On day 3, Lucas separated a little bit more easily from us, and he didn't seem to be calling for me every time I watched him through the 2-way mirrored observation room. I was a little stressed out on Tuesday, because that seemed to be the case almost every time I looked.
We had sessions on receptive language, the anatomy & physiology of the ear (very interesting!), and the Parents Advise Learning Support (PALS) program. If you haven't ever looked into John Tracy Clinic's free distant learning courses for parents, and you have a child between the ages of 0 & 5, you should definitely do so. When Lucas turned 1, he got a special birthday letter, and every lesson we completed was followed up by a very personal e-mail. It's definitely worth your time, energy & effort, and I promise that you won't be disappointed.
We were also briefed about the sibling program. Although we have no other children (yet...), it was interesting to hear about all of the activities that go on with this program. It sounds like the siblings are getting just as much out of the school as the preschoolers. I'm so happy for the families with older siblings to have the opportunity to participate in this program!
The biggest thing that stuck with me today was the concept of "integrating listening into your child's personality." Obviously listening does not come naturally to our hearing impaired kiddos, and if we want them to acquire listening and spoken language, we need to do just that, to integrate listening into their personalities. I think Lucas is well on his way there, and I'm quite happy with that.
Tonight, we also went to Santa Monica to hang out at the beach. We stuffed Lucas, Leah & Nolan into the back of our Nissan Versa rental car and off we went to the beach! We all had a great time!
Then we stopped for *what else* but Mexican at Gilbert's El Indio. We really lucked out at this local gem, and it was most excellent. Thanks goes to Nate's iPhone for the recommendation and our handy GPS for getting us there. I'm not sure what we'd do around here without our trusty Garmin. It is very, very helpful. It's one of those gadgets you never knew you needed until you got one. Now I can't imagine traveling (or going on local Craigslist runs) without it.
We look forward to heading back to the beach this weekend!