Exciting moment

      It just seemed such an exciting moment when Prisha put her rice and curry into the microwave and was waiting to hear the popping sounds ! Who would understand it more than us mums who have raised the hearing impaired kids trying to bring the softer and softe sounds into the ears of these kids. Just to have them notice softer sounds is such an exciting thing for us mums. I remember helping her notice mustard popping in oil as I waited to put in vegetables into it next. She would sit on my kitchen counter as a little girl and I would wait for her to react to soft sounds as she sat with eyes closed. The everyday sounds became so crucial and exciting and moments of victory felt when she reacted to them! 

     Help them listen to soft sounds each day as an exercise when they are little. Broaden their horizons and let them be aware of every sound. Let them notice and ask the source of sounds. That's the best way of conditioning them and raising their awareness. 

Girls are beautiful

Sunshine happiness

One of the most profound statement made my Prisha today. She is studying about population in her school. I told her about female infanticide and she was pretty shaken and shocked to hear about it. She said that's really mean thing to do. Why should people do that. We discussed it in the Indian context. She was quiet. I then realized ,she being a thinker and a deep person. would be a bit sad inside. I then told her how it's changing and not everyone does that. I moved on to telling her how I prayed day in and out for years for a little baby girl with curls and dimples. And when she did come in we were rejoicing and so thrilled. She was so touched, went awwwwww and we hugged tight. It just felt so right.

She moved on to study. At the dinner table she again brought up the topic. Suddenly she says.... " hey why should they kill the girls! If girls are not there how would babies be born!! Boys can't give birth and girls are so lovely!! 

Just brought a smile on my face. She is our bright sunshine and blessed to hear her chatter and thoughts. Girls indeed are beautiful and hold a whole life in them. They give life and nurture and show the world what real pure love is all about. Girls make the world beautiful. She makes ours beautiful and complete.

Picture of perfection.

Image of promises made and worked on.

This writing made me stop in my track. What a statement on the wall!! A reminder and sense of responsibility....a sensitive mind and a conscious soul... a promise to be kept and a want to be controlled.....self control and love for family values... I think I could think of many things that came up as a mind map in my mind. I felt immense love and respect for my 13 year old. I felt pride and had welled up eyes. I also felt happy that somewhere I did a decent job of raising conscious kids who understand what we say. In a world where I often hear parents crying out or nagging " my kid doesn't listen" " he sits with his gaming often" etc etc... this came as a respite. All those hours of talking to her and drilling sense, all those small instructions to raise her awareness are looking so right.

We underestimate these kids. They love to be responsible and good people. It's our duty to make them receptive to the language we want them to talk. They have a conscience, we just have to make them aware and help them listen to that inner voice. It's a part of growing to repel and revolt and it's our duty to help them realize what to fight for and how to turn it around to help them do it. At the end it's us parents who are responsible for the behavior of our kids. They reflect us and never blame them but reflect inwards where we went wrong. 

We have had our winter break and had enough of quiet time and lazy time in front of the TV or just the couch. It happens and it did happen to us too. Tired of the marathon of school life and hectic days and weeks she too regressed. Bringing her back to be aware of it took a couple of days but she did come back and how! She still watches YouTube videos but they are now for helping her hear better. Train her brain to understand more. It's a long and slow process. But in this journey we have learnt to be patient and work diligently. It's not as much of sitting with her and supervising it, no teen likes it and she is no exception.  But it's about raising her awareness and helping her to make better choices. This is one way of making her independent and making her wings stronger so she can fly stronger and higher. 

As a mum this picture is precious. It's a belief in what we do, belief in what we did and belief in what she would do. We just need to hold her and help her steadily walk up to the future with steady strong steps. Thankful and grateful for this moment where she reminds herself each time temptation steps in and choose between the right and the wrong.  Can I stop beaming? Can I stop tearing up? Can I stop feeling proud? Can I stop feeling overwhelmed with love ? Answer is too easy and predictable, isn't it?

Sound of Iphone keys

     

Together we can

Small happiness for us mums of deaf kids is to share small victories around how our kids manage their hearing issues. This morning there was one such incident that made me realize how early intensive speech therapy can help them hear better which I need to share.

      I was typing on my iPhone and Prisha turns around and says I can hear your tik tik. As usual I refused to believe it. She was 2 ft away. I tested her trying to fool her but each time she gave me the correct answer. It just made me want to thank my mentor one more time. We mums find these small happiness as real big in our lives. 

        Ma'am had trained us to help them listen to softer and softer sounds. According to her you can train them to pay attention to softer sounds early. As little as 1 yr old I would do many exercises helping her to listen to mustard popping in oil , water tap sounds etc. Perhaps those early pressures and training helped her to listen n talk on phone , waves of water on beach etc.Auditory training early n intensive helps to condition them and she was v good at small details. Feeling thankful and empowered.