Riding the Alligator

Playing on the lawn by the Annenberg Apartments

By far, Nolan's favorite item at the apartment is the elevator. He keeps telling me he wants to "ride the alligator," and every time we wait for it to come up, he says, "kids in there!" He is so happy when the elevator opens and there is a family inside. Currently, he is eating some grapes and watching Cars on our mini-DVD player. He is so overtired that he had a meltdown earlier tonight. I think he needs some "down time" and an early bedtime tonight.

We went to the John Tracy orientation today. The Clinic is literally next door to our apartment building, and the 78 degree weather makes for a pleasant walk to school. The area is right by USC, so there are a lot of restaurants and stores in the immediate area.

The orientation was held from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. We were there a few minutes early, so we hung out in the courtyard with the magnificent 150 year old tree. I'll have to take a picture of it, because it is amazing. Most of the official "John Tracy" class portraits are taken in front of the tree, so you can see photos of it on their official website or blog.

For the orientation, we were taken into Nolan's room. I'll have to update this post tomorrow, because I am literally so tired I can't remember his teacher's name. Horrible, I know, but I'll be able to remember it tomorrow after I've had more than 4 hours of sleep! The classroom is wonderful: there is a play kitchen area with realistic play food, large foam blocks, a platform area with a small slide, and lots of large Duplo type bricks with train parts. The kids played while we filled out an information sheet. Lucas is in Nolan's class, so they got to meat each other!

Bloggy buddies meet face-to-face

Nolan's most anticipated item was the playground. John Tracy has a nice playground with canopies shading the structures. The slide is metal, so that children with cochlear implants don't have to worry about any static electricity causing damage to their CI programming. Nolan really loved the sand, and spent quite some time creating a little sand pile.

The parents were called inside for a brief meeting, where more information was given. The classroom uses a soundfield system, and it really does elevate the teacher's voice above the background noise. We were given a daily schedule, which is extremely detailed.

Every morning at 9:00am, we arrive in the classroom and the children are welcomed. The parents do a listening check on the child's hearing aids or cochlear implant, and then the children gather for circle time at 9:30am. A "Welcome Song" is sung with each child's name, and then the child will place their picture above their name on the wall. After circle time, the children are ushered outside to play and the parents go to their lectures.

Circle Time with the Fabulous Miss B.

The kids then have snack time after playing, then the class is divided into two groups. While one group is doing their language lesson, the other group is working on an art activity. Then the two groups switch. Lunch is at 12:00, followed by nap and rest time. The kids wake up from 1:45pm-2:00pm, put things away in their cubbies, then go outside to play. 2:15 is snack time, 2:30 is cooperative activity time, and the children are dismissed at 3:00pm. Parent-teacher conferences are held from 3:00-3:20, as needed. Children are also pulled out for daily individual sessions with the speech-language teacher- this time has been dubbed as the time to go for "stickers," as the children are given stickers when they go to work with their speech language teacher.

We were also introduced to Nolan's speech language teacher and the myriad other professionals who help our children learn to listen and speak. Honestly, the student:teacher ratio is so low it might be close to 1:1!

Dennis and I stopped by the local Ralph's to go grocery shopping, since we will need to pack Nolan's lunch each day. We had picked up a lunch box at the Ventura Target, so we just needed good lunch items (lunches must be ready-to-eat with no preparation required). I bought blueberries, strawberries, string cheese, PB&J, pretzels, yogurt, applesauce, and pudding. Nolan should have lots of good lunches this week, all with familiar foods that he likes. His teacher stressed the importance of not trying new foods during their stay here- enough of their lives are turned upside down (new school, new "home," new toys, new people). New food doesn't need to be added to the number of things that are different!

On Nolan's teacher's recommendation, we stopped by La Taquiza for dinner. Oh, my goodness. The food alone makes me want to move back to Southern California! I might have made myself sick eating so much- it was delicious! Once we returned, we took a trip on the "alligator" to check out the lounge on the third floor. There is a nice flat-screened TV and two microwaves in the lounge. We met a really nice Irish family in the lounge, but had to leave when Nolan unceremoniously wet through his clothes! He is now cleaned up and in his pajamas, and will be going to bed very soon.

