Graduation Day Photos

Summit Speech School

Graduation

June 21, 2010

Marching in to graduation with Angelina (note hand on hip).

On stage with Olyvia and Wesley

Singing his heart out.

Along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be, and SNAPPED. . . .

Miss Kaitlyn, the student teacher in Micah's class this spring;
Micah loves her.

When she finished her student teaching, Micah said,
"Miss Kaitlyn went back to college.  

Do you know what college is, Mommy?
It's a little like JAIL."

My favorite animal is. . . . A FLAMINGO, because of the way it walks.

Some days, getting a decent group photo is like herding cats.

The little twerp was not willing to put his mortarboard back on for photos.

Graduation Day

Micah has graduated, his 15 months at Summit Speech School have come to an end. 

And the good thing is that he behaved while marching in (with one hand on his hip, the other holding his partners hand) and while on stage.  He sang all three of the songs with the hand motions and when it was his turn at the microphone, he responded to the questions of how old is he and what is his favorite animal and why (four, and flamingo because of the way it walks) without being a goofball or uttering the word 'poop' or 'poopy' as part of the response.

He went to the persons presenting the certificates and shook hands, and then took a carnation from his teacher and brought it to me with his certificate, giving me a big hug.  I was so proud of him and how far he's come.

The school's director gave a speech that sounded a little bit like previous years:  graduation is more for the parents who have moved through learning their children were deaf or hearing impaired, the grief and uncertainty, getting help, having the children enter the programs at Summit and making it to this day.  Since Micah was chosen by us, microtia, atresia and all, it didn't feel like I was the intended audience.  No grief, no shock, it was more of a question of locating and accessing the resources to help him.

Micah wore a little white mortar board with an orange tassel, which he didn't want to put back on for pictures.  His teacher put together a photo album for each graduate along with a CD of the slide show of the school year.  We also got a packet of information for Micah's next speech therapist.  It was all really nice - I almost forgot for a few moment that all of the stuff would need to be packed up - including the giant monkey with "Congratulations Micah" that was hanging on the wall in the auditorium.

Congratulations to my big boy, who want from 'up' to talking in sentences and paragraphs in 35 months and thanks to the many people who played a part.

Tomorrow it's off to camp at Princeton Friends for both kids, summer has begun.

YingHua's End-of-School-Year Celebration

We are now parents of a second-grader.  Thea's school had its close of school year celebration yesterday.  Below are photos of some photos of the occasion, I wanted to get as many of the teachers who made the year such a great experience for her:

Packing Weekend Redux

As if giving up one weekend to packing up the house wasn't punishment enough, this weekend was again devoted to the greater glorification of the cardboard box, with a packing tape chaser.  I am sporting a Sharpie marker clipped to my shirt accessorized by a packing tape roll bracelet.  A Glamor Don't.

But we have more time to devote to this chore because we don't have a set closing date for our current house.

Why you ask?

Demon-Spawn Home Buyer from Hell took her sweet time applying for her mortgage while she was attempting to shake us down for every last credit she could wring out of Steve, so her lender's appraiser didn't get his evaluation of our house done until last Wednesday.

The lender who is also swamped with thousands of other schmucks who are trying to close on their homes before the June 30th deadline for getting the tax credit and the lender is not feeling particularly compelled to act any faster than it normally would.

So instead of  pack/load/move dates of 22nd/23rd/24th, we are now looking at 25th/28th/29th.  God willing and we get a closing date this week.

I hate the DSHBfH and am very thankful my presence is not needed at the closing.  I am happy she is buying this house, but if I meteor could strike her without damaging the surrounding neighbors reducing her to a smoldering heap of carbon. . . . .good times.

And now on a positive note, older child's school had its end of year celebration yesterday, which was a showcase of the children's work, a tea ceremony, a giving of gifts (the youngest children in the school received a gift made by a child in the next grade and so on, until Thea's grade where teachers gave a present; Thea's 1st grade teacher, Li Laoshi was the one to give her a present.)  I got a lot of photos and have put them on Facebook, I'll get some put on the blog eventually.

 What those of us who were not in the cardboard jungle were doing on Sunday afternoon.  Micah, Mary, Thea at the FunPlex

Today the kids and I went out early to get coffee and donuts (and hash browns) at Dunkin Donuts for Fathers' Day.  Steve got an extra hour of sleep, Micah found out that he likes D-n-D's hash brown nuggets and I dropped off a bag of clothes at the bin next to Speedy Mart where I buy the New York Times.  The owner was shocked to see me so early, I usually pick up a paper in the early afternoon.

Tomorrow we have Micah's graduation at 10 am, and then it's officially summer.

