that's very very cute soz....
i have a 'language' story. this is for all of you that are of the mind "you're in america, speak english dangit!"
In the backseat the 6 year old onyxlet starts a conversation with her 4 year old sister
"Hey are you listening to me??? amigo!!!! uno, dos, tres" this is followed by some 6 year old french that I won't attempt to spell...
from the 4 year old (and this cuts all possiblity of conversation very very short) "SPEAK ENGLISH PLEASE!!!!"
from Daddy "that's right..." under his breath because he wouldn't dare incur the early morning before school kindergarten wrath of the older sister
onyxelle--
I particularly like the "Please".
this morning:
"Mommy, I'm 6 years old now and it's time to be on my own. I'm going to walk to school then catch the bus and go to school and then the bus is going to drop me off home. BUT...i'm not going to live by myself, just go to school by myself"
me "and that's being on your own?"
her "yes! because you don't hae to go to school with your parents or ride inteh car with your parents. Oh, and thre's another thing when you get 6 too, go to fieldtrips by yourself."
(then she dropped the bomb on me that faded my smile
"see? i don't need you anymore mommy since i'm 6"
*sniffle* i'm glad that's not really the case...
She may not need you to stand,
but she may need you to walk.
She may not need you to walk,
but she may need you to dance.
She may not need to you fly,
but she may need you to watch.
From the start through the end what we need, really,
is to be . . . with . . . each other.
---------
God, how I wish someone was there.
onyxelle wrote:me "and that's being on your own?"
her "yes! because you don't hae to go to school with your parents or ride inteh car with your parents. Oh, and thre's another thing when you get 6 too, go to fieldtrips by yourself."
The young lady definitely knows which things in life matter to her.
onyxelle wrote:"see? i don't need you anymore mommy since i'm 6"
*sniffle* i'm glad that's not really the case...
Speaking as an older brother, I can assure you that all you need is eight more years. After that, you will
wish she didn't need you anymore!
Ahhh, nice to get some onyxlette stories!
Gack, that must be tough. That whole push/ pull thing is just neverending -- teenage years are famous for it, but it sure isn't limited to that period.
New swear word/ phrase: "Jug of bugs!!"
Right now she's drawing a grocery list -- looks like cookies, a decorated cake, new markers, and paint.
Just the essentials.
Ah, the material requirements of artistic children with sweet teeth and winning ways.
Sozlet and E.G. went on a walk and saw a very dead squirrel by the side of the road. They inspected it for a while, then told me about it when they came back. I was asking whether it was mooshed or just looked like it was sleeping (we have these kinds of conversations around here -- morbidly curious, the whole family), and sozlet said, "Here, I'll make you a
very realistic drawing."
Here 'tis:
Wow! Quite realistic.
My dad and I were always very morbid about road kill. Made my mom nuts. In his honor, I still identify road kill aloud (when possible). I'm sure he'd be proud.
Wow. Sozlet definitely has a knack for drawing. And though I didn't go back to the earlier "X-ray" picture from when her doll had too many sweets, it looks like she's getting more and more realistic. It's fascinating to watch.
Another senseless death caused by smoking.
She's quite the artist, Soz!
I love the tongue sticking out....
(Eva asked about sozlet's hearing on her "huh?" thread, I started to answer but it got long so putting it here.)
Interesting you should ask, Eva. We just had our follow-up to the follow-up appointment, and it was not at all what I expected. She's been utterly fine, not sick at all, and I expected it would be a formality -- "the last bit of fluid's gone, see you later." Instead they said the fluid is still there in her left ear, and they wanted to have her hearing tested. Again, I was in formality territory -- she's exhibited absolutely no sign of hearing loss, vocabulary in the stratosphere, TV volume normal, never any particular "what?" or "huh?" going on.
So my jaw dropped to the floor when I asked to see the audiogram and saw it down to 50 in places. Averages out to about 20, most of the speech banana is fine. An improvement from January, when it was an average of 35-40. Strangely, it is the right ear that's worse than the left -- as in, if it's just fluid, fine, we get tubes, be done with it. But the right ear -- which has no fluid -- is very similar and a little worse than the left.
As usual, we were hustled out with no particular explanation. The verdict was "come back in another couple of months", so I'm taking that as a sign it's not too worrisome. I never actually talked to the doctor (and this was the one I liked...), just the nurse practitioner, who went and consulted when I got my wits about me enough to say something. (Specifically, when I was surprised about the fluid, and the nurse was saying it in a concerned way -- "gee, there is still fluid, hmmm.." -- I said well, when we were here last time, the doctor said that even if there was fluid he wasn't too concerned unless other stuff was happening, too", and she went and talked to him and came back saying, "audiogram.")
Anyway, I think next time when they start the "so make an appointment..." spiel I'll say "No, give me five minutes and then come back -- I have questions. I don't know what they are yet, but I have questions." Something about how they scoot you out, the emotional shock of it, and the word-by-word processing of watching the interpreter means I don't get into shoulder-shaking WAIT A MINUTE WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?! territory until I'm in the parking lot.
What I am currently thinking -- no help from them -- is that it has to do with the perforations in her ear drum from when the drums burst. The right one was a little worse. It looks like scar tissue can cause some hearing loss. What the audiologist specifically remarked on is that the tympanogram showed that her eardrums aren't moving the way they ought.
I am encouraged that whatever is happening, the trajectory is upwards -- much better now than it was -- and that it doesn't seem to be affecting her at all on an everyday basis.
But my heart pretty much stopped when I saw that audiogram.
I'll do more research, including with the doctors, and will let you guys know what happens.
This must be scary for you, Soz. I hope Sozlet continues to improve <sigh>.
You didn't need a chronic concern moving to an acute worry.
Demanding five minutes of contemplation time is an excellent idea. Remember, not only are you working through an interpretor, but you have part of your mind focused on what an intelligent, imaginative child is likely to do next and whether or not "next" is socially acceptable.
Scar tissue sounds like a good hypothesis--but you want an Official Opinion pro or con on your Educated Guess.
Hold your dominion.
could you write a (pleasant) letter to the doctor explaining your worries and asking for a brief outline?
Yep, I met the person I had the email exchange with last time, will be sending her another.
