Monday, September 27, 2010

The many faces of Rhianna


Just for some friends and family members who have been asking about Rhianna's recent activities and for her photos.

Here's the future singing sensation:







The future supermodel:







The cheeky monkey:

 







Little miss grump:




The dancing queen :





Now you know what I have to deal with...It's not easy raising this future diva.So the next time you call and get no answer,keep trying.


* photos taken by our very own Aini Anuar ( who has extreme patience in dealing with the diva).

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Is she deaf or not?


Inspired by other blogger moms,I recently prepared a handout for Rhianna's teachers explaining her CI and giving some tips on how to work with her.A few people read it before it got to the teachers and one person asked.."Why do you say that she's deaf?"

"Because she IS?", I answered.

"No she's not..she can hear now", stressed the person.

"Yeah,but not without the CI.She has no hearing whatsoever without it", I explained.

"But you can write here that she has hearing problem and not use the word deaf.It'll hurt her to hear that word when she's older",the person was so adamant that the deaf terminology is such a taboo and the word should not be said out loud.

"But she is deaf and she needs to know that and be proud of herself ", I answered.

"Hmm...I still don't think that you should say that word",concluded the person.

That conversation left me thinking..

I have a lot of feelings and experience a lot of emotions once I discovered that my child is deaf.Sadness,fear,guilt,determination,hope and many others that I can't name but shame is never one of them.
I have long decided that I would change all the negative emotions into positive ones.I would teach my child to be proud of her bionic ear and not hide the device away.Later she'll learn to advocate for herself and explain to others about her deafness and how she hears through the miracle of CI.

I think she's already on the right track as I watched her playing on the playground today.A 5 year old boy was attracted to the blinking light on her ear and came over to inspect.She didn't shy away,instead she patiently stood still and let the boy look but when the boy tried to touch her ear she pushed him away and said "no!"

I think she can fight her own battle now..then again she was always the feisty one.

I hope,she will learn that there's no shame in being deaf.There is actually a lot of pride in being a deaf individual who can hear and speak well considering how much effort it takes for her to learn to listen.

What do you think? Is 'deaf' not the correct word to use?


If you see her on the playground..stay away!She kicks a****

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Of Donald duck and art time!

Rhianna has been watching too much tv...I know because I've been humming Donald Duck's song in my sleep..
(who's got the sweetest disposition,one guess,guess who?who never never starts an argument,who never shows a bit of temperament,who's never wrong but always right,who's never dream of starting a fight,who gets stuck with all the bad luck..no one but Donald Duck!)

In order to cut back the tv time we are trying to put in more art time ( inspired by Elsie's art playpen )
So good bye mickey and donald (hopefully)!

Here's some photos from our recent art time.

Squemish at first but enjoying the activity



We did some finger painting and leaf printing...(green cabbage from the fridge actually as mommy didnt pick any leaves before that).She kept complaining about her dirty hands and was a bit squemish at first but she did well after that.

Huffing and puffing and rolling

We blew the colours and rolled them with the toy car...she painted a tree with her fingers and put some red dots that she claimed were apples..

These are the results:


the apple tree and the sun





Fish and flowers (that's what I was told)


It was a good activity and learning experience.She learned a lot of new words and I learned that my child knows more words and things than I thought she knew.

p/s : I also learned that she's a demanding little creature..even though I love her to the very core of my being,I always feel like weeping with JOY when Monday comes and school and nursery reopen...