And at 11:50 pm tomorrow night I turn 50.  Eeew.  I don't feel 50. My thumb joints, my left lateral epicondyle, and my left biceps tendon feel like they are 80+ from overuse, but the rest of me does not feel 50.

Back to the boxes. . .

Packing Weekend

I literally have not left the house since I came home from work on Friday.  No trips to the store, the post office or anywhere else.

I have packed boxes for two days.  33 boxes by my count, though the count sort of changes depending on whether I remember the box on the ottoman on the landing and the one booby-trapping the path to Micah's bed.

Every time I thought I had packed the last book, another stash materialized.  Right now the only books remaining are the cookbooks in the kitchen, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and the next book on my to-read list.

But according to the guy who estimated how many barrels, cartons and other means of getting our household from Princeton to Plainsboro, 33 is a barely scratching the surface, and I am beginning to believe him.

Saturday, Thea and Micah went off to the boardwalk in Point Pleasant with their aunt, coming home with armloads of prize they had one.  More stuff for me to pack.  Six hours free to stuff boxes: fantastic, more toys to pack: not so fantastic.

When cardboard fatigue set in, I got online and put in change of addresses with journals, magazines, professional associations, licensing boards, banks and so on and so on.  The whole weekend was like a root canal that went on for 48 hours.

Micah's Ear Update, 2nd Verse

Another rainy ride up the NJ Turnpike to Englewood to see Micah's ENT.  He's now almost three months post-op from having his left atresia repair, ten months out from the right atresia surgery.

But for the past two visits, the right ear, which is almost ten months out from surgery, has been the focus.  After the May appointment we had to start putting the Tobradex drops in his right canal daily, and we had to give him children's Claritin in addition to the Sudafed to control the fluid that was behind the ear drum.

And today after cleaning out the debris from the canals, Micah's doctor re-inserted a sponge stent in his right ear.  This is an automatic banishment from immersing his head in the bathtub or the pool for three more weeks.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

The silver lining is that the left ear is doing great.

The other part of the silver lining is that Micah sat in the exam chair and the doctor inserted an ear specula in the canal and used a tiny alligator clamp to pull out the debris and I sat in the chair four or five feet away.  No head-holding, no hand-holding.  He was a total pro- a few giggles and lots of talking ("Can I put my head in the wah-tuh now? over and over.)

I'm probably more bothered by the re-stenting than he is.

Micah's graduation from Summit Speech School is twelve days away.  We're moving in 13 days.  Other than the stuff already packed and in storage, nothing has been packed, so we are so behind the eight ball.

And I booked the same beach house we stayed at in 2005 and 2007 in Bethany for late August.  I hope that Micah's right ear will get its act together by then.  Fingers crossed.

Memorial Day

 Ready for the pool. . . .

 You can't show this photo to anyone but family. . . .

wounds courtesy of a Friday afternoon bike ride.

 This is my swimming cap.

 Photos take by the big sister, always on the lookout for a flattering shot.

 It's Memorial Day weekend for most of the U.S. - around here it's Reunions Weekend for Princeton University, which like Alumni Day at Penn, occurs the weekend prior to graduation.  For me, it means avoid town at all costs because other than less parking, more people, it's Orange, Black and tiger stripes everywhere.  Those colors are great for Hallowe'en but on a bright, sunny spring weekend, it just looks garish.

Yesterday I went into town, fool that I am, to drop of Steve's watch at a jeweler's on Nassau Street.  Karma was on my side and I got a spot in the public parking garage and was in and out of the jeweler's in less than thirty minutes (free parking!).

Today Steve wanted to take Thea to the Princeton Community Pool and I wanted to go to a 3:30 pm meeting for the second-grade curriculum at the charter school that Thea will be attending in the fall.  So we got a bit creative so that Micah could go to the pool which involved the following steps:

1. threaten the child to within an inch of his life about not putting his head under water;
2. use up some of the leftover Tegaderm used for Micah's skin graft sites to cover his left ear canal;
3. tape it down for good measure;
4. send husband to pool supply store for bathing cap to cover the whole shebang;
5. pray, and hope that Micah's ENT does not read this blog.

And all turned out well, children got to go to the pool, Micah obeyed the rules and both are on their way to becoming my little nut brown babies.  These children could tan under a light bulb.

I brought home corn, and both kids went out to the front steps and shucked it all, on their own.  No squabbles.  Then Micah went out for a bike ride with Steve while Thea and I made dinner.

And then Micah passed out, just as the corn was being put on the table.  Cold, immovable.  I got one floret of broccoli in his mouth.

Thea's reading her library book, Steve tried interesting her in the original Star Wars, but she kept asking, "Is that a clone?", "Where are the clones?"   Generational thing, Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt failed to draw her in.