Budapest trip

Our 2 day Budapest trip came to an end and so are the trips around Austria.Another 10 days and we go back to the grind back in India.Budapest was a good place to see and these trips made Prisha get exposed to so much.She is so confident here in supermarkets, stores and in places of interest, back home I can't let her out of my sight even for a minute.The feeling of security here is immense as there is more discipline. Back home the traffic and timing of schools make her lost and there is less exposure even to language. In Budapest we strolled on the bank of the river at night and Prisha sat there and sang for us, her quaint little songs.She danced and needed to be clicked all the time.She gives me poses that make me laugh and people passing by would smile too.My husband was a bit irritated about her song and dance on the riverside but I was thrilled as she was doing it so naturally boosting her confidence and at the end of it is good way of listening to her on natural voice, giving her a chance to correct herself.She is not thrilled with walking and so she was promised a surprise if she walked and also rewarded with the "big girl" tag, which she now wants to be called. So she decided to walk all the way around the place telling me that she was a sweet girl like strawberry and not a sour girl. The smile that followed is enticing.
She loved the view from the top of the Gellert hill and got her poses clicked.We went to a hotel for a drink and she needed to go to the toilet. The lobby was big and I was trying to look for the WC sign. She just tugged me and said come there is the toilet.I was surprised as on out road trips she was the one who would quickly show me the toilets.I was thinking about it and realised since she cannot read just now she depends on the pictures. WC sign has been captured in her mind as a picture and so she finds it more quickly while I am still trying to figure out the script of German.
In the supermarket she loves to pick up her yogurts and chocolates of her choice and even helps with weighing the fruits and vegs. So it is fun. I hope this spontaneity remains once we are back and is not lost in the hustle and bustle.her ear has another big boil near the ear lobe waiting to burst. She is so patient with the pain and tells me that once it bursts I should clean it. I am amazed at her strength.I just hope with medicines I am giving her things are alright soon.I am concerned also as our dear old DR. Sunil Anand , the homeopath, is shifting abroad.We wish him well as thanks to his treatment last 10 years had been good for myself, my son's wheezing and my mother in law's health issues after her cancer treatment, but somewhere inside we don't want him to go.He is the only hope for Prisha right now.Tomorrow we plan to take the kids to Klagenfurt where there is a miniworld. I would love to see prisha get inspired to make her mini world from waste.

Dr. Greene

I just came across this website through youtube. I liked what he said and thought would share .
www.drgreene.comhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYICPmURI5Y

Heart , talk to mumma

Prisha is on the latest fad of hearts.Actually this is there for a while now.All her pictures and paintings need to have all kinds and sizes of hearts.It is very cute , I would like to admit, as I go back to the time in college when hearts and smileys seem to rule my corner in the hostel. It has come pretty quick for her , a typical girlish thing. The hearts are there on the chef's coat , the jokers dress, the houses she draws, the mugs, the writings etc are incomplete without a couple of hearts thrown in.Her flowers are always with smiling faces and I realise that her paintings always portray her sense of being, which is very happy.She understands that she has a disability and cannot hear without the aids, has immense pain with boils in her ear still there, now her nose and the upper palate too is paining, but the moment I ask her to draw, she is at it and she forgets her pain.My husband and i were discussing the other day, how she has got so much life in her. She keeps my home alive with her fights with the big bro, her melodramas,her singing,her hugs and kisses which she is very generous with, and her "i love you"s keep me pepped up too.I am so glad she came into my life and then in spite of all the rough rides with her hearing impairment journey, life became easier to live once Alaka teacher came into our life and Prisha started to talk. I get those lumps even now thinking about our journey.It was a tough ride with ma'am hudlikar.She is very tough but when I see the results, I feel the struggle was worth it. The other day we were in Ikea in Vienna, I saw a couple using sign language, my eyes welled up and I shuddered to think that had it not been for Alaka ma'am our world too would have been so silent, we would have missed all the non stop chatter, the constant chatter that is full of jest, laughter, provoking [her big bro only] ,singing[ she makes these funny songs on her own] and that life would have been full of "why me". Today when I talk to a few mothers who are just starting out , my heart goes out to thm and I wish I could help them out with all the lessons I am able to give out to them.For me when I see this door for the deaf, where they can be as normal as me, I wish every deaf child and the parents could walk through it and experience the joy we feel.
I would like to share a little incident that happened y'day. It made me laugh,as well as I had tears at the innocence of it.Prisha had been busy provoking and fighting with her big brother. I always ignore it as I feel it is part of their growing up and also relation building.When it went to far,there was bad behavior, i intervened and since my husband was out, we decided that Prisha needed to left alone till she apologised.The big ego was not allowing her.She sat in the corner and threw a small fit and told me she did not love me and the melodrama was on. When she saw there was no reaction, she sat and was drawing something in her hand.After a while she realised I meant business, she apologised after a lot of tears and ego blasting.I was smiling in my heart as all this is "so cute". She cried a bit and then I told her she needed to have good behavior and then we all love her.I suddenly saw her muttering into her hand "heart, talk to mumma okay, she is a good girl". I just found it so sweet that I could not help but kiss her with tears in my eyes. She had drawn 1 smiling heart in each palm and they belonged to both of us.She told me I should say "I love you to the heart" and kiss it to make up, which I gladly did. I love this child innocence and wish it never goes away.