I think I'll go to bed, too- school starts tomorrow, and it looks like it will be a very busy day!

In California

This may be incoherent, since it is now 11:30pm Eastern time and I have been awake since 4:00am. We have made it to California, checked into the Annenberg apartments at USC, and are currently in Oxnard with family.

The flights were uneventful (the coloring sheets, DVD player, Yogos dispenser, and foil stars were the best toys on this flight). Nolan's car seat didn't let him use the tray table because it sat too high, and it pushed him forward so that he could use "kicking the seat of the passengers in front of us" as his main form of entertainment. We gate checked the car seat in Vegas, hoping to abate some of the kicking behavior. Nolan was not thwarted, however, and proceeded to slide under the seat belt up to his armpits to kick the seat in front of him. Luckily the lady in front of us was hung over and just thought the flight had a lot of turbulence- there are some small mercies in life.

Matt went with the grandparents to Oxnard as planned, and Dennis and I drove with Nolan to the apartments. They're only about 20 minutes from LAX, so it wasn't a very long drive. Nolan crashed in the car, and we carried a sleepy Nolan up to the front doors of the lobby. There is a call box, and Nolan drooled on our shoulders as we scrolled through the options to get the John Tracy Clinic and pressed "Call." The housing assistant was extremely nice, and set us up with a laundry card, access cards, and parking permit. Apparently, the access cards aren't working consistently right now, but this shouldn't be a problem since the housing assistant(s) are available to let people into the building as needed. Dennis did accidentally tear the parking permit, so we had to do some "emergency surgery" with tape to fix it!

The apartment looks great- there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen with a full sized oven/stove and refrigerator. There were also two adorable knitted teddy bears- one for Matt, and one for Nolan (complete with a knitted hearing aid)! Honestly, John Tracy is amazing, and we haven't even started the program yet!


I really need to get some sleep, so I'm off to catch some sleep before tomorrow's orientation. I will attempt to update as I am able!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

The suitcases are (mostly) packed, the carry-on bags are packed, and the boarding passes are printed.

Tomorrow morning, we leave at 5:00am for our drive to Buffalo Airport. The boys are extremely excited and much of our conversation has revolved around airplanes and the toys in the carry-on bags:

"Can I have the toys now?"

"Not until tomorrow."

"How about now?"

We are flying Southwest Airlines, which lacks assigned seating. They no longer allow pre-boarding of small children, so we ponied up an extra $40 to get "early bird" check-in. This, unfortunately, does not guarantee an "A" boarding pass- we have "B" passes for our Buffalo-Las Vegas flight. Essentially, we paid an extra $40 for nothing. They don't limit the number of people using the "early bird" check-in, so you could theoretically get a "C" boarding pass after spending extra money. Also, Business Select and A-List customers get to board before the "early bird" purchasers- I really don't see the advantage of wasting another $40 for early check-in. The flights on Southwest aren't any cheaper than flying Continental, so our next trip to LA will be on a different airline- assigned seats are nice with small children, especially when you aren't allowed to pre-board the aircraft.

They do allow the parents of small children to board between the "A" and "B" groups, so we will board then to install the carseat and to ensure that we are sitting with our children. I think Southwest's new policy is less than wonderful, because it takes some time to install a carseat, and we are going to block other passengers while we get this accomplished.

We should land at 1:00pm tomorrow (California time), and Matt will ride to Oxnard with his grandparents while Dennis, Nolan, and I check into the Annenberg apartments. I hope to blog from Los Angeles, depending on the availability of wi-fi.

California, here we come!

I Might Have Gone a Little Overboard

We have flown with the boys a few times. They've all been a tad "difficult." With that in mind, I might have gone a tad overboard with purchasing in-flight entertainment from the dollar store.

For Nolan, there are post-it notes, foil star stickers, coloring books, puzzles, a fishing pole with plastic fish, toy dinosaurs, and a Mega Blocks toy train that he can put together. For Matt, there are two transformers, a small K'Nex travel pack (green race car), markers that clip on a carabiner, color explosion markers, Silly Bandz, a ViewMaster type toy, and lots of coloring/activity books. There's also the DVD player, which should keep them entertained for at least 90 minutes at a time.

