1 down, 4 to go

Today was a fun day. One down, 4 more to go until Christmas break. I worked with one little girl and I was soo excited that she put two signs together. This is a big deal!! She combined "more" and "swing". So awesome! It was a big moment. Than in my second shift I had this little guy and he learned the sign for "on". He looked at me like, lady stop turning the computer screen off...than he would sign "on" and I would turn it back on. It was funny. He was so proud of himself when he did it the first time and I cheered. It's the little things we need to celebrate! I think this is huge because he's learning to communicate and it's awesome. Just this past weekend he learned "more" and "please". This kid is a fast learner and I'm so excited to work with him.

Someone once asked me, don't you think that teaching a child sign will slow them down verbally? I say no, the reason is because we don't just use the sign with the child we also say the word along with it...so for instance if they sign more, we sign more back while actually saying the word "more". Eventually they will start to mimic the sounds and verbalization will occur...but in the meantime they're still able to communicate what they want. I find it very incredible. It's so intriguing. I really want to take a sign language course to learn more, I know the basics, but I would love to be able to know more and not be so choppy. It's kind of like my french, haha.

After work I headed over to Micheal's to pick up some art supplies. It's the last week before Christmas and I think it's imperative to have some crafts for the kids...so I picked up some clear, open able Christmas ornaments so that we can put a couple of drops of paint in, and then close it up and shake it...creating a fun ornament for the tree, then we can decorate the outside with stickers or whatever. I am excited about it. I hope the kiddos enjoy it too. I don't want to just make a paper craft that's going to get thrown out. You can only make so many of those. Than I came home. I was feeling tired but I didn't think I was that tired until I sat down on the couch....the next thing I knew, I was waking up from an unexpected nap. Oops. I got up and made some dinner since it was 8pm. Broccoli and Kraft dinner...that's right people, I eat like a queen when B has to work late.

That was my Manic Monday. I am excited to have tomorrow finished because we are having one our cousins over to watch the hockey game. Woot!

Until next time,

Michelle