Lucas loves to play with the kitchen! I found Lucas a young toddler group "preschool" program! It's called Little Inquisitors, and is held Wednesday EVENINGS from 6:30-7:30. That's right, that means that I can take Lucas! It's so perfect. The kids get 1/2 an hour of free play time followed by a circle time and a craft. There's a certified teacher, and best of all, it's free. I'm so excited. I've been looking for some kind of a program to help prepare Lucas for preschool and maybe the toddler group at Clarke this winter. It's always a plus to have hearing peers around too.
This week was the second time Lucas attended. Last week was really great. This week was just okay. That won't discourage us from going back next week though. Last week, one of the mothers asked about Lucas's CI, so I talked about it and everyone listened for a few minutes. It was great to have the opportunity to educate. This week though, there were some different mothers there, who just smiled and looked away. I could have spoken up, but I wasn't in the mood. I don't want his CI to be the center of attention or to detract from other conversations (that I wasn't in on anyway). Maybe next week I'll speak up.
Lucas is definitely the youngest and smallest in the group, so his delays are more apparent. He is approaching 2 and many of these kids are approaching 3. That's doesn't help any. Even with his recent language gains, he still kind of babbles like a baby, which invites a lot of interesting looks. He wouldn't sit for circle time tonight either, so we went and played with the younger kids in another room, which was just fine. I just kind of left feeling a little down.
I'm really not trying to complain. I'm so proud of how far he has come, and I'm so very pleased with all of his recent gains. But I'm also very aware of how far he has to go to catch up with his hearing peers. I know he is on his own path, and that he will do just fine. But I think it's good to keep perspective too. I am generally very positive about everything going on with Lucas, but I do have my moments. Don't we all? Tonight just kind of reminded me of landing in Holland, and wishing I could go to Italy for the day. Tomorrow's another day.