Traveling with kids has definitely evolved. When my dad was taken on "vacation" to Missouri as a boy, things were different. They drove from California to Missouri, because airfare was too expensive for a family of eight. My grandfather could only take one week of unpaid vacation per year, so they drove quickly, only stopping when they needed gas. Strong bladders were a necessity in this family, as was a penchant for beans cooked on the carburetor (no time to stop for food). True story.

I figure if they could survive a trip through the desert in a car lacking air conditioning, living off of tinned goods cooked in increments of 50 miles on the carburetor, then we can survive a six hour plane flight with two small children.

I hope.

Down to the Wire

With only three days left until our flight to Los Angeles, I'm starting to feel a wee bit stressed out. I still have so much to do! Really, there are only two days left since today is nearly over.

I did pick Nolan's earmolds up today, and it is nice to have brand-new earmolds for our trip to John Tracy. Unfortunately, his right earmold is lacking a helix lock. This means that in a month or so, the earmold will start to fall out of his ear (we've had this problem in the past). Our wonderful audiologist took another impression and it will be mailed to our house. We won't have it in time for John Tracy, but we will be able to replace it once we get home. It's fine for the time being, so it's not a big deal.

I did discuss Nolan's sudden aversion to noise, particularly sudden bass tones. Nolan's audiologist turned up his "impact noise" suppression program, so hopefully that will help. I haven't seen the "jump out of his skin/jerking eyes" behavior occur again, which is good because it really freaked me out. We have enough neurological "issues" with the central apnea, thank you very much.

I have been to the dollar store and purchased many cheap, entertaining toys. I have also bought post-it notes, because I hear they're great entertainment for the two-year-old set. The flight attendants on Southwest Airlines will surely be glad to see us get off their plane when we land! I also bought myself The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker. I doubt I'll get to read any of it, but there's always hope!

On my to-do list for tomorrow (besides cleaning a house with toys run amok):

• Print out Mapquest directions from LAX to the John Tracy apartments.
• Laundry. Trust me, this is no small task with a husband who goes through three sets of clothes/day at a minimum, and two small boys!
  
• Buy more cat food and a three-week fish feeder.
• Buy snacks for the plane ride (Yogos are a favorite of the boys).
• Early birthday party for Dennis, who turns another year older on the day we fly to LA.
  

The to-do list for Friday includes checking in for our flights (in the vain attempt to get "A" boarding passes on Southwest), and packing. We are going to be busy for the next two days!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Playing in Lake Erie

It has been blistering in Western New York this week. The high heat and humidity has made hearing aids a bit difficult, as Nolan doesn't like the feel of earmolds in his ears when the sweat is literally dripping down his face. We've also been spending a lot of time in the water, which necessitates removing his hearing aids.

I'm not sure if the inconsistent use of hearing aids this past week has caused our newest little issue or not- Nolan has been complaining that his aids are "too loud." They are only too loud in certain situations, and for certain sounds: the rumble of our car over a bumpy road, snare drums, and motorcycles zooming past. His worst hearing is in the low frequencies, so it surprised me when the motorcycles made him jump out of his skin. His eyes were actually jerking back and forth with the sound- even though it didn't seem all that loud to us. He was fine when we turned off his hearing aids, and didn't hear the sounds at all with his aids off.

We see his audiologist tomorrow to pick up new earmolds, and I'll ask her about the situation. Perhaps his hearing has fluctuated up again, or his hearing aids are programmed a tad too loud for the low frequencies. It is also possible that our summer activities have made him unused to the low frequencies, since he hasn't been wearing his hearing aids as often as he should, and he can't hear them without his aids.

I hope this one gets sorted out soon- or else we'll spend our Saturday airplane ride without aids! I can't imagine how he'll respond to a jet engine if he can't handle a motorcycle passing by outside!

Independence Day

Today's lessons will include watermelon, corn on the cob, swimming in the pool, and sparkly fireworks that go "boom."

Happy Birthday, America!