The End

I am making this short and sweet.   Since I have noticed I have not gotten any comment on my blog lately,  I have lost my motivation to polish my writing skills.   So at the end, I have come to the conclusion to end the blog.

My Experience

When I found out Ryan was diagnosed Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) known as Autism, my world crumbled around me. At that time, I wanted to look for ways to prove to the specialist that she was wrong because she had no knowledge of Children of Deaf Adults. I did look for articles and indeed did find an article about Hearing Children of Deaf Parents with Language Delay.


Also, I remember feeling my world crumbled around me as I wanted to blame others for causing Ryan being Autism while I was pregnant quietly. Instead of blaming others, I automatically shut the world out for weeks including my family. I remember how angry I was when I heard someone telling me, " I'm sorry to see that Ryan will live with you for the rest of your life time." That was blunt. But for anyone who had said to someone bluntly TOTALLY missed beautiful daily moments.

I remember how much I wanted to overcome Ryan's obstacles. At first, he could not speak at all. He was frustrated. He had lots of tantrums: throwing things up in the air such as toys and shoes. He did dash off a lot of times. But this had changed. Little by little, I worked with him daily by age 3. He gradually started talking and cooperating nicely. That was not my only destinations. The next destination was to interact with other kids. Now, he surprised others; he does interact with other kids. Still, I have many more secret destinations -- I am not the kind of a person who would surrender despite of his disability. Look at me- I am his example.

When a parent finds out his/her child is disability, I know what it feels like to see your world crumble around you. But the matter is that I had totally different points of views.

I didn't know then that Ryan's smile would make my heart sing.

I didn't know that he would hug my neck with all his might and that he would be a super snugger.

I didn't know he would make me laugh in many ways.

I didn't know he would amaze me with his far-out creative imaginations.

I didn't know he would made that far ahead of my expectation: being in a full-time mainstream class and doing remarkable well.

Yet, I had the experience to walk through the pain to find joy.

and looking back,I can confidently say, the joy far outweighs the pain.

Watching a Show

Have you ever had an animal who likes to watch T.V. ?  One of my cats, Star, mainly liked to watch any specific show. This evening, my husband and I caught him watching a Disney show. We thought it was so cute to see him standing in a front of T.V.

Being Cool

At an early morning, Ryan saw the sun came out for the first time we have had.  He politely asked me if he could wear a pair of sunglasses to YMCA, just before his class started.  I warned that I would allow him if he put his sunglasses away by the time he went in class, and returned his sunglasses.  He  did!  Ryan mentioned, "I wanted to wear sunglasses to school because the sun is out.  Also, I wanted to be cool!"  When I heard he used the word, "cool," it cracked me up.  He sure was a COOL boy.

Dr. Robert Davila's Visit

Since we named our Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program after Dr. Robert R. Davila, he kept his promise to visit our school site since last Fall.  On the day he informed my boss, who is a coordinator,  that he wanted to visit our program.  For months, we slowly made a progress in our programs such as installing the Video Phones, getting our printers working from Smart Board, and few other things.

On the day before his arrival, we gathered everything especially from my boss who worked SO HARD!  One of the lists were having our students painting the signs that says, " Welcome Dr. Davila", and making the signs "Reserved Parking for Dr. Davila."   Pizza, drinks, cookies (of course I didn't eat this) and light and dark purple balloons.  We even had our school mascot, "Dalmatian " with purple banana statue.  Ironically, Dr. Robert Davila had a dalmatian dog when he was a young boy.  This gives an addition reason for choosing mascot is that 80 % of dalmatian dog is deaf.

By the time of his arrival, he brought his long time friend.  Many of my students kept asking me, "Is Dr. Davila here yet?" or trying to peek through the one way door's window.   I had to manage their excitement because they had learned a little bit about him especially when we all learned many different hand shapes for "D."  His name for Davila is one of them.  He smiled when he saw the hand shapes and a picture of him posing on the wall in my classroom.   He did visit each classroom.

