Ken would wipe Travis' mouth and sign, "No, you don't need to drool.  Just tell us what you want."  I actually told Ken I felt like it wasn't fair to correct Travis, telling him "no, no" about drooling since he didn't understand anything yet.  Ken rightly pointed out that we'd be speaking English to him if he was heari...

Just the other day, the boys had a friend come over to play.  Before the friend arrived, his mom sent me a text saying that her son was bringing his Batman costume.  I told Travis, "Your friend will be wearing his Batman costume when he comes over."  Travis' face lit up, eyes lifted, and mouth opened wide.  Before I could finish signing, "Why not you go upstairs to get your Iron Man costume?" he was signing, "Yes, yes!" and making his way up the stairs.  Moments later, he came back to tell me he couldn't find his suit.  I directed him to look in my bathroom in the hamper.  He did and it wasn't there either.  Finally, I told him to hold on while I sent a message asking his dad if he knew the costume's whereabouts.  He did and Travis put on his alter ego. I couldn't help but make a mental note of how that conversation was such a big deal.  We were discussing something happening in the future: friend will arrive soon.  Telling Travis...

My two girls are off visiting their Nana and Pappy, so since they are away and the little boys are still in school, I made some plans to spend one-on-one time with my oldest boy. Then we got the call from TSD:  "Tian has a 102 fever and needs to be picked up."  So, TJ and I took a one-on-one drive to the school to get a very sleepy and very hot Tian. Having Tian home prompted me to post a quick update about this little comedian. He reminds me of TJ at the same age.  Tian is a natural ham who loves to be the center of attention.  He is not shy in the least!  He'll approach people, ask questions, and mostly assumes everyone in the universe knows sign language. For example, at the Christmas parade downtown, a parade photographer walked by and asked if she could take our picture. After taking a shot of the two little boys and me, Tian tapped her on the arm and asked, "Take another picture of me. I'm Spiderman."  He then proceeded to pose in a number of ...

In the land of The Internets and the more all of our internet usage is linked together, I'm more and more amazed at how businesses work their ads in place in front of our faces. That said, I just ordered two Shutterfly photo books for the boys.  When I ordered, the album somehow linked to my blog.  I'm sure it was user error and I overlooked some checked box saying it would post, but I was surprised to see the album listed as its own blog post.  A post I promptly removed. That said, this was my first experience using Shutterfly and I loved it!  One book was free with our Cozi family calendar membership (Which I highly recommend. They may still be running the promotion for a free book, but I'm not sure.)  The second book was free thanks to a promotion though The View .  It's still good through September 20th, so click and save the code, then get busy making your book! You have a month to put it together! I chose a basic "look" with the pages already ...

In Part 2 of this series, I was excited to share some of what I learned about technology and using ASL eBooks.  Well, if you like the good, old fashioned paper book, have no fear!  Drs. Jean Andrews and Damara Paris from Lamar University , shared their team's research findings from the Alabama Emergent Literacy Study.  They focused on the " Adapted Little Books ." Below is only a small portion of their presentation.  There is so much information that goes beyond my knowledge, so I will direct this blog to parents of deaf emergent readers. As a homeschool mom, I'm very familiar with "little books."  We personally used Sonlight's own Fun Tales  with my three hearing kids. ( example )  You may be familiar with Bob Books .  The Alabama study used these 20 Little Books .  These "little books" are usually 6-7 pages, use high frequency words, have a close picture-word match,  and use short phrases to tell a whole story.  It ...

Using Technology for Literacy of ASL & English Bilingual Deaf Children That's another handful of words!  Basically, if you're teaching your deaf (or hearing) ASL/English bilingual child to read, there are some amazing tools out there to enrich that experience. At the conference , several different people presented on the topic of technology and ASL ebooks. VL2 Storybook Apps Check out their " About " page, too. Click here to get the book in the App Sto "VL2" stands for " Visual Language, Visual Learning " a Science of Learning center funded by the National Science Foundation and hosted by Gallaudet University.  The work they are doing is SUPER exciting for parents like me! Right now, there is only the Baobab book, but two more books are in the works.  Each book, priced at a bargain $6.99, is packed with a rich literary experience for your bilingual child.  As the website says, "Every child loves and deserves a great story....

