Meeting Old Friends..and New.

 Old friends for the girls, new friends for us.  The girls and their little boy lived in the same Orphanage.  They were traveling through our area and contacted us to see if they could stop and see us.  Of course you can!......except....they had some delays along the way...and the day they were coming through we had a Ophthalm"ologist" Appointment in KC.   So we had to meet on the road.  We met at Chipotle in Topeka for a much too short lunch.  I fell in love with little Mr. B!  He was SO darling and sweeeet!  Michaiah is a doll too, and super smart!  My favorite story of hers is her "polyester party" because all her stuffed animals have the same name...it says so on the tag......except for the two whose tags were  missing.....they decided to call them  Polly & Esther:)  Love it.

What a darling bunch of kids!  Iley stayed home and was sorely missed by all.

We all kind of think Iley and Mr. B look alike....what do you guys think?

I would have kept him:)

How do YOU entertain yourself waiting on the corn on the cob to cook??

Sherman is quite the help in the kitchen these days!!  He cut up all the squash, and shucked and silked the corn...Harrison did help with that.   Tonight he fried the hamburger and cut up and cooked the squash, set the table, made the tea, and stirred up the cornbread and put it in the muffin papers!  He even emptied the dishwasher!!  Maybe this is all a good thing since he still maintains that girls are a bother, and he can't imagine having a girlfriend.   We made Harrison clean up the table and put away the food:)  He thought it was a raw deal since Sherman WANTED to help.  

Taking a walk on a beautiful evening.

 Complete with fruit snacks.

 What is going on up there???

We want to come up and play too!

Iley let Sherman drive "her" combine......Harrison kept asking if he could drive it?  She huffs and says FINE, but you can't drive it all crazy!!!

WHY????  Why?? why do the blankets need to line the stairs???  sigh......now I have to remake their entire beds before they can sleep!

Wren's Ophthalmologist appointment went well.  She actually has 20/20 vision but has astigmatism in both eyes.  She doesn't have to patch anymore! Yay!  We got a new prescription so will be getting new glasses soon!  The ones she has now have seen better days!  They've been pitched across the lane in a fit of temper.....they've been sat on, taken off and forgotten in the sandbox for several days......dropped....you name it!  part of one of the ear pieces are missing, we've had to rig up our own version.  We've been waiting to see if her prescription changed before getting new ones.

We bent a plastic ear piece, stuck a paper clip in it then put the squishy rubber sleeve over it all. Not beautiful but it works!

 I wash her glasses at least 5 times a day!  Iley's maybe once during the day.  How do I get across to her...."you CAN"T touch the glass!!"??  Trust me I've signed it, pantomimed it, made her wash them herself...nothing seems to work:(  or is this just a 6 yr old with glasses?

Audiologist Visit

We have a new understanding of  "ologist"  we see an audiologist, a cardiologist, an ophthalmologist, and they are all very helpful........and VERY expensive!!!  I am going to call my self a childologist....instead of a mother.....maybe someone will pay me......??  ya think?

Wren had an audiologist visit yesterday.....in Denver....a four hour drive away.  Kyndahl rode along with me to do some shopping.  We hit Old N@vy, and T@rget, ate at Qdobe, and went to the audiologist.

Wren was an absolute angel the whole day.  She LOVES to go places.  I carried her down at 7:00am. and she went to bed at 11:40pm.  a loooong day without one bad episode!  She looked at books about 3/4 of the way there...happy to have her own little drink holder and water bottle.  We stopped for breakfast about an hour and a half down the road....scrambled eggs and 2 sausage patties.....all protein..makes her so happy.  Then she just messed with the ipad and looked out the window the rest of the way.  A dream traveler!

She shared my burrito bowl at Qdobe, and we shared chips n cheese.  She never blinked at the black beans and corn....she will eat about anything.....unlike her picky little sister.

We got to the Audiologist about a half hour early so we took pictures to kill time.  Sorry everyone.....there are a lot of them......but grma and grpa wanna see them. 

Looking out the 2nd floor window.

 Lets try the blue back ground.

 Can we make it look like she's riding the horse..........maybe not.

playing with the light..didn't work out so well.....such a lady?..........

NOT!

waiting waiting waiting.....

 waiting.....