Trip to Italy

Finally home after a long week end in Italy.We went to Venice and Florance. It was wonderful to see the cities. What excited Prisha was there were no cars and roads in Venice and we just needed to go by boat everywhere. What fun! She did loved going to churches. We did light the candles and she did pray as usual asking God to bless her and to help her to hear and speak well. She did complain to Mother Mary about her boils in her ear and her eyes.She asked her to take them away. It did give a lump as to see how she desperately wants her other hearing aid.
We learnt about all the different kind of boats and saw ships , it was exciting for her. She took out her book and pencil and drew out the big ship.She was tired with all the walking but cooperated well. We sat on the steps near the water and talked about the things happening around.
She complained of ear ache at night on Sunday and when we peeped in , we got a shock as we saw a huge boil burst with a big hole at the end of the ear. In heart I knew it could not be the ear drum but the fear of the possibility kept me uneasy and upset the entire night.She was complaining of ear pain behind the ear too. The faith in homeopathy medicine started to dwindle again.We were quite happy as the homeopathic medicines for ear boils had really worked well this time after the long session with my doc.The next morning I could just run into the streets of Venice shouting with joy as the hole was actually a crust of the boil that had healed. It had fallen off and covered the eardrum.I am glad we bought the otoscope.She is better now. The left eye too had developed a stye but thanks to the homeo preparation , it has stopped where it started.I am glad I did not start anti biotic again. Homeopathy for boils has a more lasting effect.

Walk in the jungle

We went out to see the castle and it was really nice to see it. There was a thick green jungle around the castle in Kafenberg in Austria. As usual my son and husband complained about walking into it. But mom daughter duo did persist. Prisha was so over enthusiastic about getting into it. Well it was the best decission as the whole experience turned out to be not only refreashing but we did a lot of speech therapy there. A few weeks back Mrs. Hudlikar had talked about the jungle and so here we saw one and talked about it. We did focus on the tall trees , snails and the birds chirping. Great job done! Prisha is turning out to be a model in front of the camera. She had all the poses and asked me to click her in all possible postures. Loved it!Her boil is still troubling her but is healing now. Hope a new one does not crop up. I am cleaning up with spirit, drying it up 3 times a day with a hair dryer. She feels a lot of relief.I also uploaded the latest video of our speech therapy session. It is about picture description. These video clipping I got on my laptop are quite a blessing . Prisha is all day hung on these classes. She has learnt her way on the laptop { when I am still figuring it out with nervous fingers} and finds all the videos and sings along and also keeps repeating the conversations on her own.Quite a good speech therapy lesson as it is making her listen well to a different kind of sound and respond to it.Thank God for technology.

Youtube upload

latest video uploaded on youtube.making the most of the free time I am getting in Austria.Prisha is down with ear boil again and now has a huge stye in her right eye. Am stuck to the hotel room and the apartment as she is not too keen to explore the places.She is missing her routine back home.She is talking better , is very happy in super market but tells me not to get into any mall or places of interest. Am having a tough time with her continuous whining due to her aches and pain. I NEED A BREAK!!!