We had a nice, slow morning.  Ken took the van to work, so the kids and stayed "home."  Because of some rain storms last night, the morning was relatively cool.  TJ, Kenzie, Tian, Travis and I went over to the playground, just a hundred steps away, to slide, teeter-totter, swing, and merry-go-round.  I love the playground here.  It's clean, well-kept, and all old-fashioned metal play equipment like I grew up with.  The slide is high, fast and fun! The kids enjoyed their Lunchables (a rare treat for them).  When Ken got home around noon, Kenzie, TJ and I decided to try out the KOA showers.  They were clean, nice and safe.  They are single showers, each with a locked door.   When you go in, you can latch the door locked from the inside.  It felt good to shower and not have to worry about running out of warm water. After hanging out and relaxing for a while, we packed into the van and drove to Slugger Stadium.  We got to see S...

Travis went shopping with Ken, then when they got home, he came running up the stairs, screaming happily all the way. He ran into the kitchen, looking for and finding Tian.  He was waving two electric Thomas the Train toothbrushes in his hands. He handed one toothbrush to Tian and signed, "Toothbrush!! Thomas!" Tian gasped with a thrilled smile and signed, "Thank you!" Travis leaned over, hugged Tian, kissed him on the forehead, gave him a thumbs up, then invited him to go with him to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Sweet sweet sweet!!  These boys are best friends and brothers for life!  Ken and I thank God every day for His leading us to bring them both home together.

Travis. I'll never forget the first time I saw Travis' little face.  Then, he was only known to me as Xu (I thought it was pronounced "zoo," but it's actually "shoe."  These were the photos we saw in his file: When we saw his photo and read his file, we knew he was supposed to be our son.  I had read of other adopting families who felt that special "knowing," but didn't understand it until we saw our boys' pictures.  I am thankful to God for His direction.  Travis adds a special joy to our family that I find difficult to put into words. A few things about Travis: He's smart! There's no better way to say it.  He observes every detail about life, soaks it in, and tries to understand it.  He is hyper-observant, just like his dad, taking in every visual detail possible.  Travis is loving and friendly.  He gives visitors a big smile and often hugs or even kisses to match. Travis is almost always easy-going and happy, but i...

It's hard to believe I posted this entry in November of last year, but I did!  I went looking for this old entry and figured I posted it back in February or something.  I was shocked that it was from November! I had posted: "Because of the season of life I'm in (nearing 40, newly-expanded family, major life-changing move, and weight gain that ticks me off greatly), I've been experiencing days feeling very low.  I've blogged before about how I don't like using the word "depressed" lightly, so I don't think I'll use it here.  But I've been feeling dark, low, melancholy, aimless, and tired." Since November, those feelings didn't go away.  Oh, they might subside for a time, but would rear their ugly heads at any random time.  In addition to those feelings, I was experiencing an overwhelming feeling of failure.   These feelings would manifest themselves by my simply giving up and doing nothing.  I felt so overwhelmed by everythin...

Where did the entire month of March go?!  The best way to update is through photos: Spent a beautiful day at Fort Worth Zoo The boys with the elephant The kids and I stop at Olive Garden A day at Parr Park Fishing at our place We made two trips to Six Flags in one week! Swings! TJ and Kenz entered the Pinewood Derby Exploring around our ponds. Already swimming every day! I'm a VI! Love my new job! Meeting Matt "The Hammer" at DeafNation The month of March wore out the boys!

Looking back through the past year of this blog, I've really slowed the frequency of updates on the boys.  I wonder if it has anything to do with the boys !  We've also been  attempting to get back into the swing of  a full school schedule. About the boys: Travis and Tian are inseparable best friends and brothers.  Almost daily, Ken and I comment on how happy we are to have brought them home together.  Seeing them love each other so much just confirms to us what God was impressing on our hearts over a year ago.  Adopting two certainly didn't seem completely logical at the time, but we just knew it was what we were supposed to do.  They were both our boys and we needed to bring them home! Tian is 2 1/2.  He's adding new signs and words to his vocabulary every day.  His most recent favorite is "WATCH!"  He says, "VAtsss" while he signs it by putting...

My blogging time has recently been overtaken by a more dense school schedule, my working outside the home part time for the first time in years, and by editing video for our YouTube page . The most recent video shows Ken and Travis looking at mostly names and a few words.  I could blog about the boys' language development, but the videos speak for themselves, so check out out page if you haven't already. So, how are we all doing almost seven months after the littles were added to our family?  The boys have attached well.  So well, I have to keep reminding myself to continue to be purposeful in attachment activities and behaviors on my part.  The boys are almost inseparable. They are each other's best friend, playmate and brother.  It's been a sweet joy to witness. The older three Brownies continue to adore and help care for their ne...