"We look good in Prilosec purple!" Click to Enlarge

The convention is now more than halfway over.  For the past two and a half days I've been immersed in AG Bell's concurrent sessions.  I've been busy listening and taking notes.

On Friday, I had the priviledge of listening to the stories of two teenagers with hearing loss.  They were inspirational to say the least.  Both more severely deaf than my daughter and both accomplished college bound students.

I headed to a session called "I Can't, I Won't, I Don't Want To" knowing that there would be a lot for me to learn.  I left feeling pretty sure that there's much I should be doing to alleviate my little girl's daily stress.  I owe her that much after leaving her with my anxiety prone genetics.

Then there was a session called "Spark Change with Social Media".

Saturday morning started with the keynote address by Lee Woodruff.  She is a polished speaker.  Her daughter has a moderate hearing loss and I identified with much of her story.  All convention attendees received a copy of her book, Perfectly Imperfect.  I wonder if there's any chance of reading it on the flight home?

Later in the morning I attended a session by professionals from an Oral-Deaf program in Grand Rapids, MI.  Though I'm in no position to institute the procedures they discussed in our system at home, I got some good ideas about how I should approach communicating with Julia's kindergarten teacher.

The day wrapped up early on Saturday with a session about developing self-advocacy skills beginning in preschool.  I'm already blessed to have a child that advocates pretty well.  It was reassuring to talk with others about the journey to complete independence.  There are sure to be set backs, but eventually all kids will "get there".

Sunday brought an early morning opportunity to participate in a focus group.  Then there was a research symposium and a session about parent anxiety.  I'm not the only parent that has anxiety!


As my brain still has a bit of free space, there are three more sessions today and another three tomorrow.  I'm making the most of my Prilosec OTC sponsorship!

"This is apparently my special water slide face" Click to Enlarge

We've spent the past two evenings "relaxing" at the pool.  Forty trips up the steps and down the water slide and lots of laps around the lazy river have helped Julia and I wind down from our days.  I'm not sure why it's called a lazy river.  Julia uses it to practice swimming and underwater flips.

Click to Enlarge

There's not much left to do before the big convention!  I've procured feeding tablets for the fish, accommodations for our dog, neighbors to water the plants and soon I'll start thinking of what to pack.

My main chore is getting my blog (www.bigteethandclouds.com) ready for me to leave!  I've been writing up a storm to have posts scheduled during the time I'm gone. 

Who knew the blog would be more demanding than our pets?