Nonstop chatter

So our journey to Austria is over but it was with a lot of endless chatter from Prisha.The moment our trip to Austria was confirmed, prisha had been super charged up.It meant a lot of spoiling and pampering by dad, loads of going out and lots of shopping. I was worried about the packing as the weather is so different for us. Its cold and we have to be so ready for all kinds of changes. While my son and I worried about what to take , Prisha was soon ready with her packing- her back pack and a handbag were loaded and kept on the sofa so that there is no delay and no forgetting when we leave. I peeped into the bags with a lot of anxious looks at me from Prisha. She was too worried that I might not take her precious stuff which was , a box of all kinds of colors [paints, crayons, pencils and sketch pens] , story books, stationary, papers of all kinds, balls and everything that she could find , found place in the bag. I could see her sneaking with things hidden in her hands and pushing into the bag. I knew if I opened it , there would be a war. So waited till she slept off, and when I picked up the bag it was HEAVY!! She is not interested in clothes and other things, but just her treasure is art work and stationary. I did sort things out and soon we compromised on a decent packing so that she has enough to occupy herself.Thank God!
There was a lot of talking all the way. We made every opportunity to converse on various phases of packing.She was so excited that she wanted to only do things in Austria including eating! She wanted eat her next meal in the plane, do her coloring there too. She was non stop on , on the airport.The singing which included the National anthem and her prayers kept people turning back and smiling. I smiled too as , nobody could understand that she was hearing impaired. She got a little finger puppet on the flight and sure, she made sure the little Tweety was entertained [ and so were our neighbours on the flight, as told to us at the end of the flight much to our amusement ] the entire night. The puppet and she talked while we did security check at Zurich diverting the attention of the officer, who I think got a bit of relief from the mundane job.She refused to be parted with it. She ate and enjoyed every bit of her journey. On the Zurich airport as we had to wait for 3 hours, we decided to do speech therapy along with creative work.She sat and drew the aeroplane she loved and a restaurant with some lovely lights fascinated her. So the artist sat and did her work.The confidence was to be seen as I let her explore the airport, while the mother in me peeped from the corner of the eye. On the way home Tweety became her cell phone and called up her grand parents and told them how she was missing them, the driver was amused too.She went to the familiar supermarket too near our home and quickly remembered all the things we did last year. I then realised the importance of language as she had captured all these moments in language and so it was easy to recall.We are now looking forward to more enriching moments in the next 6 weeks that we are here.

Live band

Yesterday we went out for dinner with friends.The atmosphere was just right, open air, cool breeze, good company and a live band playing the famous songs in Hindi.We were busy talking when Prisha called out to me- " mummy, listen, there is nice music". She closed her eyes and shook her head to it and gestured with her hand about how she was enjoying.I was so happy. As from the beginning we have been using a lot of singing , she has got used to enjoying it. She has now picked up the Indian National Anthem and sings it with a few mistakes of words here and there. Go Girl......

Speech needs attention

Last few days due to her spending a lot of time away from me, I noticed Prisha has regressed in her speech. Gosh , all the hard work of getting her there and then due to lack of spending time makes her go to her comfort zone and out comes her lower jaw and a bit of nasal voicing and there she has a bad voice. Funny thing is the moment I imitate her voice she quickly corrects herself.She is very comfortable with her grand parents, and as they follow her instructions, role plays, dramas, acts, the way she wants, she has no pressure on her and she immediately regresses. I need to focus on the echo stage a lot and do more speech practice.Her school timings are pathetic and so little time is left for her to other things. She met her older cousin and seeing her dance has made her do those "bharatnatyam" steps. I think I will put her in a class as she is quite ready to follow the instructions and learn dancing.
Last week there was a bomb scare in her school. I panicked. After the Mumbai attacks, life seems so uncertain.I rushed to school as I wondered what could be happening. The fear of the fact that in a crowded place how she would be able react, how she would hear in an emergency, would she be able to hear in chaos, etc, questions like these and more haunted me.I died a thousand deaths till I reached school. it turned out to be a hoax call.There was a lot of police and sniffer dogs but they found nothing.I hugged on to my daughter the moment I got her.She is too precious and the insecurity is high in my mind the moment my kids go to school now.
The latest fad with her in her favorite activity , drawing, is drawing hearts.She draws hearts of all sizes and colours and they look so good.She can play with colours of all kinds and as a reward for anything she needs is only things from the stationary shop. Her cupboard is overflowing. Last week we finally managed to clear out a lot. Thankfully she allowed me to throw out stuff.Normally she likes to keep even a fraction of crayon or paper hidden in her cupboard.
We visited the dentist as she developed a cavity.She is quite nervous when we visit any doctor.She was crying as she feared another cut. With a lot of difficulty we managed to fill up her cavity. The doctor was very patient and kept speaking to her with his mouth covered. He was amazed that Prisha did not lip read and was talking like other kids.he asked if I followed signs or lip reading and when I told him about AVT he was amazed. he visits a deaf school close by and had seen the kids struggle with life.I talked about what we do. As a reward for her getting the tooth job done ,for a change Prisha wanted to buy flowers. So she got red roses and zarbera.

Youtube upload

Just uploaded good information about the need of speech and language on youtube.Hope it helps to understand the need of speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ_5yLQnl4