Finally!  The first thing they do is take her into a totally sound proof, room.  It is so quiet and the sound is so dead, it's slightly claustrophobic to me!  The the audiologist makes different noises at different volumes to see what the softest sounds she hears are, and how quickly she responds to them.  When she hears a noise she puts the checker in the slot...or knocks something off the table, or puts in a puzzle piece, or puts a peg in a board, or throws a ball into a bucket, a sticker on the paper.....anything to keep them from getting bored.  She worked hard...they worked hard:)

 The audiologist sits on this side of the window.....with me and another helper.  she watches for Wrens reaction. and charts her progress to see how to adjust her program.

 The lady above in the striped dress is also deaf.  She wears a cochlear implant that she received at age 40!  She had a hearing aide before, and wears one on her other ear.  She can hear things with her implant that she never heard with her hearing aide.  She is helpful with understanding what Wren is dealing with.  When I told her that Wren and I go head to head most days.....she said she grew up feeling like she could never please her mother.....ouch.......is that what I am doing to Wren?  She said they get along well now......She also said she gives credit to her mother for where she is today..........whew...maybe I'm not ruining her.........BUT.....is there a way to encourage and push with out making the child feel like he/she never measures up?  That is what I need to strive for.  What I need to pray for wisdom for! Patience for! LOVE for!

After she's done in there, they hook her to the computer ...to program her C.I. processor.

 She has been wearing the ear worn processor for about 2-4 weeks now because every time I would put her left body worn one on she would cry, and sign too loud!  I believed her.  Since we stopped wearing the left one, she has fought me so much less about putting them on!  The audiologist adjusted it, and now she's fine with it again.  This is why we make the 4hr. trek to see her:)  The gray part on the bottom is the part hooked to the computer which programs the computer in her ear piece.  We play more games to keep her sitting still.  The whole process takes about 2 to 2-1/2 hrs.  She was a trooper!

After we were done here, we headed back to Target for some final shopping.  When we were getting out of the car I asked Wren to hand me my purse.....she did......then she asked if she could take her purse in.  Now she didn't actually sign all of that, but she pointed to her purse, then herself......with raised eyebrows...a question look.   I nodded yes.....she had a play phone, a little bible and a stuffed animal in there.  She was hilarious!  She put it up on her shoulder, and was SOOOO pleased with her self.  She pointed to Kyndahl's and my purse and then hers and held up 3 fingers.  Yep we all 3 have purses.  You should have seen her grin!  So cute.  Then she put it in the shopping cart with mine......except for her "cell phone" which she proceeded to talk on.....SO funny!  she yacked, and waved her hands, and walked all around looking at clothes........LOL  then she handed it to me to talk on.  She took her purse in and out of the cart continually.  This kept her entertained for almost 2hrs!  She was a delight to have along.  I LOVE having two girls, but it's also really fun to be able to spend some one on one time with each of them.  Wren loved being focused on, and spoiled.  We bought juice and things we don't normally allow:)  girls day out kinda treatment!  For supper (don't judge me) she had a little bag of potato chips all to herself, and some chipped ham(no bread) from the deli....and green bug juice.  I rolled the ham up in sticks and lined them on a napkin...you'd a thought it was prime rib to see her pleasure.   At the gas station, she was picking out her bug juice, and I tapped her shoulder and asked her......do you want this juice, pointing to the ones she was looking at, or do you want the other drink pointing to the fountain drinks and  "signed cup and straw"  she stopped and put her finger on her chin like she was thinking......then grinned and pointed to the bug juice.  She loves having a choice.  But the miracle is that she listened to my whole sentence, and knew what I asked...and what she wanted!   When I think about the fact that all she could understand a year and 3 months ago was to hold yourself if you had to potty, and rub your stomach when you are hungry, make a drinking motion if you're thirsty........it almost makes me weep for joy:)   When leaving the restaurant at lunch she asked if she could take her drink with her.....it goes something like this.....she points to her drink, then signs car....with her eyebrows raised in question.  This is HUGE!!!  (we don't normally allow drinks to go with us because Iley has to potty SO much....and more kids equal more messes)  She initiated the conversation and communicated a question to me:):):):)  We are making progress!!!   She picked out a dress she wanted at Old N@vy from a selection of 5 dresses,  She pushed the elevator button just as it made a beep and jumped, she's hearing and reacting faster.......She was just so happy and full of joy all day long:)