Lovely Lillil pretty as a flower

Lillian loves school!  She knows what goes in her backpack and that she can also have 2 things for snack!  On friday I was getting her dressed and I mentioned it was friday.  She light up! ' Choose one!'  she said (look at those two words together!  So exciting considering that 7 months ago she only knew 20 words.  Her hearing age is 7 months old, so technically Jackson's hearing age which is 10 months because he had been hearing since the day he was born, is older than Lillians.  Hearing age means the day you start wearing your hearing device (for Lillian it is her hearing aids, other children have bajas or cochlear implants) all waking hours.  Lillian is amazing, her hearing age is the day she got her hearing aids because she loves wearing them.  There may be a few minutes here or there that she wants to check out of hearing, like a noise basketball game, or church with its high ceiling.  I am grateful for her love of them. 

She mothers her brothers like no other

between 3-5 pm can be hard if she doesnt fall asleep on the way home from school, she gets sleepy eyes.  Yes she is eating sugar cereal for a snack.  I give my kids cereal on the days we go to ventura for a Deaf and Hard of Hearing class for the parents.  The class is from 4-6pm.  Cereal is a great way to fill my kids up, they will have lots of bowls full.  Normally we don't have sugar cereal so it is also a treat. 

Showing me her bandaid, when she says bandaid it sounds like candy, she even signs candy sometimes, because I have gotten so confused.  I normally give her a bandaid first and she's happy with that.

She loves fish!  Constantly moving, bright colors and you don't have to hear them!  Kinda like Lillian.  People ask me how I could not have known she was hard of hearing.  Lillian fooled us all.  She went to a number of specialist as a toddler and not one mentioned hearing loss or having her hearing tested.  My doctor even said we screen for hearing at 3 just wait.  I am glad my mother and Steven encouraged me to get her tested at 2 years 7 month.  When she turned three she was able to start her wonderful school.  She had a teacher trained to teach deaf and hard of hearing children, to speak and succeed in a hearing world.  Her aid had a child who is deaf and received implant at age 3.  She loves Lillian so much and laughs with her and is so kind to her.

My favorite part of my day is reading Lillian's back and forth notebook her teacher, aid and I have.  here is  favorite quote

"4/17/13 We are workimg on having Lillian learn our names, she calls all 3 of us Mommy. :) We ad our pschologist , Mr. Tobey, come in +we asked Lillian how he was.  Without missing a beat, she said 'daddy' She just over generalizing all adults as mommy or daddy, so we will work on it."

When I first found out about Lillian's hearing loss I was sad at all the lullabies I had sung her she hadn't heard.  Now I realize how much more they meant to her, the loving look on my face, holding her tight and giving her kisses.  This little girl has watched me intently her whole life.  She looks to me to reexplain things going on around her.  I have a bond like her that I never thought possible between a mother and her child. 

Being her mother takes a few extra minutes each day.  I have to keep a simular schedule and pay most of my attention to her, she likes to get into things.  She's a big helper- the dishes, washing the window cooking etc.  I would call her high energy, she just has to moving, its how she made up for her hearing loss, by aways moving, looking, exploring the world around her. 

My birthdays  she was a little under the weather with an ear infection we found out the next day.

She loves her bike and temporary tattoos/ stickers.... this could be a problem someday yes?