While he was still having a lunch with all of us,  I did take a picture of each of my students. So I can printed and give it to them for their life time memory.   Not only taking pictures of my students,  I made sure to have someone taking picture of me and Dr. Davila. He sure was VERY OUTGOING AND FRIENDLY person.  Not only being an outstanding and friendly person, he even shared his fantasized story when he was a child. He miraculously made it through to the top!  I am really proud for his achievement.

He and I had an opportunity to have a chit chat.  He did ask me few questions such as where did I graduate and is there any deaf staff.  He did not realize I was the only deaf teacher.  Guess it was because I was signing and speaking at the same time. I know he did the same thing.   At the end of the day, I requested to have a signature of my Deaf Life Magazine for me and my husband.  He did not hesitate at all.   I also told him that I would be happy to send a copy of pictures on CD.  He seemed to be pleased because I was the only ones who actually brought the camera (it does not make any difference because I ALWAYS carry my camera in case) while

others were taking pictures from their phone. 

At the end of the day, it was a splendid day that he actually came to our school.  I would not say that it is our school.  This include him.   Frankly, it was awesome to see him beaming his smile when he saw a huge picture of him hanging above the wall.  He deserved this well after he had worked hard for himself and the deaf community.

Cub Scout Ceremony

Last week, the Cub Scouts gathered for the ceremony.    Some of the scouts graduated with a merit badge while others did not finish it at all.  My boys did !

 At the opening ceremony, Ryan gave a prayer speech.  He did an excellent job since we have had practiced for two days before he came and spoke it in a front of the Cub Scouts and the parents.  Lots of the parents were impressed for his efforts.  

After Ryan finished the prayer, each leader spoke for their troop.  It was Dylan's turn to stand up in a front of his dad.  His leader painted Dylan's face.  This symbolized that he graduated from Bears.  He will be promoting up to Webolos.  Boy, I enjoyed seeing both of them being so proud for his achievement.

Like I said each leader had an opportunity to take turns,  David took his took to speak for his group.   There were few parents who showed up.  While he was speaking for his group, Jeff,  the Master interpreted for David.  It was really nice to see someone interpreting for him in a front of the audience.   While he was interpreting for Jeff,  I had a chance to come up to put an award on Ryan's shirt.  Without a doubt, he was proud that he was one of the among scout.

At the end, we all came home with our proud sons.   It was really nice to see them making difference in their life.

Flower Fields

Have you ever made a spontaneous plan?  I did and chose to take my family to go to Flower Fields in Carlsbad.  It has many beautiful and colorful flowers.   We were fortunately to take many good pictures just for one hour because we had to visit David's aunt who was in town for a very short amount of time.   The plan on going to Flower Fields were PERFECT!

However, the boys really wanted to do all of the stamping areas and entered in Sweet Pea Maze.  We will on the next round because we were for an hour.  Did we do a good job on taking pictures?

Dressed- Up

Today was the first time the boys going out to a church.  They looked classic when they were ties, slack and shirt.  Frankly, they felt so handsome. So did I!

After visiting church for the first time, we asked them questions what they had learned in the boys' class in a front of President (aka) of Ward and his wife.  They were pleased that they were quick learning especially Ryan. 

Package

My eyes popped out when I received a Nutri-system package in a mail.  It was REALLY big.  All of the dry food is worth for 35 days.  I already started on my second day.  The food was not so bad.

In the package, it includes food dairy.  I also have a small and thin brochures to keep it in purse in case I need to keep the track of my daily mean plan.  It also requires me to buy small portion amount of fresh fruits, vegetables, and fat free milk.  Drinking fat free milk is NOT bad.  My husband especially refused to try it.

Let's keep it crossed that I followed it through for 35 days then I will order it every month!  I have a faith that I will because I personally am ready to follow it through until I reach my destination.

