For the past two weeks I have had that phrase going through my head every day. “Laughter is the best medicine.” It comes up because my daughter Lucy is a laugh-a-holic. Once she starts laughing, she can’t stop. Once she starts laughing, everyone around her starts laughing. I guess it’s a good thing to pass around, better than the flu or a bad cold. So here you go!
Warning: This may be contagious! Lucy Coleman Laughs
At the end she says “That sounded like a firework!” Referring to her high-pitched laugh.
A few months ago, Leah told us that she was going to participate in the 4th grade Spelling Bee. This is her third year of being mainstreamed with an ASL interpreter. I was concerned about the 4th grade Bee, because many of the words have no signs and it would be cheating to have her interpreter fingerspell them to her. Leah was confident that she could memorize the words, the definitions and know how they are used in sentences.
She came home one day and said she made it into the top 10. Now the top 10 fourth graders would compete with the top 10 fifth and top 10 sixth graders in the school Spelling Bee. Now I was really concerned. Could she hear the words well enough? Is this fair? Should I save her the embarrassment? I mean, those kids have been able to hear their whole lives. I still remember missing the word “magazine” when I was in my school Spelling Bee, I was in 4th grade.
She practiced her words daily. I quizzed her. Lucy quizzed her. Aaron quizzed her. She even quizzed herself. She learned the definitions of BIZARRE and BAZAAR so she would not confuse them. I hoped she would not get cocky on words like FLOUR, only to find the word they wanted was FLOWER. This morning before school she was struggling with hearing the difference between INVISIBLE and INVINCIBLE. I was struggling to hear the difference between her “D’s” and “T’s” as well as her “C’s” and “Z’s.” Today was her school Spelling Bee.
Leah has been a voracious reader for years now. I think when early intervention told us she would most likely graduate from high school with a 3rd grade reading level, simply because of her deafness, I was thrown into complete terror. Not MY child! When we started using sign language, she started reading – simply because not all words have a sign, many are just fingerspelled. By age 2 she was able to “read” a list of over 20 words that we commonly fingerspelled. She looked at them on the page, spelled them on her hand and told us what they meant. Leah quickly finishes her school work so that she can pull a book out of her desk and continue whatever adventure she had left waiting. She is currently reading the second Eragon book.
Alex, my nephew, had similar early reading skills. He was being signed to at an earlier age than Leah. We only found out Leah was deaf when she was 14 months old. Alex was exposed to sign with his first month of life.
Today as we headed out the door to her elementary school to watch the Spelling Bee, I asked Aaron to grab the video camera. He sort of looked at me… and I said, “It’s nothing short of a miracle that she can even compete in a Spelling Bee.”
Her interpreter Kelli met us in the hallway. “I am SO nervous!” she admitted. She was standing by to interpret the instructions and possibly definitions if Leah needed her. Leah had excitedly realized yesterday that the top 3 winners would get trophies AND gift certificates to Barnes and Noble. Leah’s teacher fitted the microphone for Leah’s FM system on Craig Bolerjack, who was reading the words for the contest and pointed out Leah to him. She told Craig that Leah is deaf and she might need to see his mouth as he reads her words. As Leah progressed word by word, she was not searching Kelli’s hands or Craig’s lips for the answers. She was doing it on her own.
Leah Coleman won first place in the school Spelling Bee today. I cried. Aaron cried. Most of the adults were brought to tears. She really worked for it. I am so proud of her!
We DID manage to get a good-looking family picture at my little brother’s wedding! Thank heavens for natural light and NO flashes.
Are you dying to know if I slept before my Indiana flight? No, I stayed awake. I watched Survivor Fiji and stayed up until 4:00am and then left for the airport. I slept on the planes though. My layover was in Minneapolis, when I landed I called my friend Ronai who lives there just to say “Hey I am in your town!” We chatted, hung up and I checked my messages and was shocked to have a voicemail from Ronai. (Cue Twilight Zone music) I called her back just to say I wasn’t returning her call when I called. Not sure why that seemed important… I slept some more when we got to the hotel. I woke up for dinner and then went back to bed.
I met THE cutest 5 year-old kid in Indianapolis. He was so star-struck. He just grinned at me and said “I have your CD’s. (grin) I have your movies. (grin) I LOVE your show!” (grin) He gave me a huge hug. He was SO cute and SO happy and as personable as could be. He never stopped smiling! I wanted to ask his mom to PLEASE bring him to Utah to be in our next Signing Time shows!
Since it is past midnight I am going to refer to today –as today AKA Friday. Even though it seems like today should be called tomorrow. This is only because I have not gone to bed. Going to bed and waking up signals “New Day!” at least for me. I am sitting here faced with the sleep dilemma. Do I go to sleep at all? I need to leave for the airport in 3 hours. I fly to Indianapolis, IN today. We will arrive and set up for ASL Expo. Saturday I do my Signing Time presentation and performance. Then I fly home.
But the real question is: Should I go to sleep?
It is a gamble, because I might not wake up in time for the flight - wouldn’t be the first time. But, there are other flights, later flights.
I packed my bag. I put my “liquids” in a quart size zip-lock. I printed confirmations – air, hotel, car. I checked the weather (cold). I did two loads of laundry. I washed the dishes. I wiped down the kitchen counter. I brushed and flossed. I finished my taxes. I watched the new episode of The Office… Oh! I can watch the new episode of Survivor Fiji!!! I had better set my alarm just in case I nod off. Just in case.
Spring is here! I have tulips and daffodils. Some of my tulips were eaten by deer. (So sad!) Most survived. (Hurrah!)
Last week we all had the flu and a wedding. A near lethal combination! My youngest brother, the youngest of 9 kids, Aaron got married. His wedding was Friday. Leah got the flu Tuesday morning, coming home from school at 9AM. Lucy held out until 4pm Tuesday, she and Aaron had arrived at Shriner’s Children’s Hospital for her physical therapy. Immediately after checking in, Aaron noticed Lucy looked very pale and slightly green. They left therapy and arrived home as quite a mess.
Lucy said she was worried about me taking care of her. She didn’t want me to get sick. I told her not to worry and I ended up sick as well. I missed the bridal shower. Luckily we felt better by Friday and were all dancing into the evening. I am hoping we were able to get a good family picture. Lucy is not a fan of cameras with flashes. At the Signing Time Christmas Party we took more than 50 pictures… 1 finally turned out… sort of.
