A Deaf Mom Shares Her World » 2008

Twenty Teenagers and the House is Still Standing

Yesterday was David’s birthday party and we had twenty kids in the house. Wait, I take that back, not twenty kids, but twenty large semi-adults.

Twenty teenagers.

It was amazing the amount of food they can polish off. I was digging into the freezer to pull out extra dessert. Not a single piece of pizza was leftover.

Tomorrow, my oldest kiddo turns fifteen. Next year, this time, he’ll have a driver’s license. Can I please turn back the clock? This is moving way too fast for me. I rememember when I once had a six- four- and two-year old and I was complaining to my mother-in-law about the day from down under. “Hang on to this day,” she said. “Before you know it, they’ll be grown and gone.”

I couldn’t see that far ahead, I was trying to survive being outwitted and outnumbered by tiny bodies with stubborn minds.

So here I am, with a teenager who is going to be a sophomore this fall. I’m all too concious of the fact that I have just three summers left before he goes off to college. That’s it, three summers. It’s amazing how quickly I’ve gotten to the point where I’m counting down the time I have left instead of the minutes until Daddy gets home to release me from Toddlerville.

But my neighbor always chuckles when I talk about this. She tells me I’m worrying for nothing, because kids today leave home at the age of…

Thirty.

She should know, she’s got an adult kid who’s still at home.

So Happy Birthday to my oldest kiddo. You’ll always have a room here in the house.

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Tags: Raising Deaf/HH Kids by DeafMom
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Deaf American Gladiator Competitor Wins!

“Hey, check this out!” said the hubby, pointing at the TV. A handsome guy stood next to Hulk Hogan on the American Gladiators show. As he turned his head, I noticed a cochlear implant on his right ear.

I had never watched American Gladiator before, but I did cover the death of Shelley Beattie, the deaf American Gladitor who played Siren for several seasons. I settled on the couch to watch Brick Reilly, who works as a tree climber in New Jersey, compete against Toby, a father of two from Tennesee.

According to the American Gladiator website:

Brick Reilly is a 27-year-old tree climber from Springfield, New Jersey. He was born deaf and has always deemed athletics an important escape from the realities of life. Though Reilly recently had a cochlear implant which gave him the ability to hear, he never used his disability as an excuse in his life. He works as a mentor for deaf children in the New Jersey area.

During the introductions, it appeared that Brick was handling the conversation well– I wasn’t sure if he was looking at an interpreter in the background or not. Two teachers and a group of children from an oral deaf school appeared on screen to wish Brick good luck. Brick responded in sign: “In the end, I’m going to win!”

Despite a rough start, Brick pulled ahead and had a 12 and half second lead going into the Eliminator contest, an obstacle course that determines the final winner. Halfway through the obstacle course, Brick landed on his shoulder and appeared to be in tremendous pain. He finished the course ahead of Toby and was declared the winner.

All that work seems to be worth it, as Brick walked off with a new SUV and $100,000 cash. Correction– Brick won that episode and he’ll go on to compete for more. The finalist will win at the end of the season. Congrats to Brick–you rocked that episode!

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Tags: People You Should Know by DeafMom
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What A Weekend, And It’s Not Over Yet!

So how’s your Memorial Day Weekend going?

Are you having an adventurous weekend, like I am?

On Friday night, we piled into the van to head up to Christie Lake with our friend Mike and his two kids. We had a late start and arrived there around midnight. The oldest and the youngest kid fell asleep shortly before we arrived. When we pulled up into my parent’s driveway, I tapped David on the shoulder to wake him up. His hand lashed out and whacked Steven in the face. Steven woke up crying.

We ushered everyone up into the house and the kids were settled into bed after a few rounds of picking on each other. The rest of us didn’t get to bed until three a.m.

The next day, my dad informed me that he couldn’t find the plugs for our ski boat. A few weeks ago, he decided to get the boat ready for us, but he somehow misplaced the plugs. We tore the house upside-down looking for the parts but couldn’t find them. I drove over to a local boat shop to pick up extra plugs. I took one look at the plugs and I thought they were a little bigger than what I remembered. I had them look up the specs for our motor, and they insisted they were right size.

We spent most of the day Saturday putting the pier in the water. We have a new pier system that was much lighter than our old one, and it took us a while to figure it out. The water was cold, but not too unbearable.

I was holding up the end of a pier, waiting for the guys to bring out the next section and I watched Steven slowly wade into the water. All of a sudden, he let out a gasp.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“My balls!” he said, oh-so-matter-of-factly.

I let out a huge laugh. My ten-year-old had never used those words before.

“It feels like my balls are covered with snow,” he explained.

By this time, I was laughing so hard I could barely hold the pier up.

“Or like they’re in a refridgerator!” he continued.

Good gosh, the kid cracked me up!

The new pier system didn’t let us off easy. We ended up with scratches and bruises from wrestling it into place.

This morning, Joe, Mike, my dad and I headed up to the shed to take out the boats. The plugs didn’t fit–they weren’t the right size. So we decided to put the pontoon in the water instead. I backed up the four-wheeler and the guys hitched up the pontoon. As I was pulling it out of the shed, there was a huge “snap!”

The hitch bar broke in half.

Fortunately, we were able to use Dad’s SUV to get the pontoon in the water.

Later in the afternoon, a mechanic came out with spare parts and plugged up the engine. “You can go ahead and put the boat in the water,” said Dad.

But the way the weekend was going, I had a feeling that we should check out the plugs and make sure nothing was leaking. I went to get the hose to hook up the engine “ears” and the darn hose wouldn’t budge. It was a tangled mess inside the automatic Sunbeam hose winder. Once we finally got the water running and the ears hooked up, I started the boat and checked the engine.

So far so good, no leaks on one side. I checked the other side.

Holy Moley, water squirting out! “Cut the water,” I told Mike as I ran to shut off the engine. Water was pouring out over the wires.

“Are you sure you tightened up all the plugs?” I asked the hubby. He was sure.

We ran it again to see where the water was coming from. Shut it off again.

“You’ve got a crack!” said Mike. Sure enough, it looked like the water was coming through a crack in the engine.

Lovely, just lovely.

I hope you’re all having a better weekend!

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