Bibles

Whether you re fan or not fan of reading bibles, we as parents strongly encourage teaching our sons basic 10 commandments from the Bible.   My husband bought very simple Bible for the boys to read.  At first, we were not sure if they would be interested without forcing them.

Dylan was the first because he has asked several questions such as, "What is baptized?"  This is one of the valid questions he has been asking.  After we bought four volumes of "Who's Your Hero?,"  I caught Dylan reading the book at 5:30 A.M.

We are starting to notice that he is starting to read daily. So, my husband and I agree to have young men from church to answer his questions.  As soon as he kept reading, Ryan started doing the same thing. 

It amazes me how the sibling can influence one thing to another.   Boy, am I glad Dylan is a good role model?

Lost and Found

A day after Easter, we freaked out because Star, our cat escaped on Easter's evening.  We were worried wrecked because we had two things happening on Easter Day: Earthquake and raining hard.  The raining forced him to hide nearby bush though we did look most of the night and morning of the day we returned to work/school.

On the morning Ryan and Dylan found it out that Star was missing.  All of us had heart-wrenching throughout the day.  There were another reason why were worried:  traffic and coyotes nearby our home.   By the time we arrived home, we searched around our neighbors.  No luck!  When David came home to take his things out of his Jeep with an open garage, Star took an opportunity to go inside of the garage.  David was stunned and let him go inside of the kitchen through by our garage door. When we saw Star walking in the house, we all were delighted and gave him lots of hugs.  He was purring !

Hopefully, he has learned his lesson because he appeared he did not like the noises outside of the houses.

Water Foundation

Here's what we found on our Easter Morning.

Lucky for those whoever made an attempt to steal this water foundation realized it was too heavy for them to take home.  God had been watching this for us.  We will be asking our friends to put these back up.

Horse Back Riding

Just in time before the rain fell, the boys had their first experience riding on a pony at a friend's farm. They did enjoyed seeing so many wonderful animals. When we entered the ranch, the first thing we saw a huge peacock. I did hope to see a peacock with feathers sticking it out. We did make several attempts. It did not work, but at least I took a good shot of a close-up peacock.

Before the boys rode on a pony, they had to learn to brush the pony and clean the hoof off. We did have a wonderful trainer. Dylan was the first one who volunteered to go on a pony. He went on several rounds. Ryan was on the other hand. At first, he did not want to go on a pony because he feared to fall off a pony. I had to bribe him to get him something-- a Blue Puffle (Psst, he will get it one for Easter's anyway.) He did enjoy for a little bit around.

After they finished riding on a pony, they visited several other animals: pigs, goats, rabbits, donkeys, and cats. Many of them was braved enough to feed the animals. In fact, they wanted to work on a farm so they could get a free horse back riding this summer. It was a nice way to end of our Spring Break!

Happy Campers

Have you ever had any indoor camping? Thought it was a perfect way to entertain the boys over their Spring Break. They sure were happy campers!

I could have provide them smores but unfortunately I had to think about Dylan. He is not able to have marshmallow due to having a retainer. But this is a life time memory to do something unique over their break.

Another One

Not too long ago, Ryan lost his first front tooth. Now, he lost his second front tooth. This is a good sign because we don't need to have a dentist to pull it out before June (we were warned if his front teeth didn't come out. This saves us some bucks.)

He was so proud to earn another dollar, so he would be able to purchase more Plush Club Penguin stuff.

Ceiling Cat

This is what we found when we came home.

Children's Museum

Right after we went out for a morning hiking, I took the boys to The New Children Museum in downtown San Diego. I would give a thumb-up if my kids were younger than they are at right now. They did not mind for an hour and a half because it was relatively new, and was their first time.

Dylan pretended that he is one of the Ninjas.

Ryan did pretty good on making a picture out of colorful tapes.

Ryan was gallant enough to try out for rock climbing while Dylan was afraid of height.

Dylan was trying to make the world largest bubble.

Last before we left for home, I thought this was one of the amazing balloon creatures.

