School Daze

This week, Zoe went to her first day of "school"! Well, not really school, more like a playgroup i guess- but either way... Jonathan and I took her to the Maryland Schhol for the Deaf in Columbia, MD on the first day of school to get her registered. Since Zoe will not be 2 years old for a few more weeks, she is in the infant group- ages 0-24 months. Of course, she looked like the jolly green giant in a room full of smaller children, but she enjoyed it . While she played, we were shown around the school and filled out some paperwork. After Zoe turns 2, we plan on sending her there as many of the 5 days a week we can. Transportation is going to be an issue since school is from 9am-Noon, and both of us are already at work before 9am. We are going to have to rely heavily on family and friends to get us through this, we just pray it will work out. Everyone at the school was so nice and asccepting of us- but we felt so out of place. See, everyone there- EVERYONE- seems to sign MUCH better than both of us combined. They sign while they are talking to you, even though you are "hearing". It's a little awkward because you are not sure where to look- at their face or their hands... LOL.

After the tour and paperwork, we attended the weekly parents meeting with the parents of the other kids in the younger age group. It was actually really nice to meet other people that are going through what you are and understand your situation. someone you can ask questions to, get or give advice to, and just share experiences. Once that was over, we went to pick Zoe up, and she seemed so content to be there, she didn't want to leave! She even wanted to hug everyone as we left. The teachers and teacher aides were super nice and couldn't wait to see Zoe again- we got so many compliments about how cute she was, her pretty pink earmolds, etc... she was eating up the attention! It really made me feel good, though- like we were really taking charge of our daughter's life and her disability- and taking the steps needed to help her be the best she can be.

She is growing so fast, and all of the sudden lately we are getting this verbal blossoming of sorts- she is coming out of her mouth with words- actual understandable WORDS- randomly out of nowhere. She said Einstein the other day! Yes, EINSTEIN!!! That's our dog's name, lest you wonder where the heck she came up with that from. I was sitting there next to her- nobody told me she said it, I HEARD it. then, my mom has been playing "Miss Mary Mack" with her, and the other day she started clapping her hands, saying "Mack" "Mack", "Black"... WOW. Now, she even says "Pot, Pot" for "Potty". I am so proud of my big girl- potty training is going so well. She wore the same pull up all day yesterday- She only wet it when she went out to eat with my mom and she peed in the car on the way home. Other than that, she went on the potty all day long!!! Go Zoe, Go!

xoxo
~Lisa