What does it look like to you?

This is the first and probably last time I would take my boys to The New Children Museum. They are getting too old to attend this event. I am planning on taking them out to variety place around San Diego over our two week of a Spring Break.

Hiking

On our first day of a Spring Break, the boys and I decided to go out for a hiking in our home area. It was a beautiful day! We started off at 9 A.M to spend more extra activities throughout the day.

Boys were hiking on their way to a neighbor park.

Dylan and Ryan posed for the picture on a bridge.

Dylan volunteered to take a close-up picture of me.

Ryan did pretty much on his own swinging up and down independently.

Dylan enjoyed doing the swirl swinging. Not me! It would make me dizzy!

Since they did not complain going out for a hiking, I decided to take them to a New Children Museum in Downtown San Diego on their first day of a Spring Break.

A Night Before St. Patrick's

I read a story, A Night Before St. Patrick's to students overhead. While I was reading a book, I demonstrated and asked questions.

After the questions, I splited into two writing groups. Each group have their own writing essay.

Lower Level: What kind of cool places could you go, if you were that small?

Higher Level: If you were a Leprechaun, where would you hide your pot of gold?



Once they already started writing a first draft, they will do it as for a homework. NO EXCUSE! Because tomorrow is a Lucky Day for not having a homework. Pretty much of today, students created Leprechaun's trap hats, rainbow mobile, and bead rings with gold coins around their desk.

They all were excited and hoped that they catch Leprechaun in their Leprechaun's hat. My aide and I instead turned our classroom upside down. I get lots of "Oh My God!" responses from the staff. This would be interesting how the students react when they see in the morning. Instead of teaching of writing lesson (that's why I gave them a day before essay homework,) they will be cleaning the mess up for me!

Freckles

Each day, I have watched my two sons, Dylan and Ryan getting their freckles. Clearly, they got it from their dad because he has a fair skin. But Ryan has olive skin. He does have few freckles, so it means, he has mixtures of fair and olive skins. This link shows how kids get freckles.


But I always tease my kids that they got freckles from getting lots of kisses from me. They giggled a lot when I told them about the kissing stuff. But good news is that their freckles will fade it away when they get older. It happened to David when he got older.

Bulletin Boards: Habitats

Over the past two months, I have been working on six different part of Habitats around the world with the students from first through fourth grade. None of them had any science experience, but they all love what they had learned through by LOTS of visual aids, activities, and games on Smart Board.

I started out with the Desert. It helped them to understand of where that's close to our region.

I even included the desert plants without thorns. Many of them were awing on the plants because many of them never saw any different kinds of cactus.

After we finished our Rain forest, we invited one of the deaf guests to do the Story telling on: The Great Kapok book. (click the book) It was an excellent book for the students to understand how important to preserve the environment.

This is a close-up Pond picture. While I was teaching Pond, I even taught about their life cycle (click on Life Cycle ) on the Smart Board. While working on between Pond and Ocean, I had to explain the students between Fresh and Salt Water. I had two bowls of Fresh and Salt Water sitting outside in the sun for three days, so they could see the difference when the fresh water lose the water from the sun.

While I was working on Ocean, I had some Art Activities with the colorful sponge and writing about the animals.
After the Ocean, we started discussing about the Grassland. They were shocked that there were different types of Grassland, especially green and yellow grass after I read and show a book about the life in Grassland. The next day, one of my students brought over the dry grassland.


The last part of the region is teaching Tundra. I had to explain the different animals living in Arctic and Antarctica . I even gave each student a cup of ice cube and water to see how the ice stay or float up. It gave them a better picture about the glaciers. The best part is that they never knew these two places: Arctic and Antarctica have Spring and Summer. They kept saying, "What!" Now, they know there are small areas that grow flowers and green grass during these two seasons.

Overall of my Habitat lesson plans, I felt really good that each level had learned. They all loved the lessons. This will give them a life time educational experience.