Amazing Race AND Survivor premieres in one week? LOVIN’ IT! We had a yahoo-amazing-race-is-back party with Kristen tonight. It ended up being a put-the-kids-to-bed-and-get-them-up-to-go-the-bathroom-and-then-go-to-bed-again-about-400-times party. But still it was fun. The Pioneer Woman’s favorite salad ever made an appearance. So, that was worth it.

I’m excited about this season of Amazing Race so far. First of all the dating-but-we-are-really-mean-to-each-other couple got eliminated first. Hallelujah.

(do-you-love-when-i-do-this-every-other-sentence-or-what?)

When Phil introduced the couples I was getting excited because almost all of them seemed somewhat normal. (Minus the aforementioned dating couple, of course.) But my team is Mom & Deaf Son—Margie and Luke. Luke is deaf and does not read lips, he only uses sign language. So, he needs his mom to translate for him. He wants to show the world that deaf people are equal to hearing people.

You know I’m a fan of sign language. It all started when I read about Rachel Coleman and her daughter Leah—I know I’ve mentioned her a hundred times in my blog. In a nutshell, Rachel was in a band and realized her daughter Leah was deaf at 14 months old. Rachel says she put down her guitar and picked up sign language. She has produced over 30 quality DVD Sets teaching hearing kids to communicate with deaf kids.

One thing Rachel said that’s always stuck with me is (in the ohamanda paraphrase) that deaf kids can feel very isolated. And if hearing kids only knew three words in sign language: “friend”, “play” and “hello” “name” dang, I can’t remember. But the idea is, deaf kids are just the same as hearing kids. They just want to play. And a little bit of sign language can go a long way for a deaf kid. I just love that!

That’s one of the reasons I picked up the Baby Signing Time dvd’s— because of Rachel and Leah’s story. Not only did I want Lydia to be able to sign “more” and “milk”, I wanted her to know sign language to communicate with others. (I’ve already let Asa watch one of the dvd’s. Is that bad for a four month old?)

So, I say all that to say, I loved seeing Luke on the Amazing Race hoping to show the world that deaf people can do exactly the same as hearing people! And how cool and so beautifully ironic was it that they were first to the Pit Stop by LISTENING for the yodelers? LOVED IT.

So, BESIDES Margie & Luke, who was your pick?

Amazing Race: Deaf Contestant & Mom is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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Today I had to pick up a few things for my favorite soup. I usually go to the grocery store because I do this whole couponmom.com thing. But for some reason I felt like going to Wal-Mart. And I was arguing with myself, “Why go to Wal-Mart? You can get in and out of the grocery store quicker. You know where everything is there.” My self replied, “Well, I just want to go to Wal-Mart!” I couldn’t get Wal-Mart out of my mind. So, I went to Wal-Mart. And I let my imagination run away with me and started thinking, “What if God told me to go to Wal-Mart?” I wondered who I might run into or what I might even receive by choosing Wal-Mart over the grocery store!

I know. It’s weird. But that’s where my mind went.

So, I grabbed the few items we needed, took Lydia potty and finally got in line to check out. And who is my cashier? A deaf woman. She had a sign on her register that said, “Deaf. Please be patient.” So, I was thinking, “Cool! I know sign language! Well, I mean, I know how to say ‘dog’ and ‘octopus’ and ‘cheese’. So, I can talk to her!” But I could not think of ONE thing to sign. I was going to say, “Lydia, see this woman? She uses ASL, can you show her ‘cat’? ‘horse’? ‘doll’?” But then that seemed kinda weird. Like the cashier was a teachable moment or something.

Finally, she pointed to my screen because I forgot to click “no cash back” and I signed “sorry”. Her face lit up as she handed me the receipt. I signed “thank you” and she signed “you’re welcome” still beaming.

As I turned to walk away, I thought, “Man! I know the sign for ‘friend’! I could have signed ‘friend’!!” I started thinking what if God had really put it in my heart to go to Wal-Mart? What if he really did want me to sign “sorry” and “thank-you” to that cashier? Just to brighten her day?

I know God is in every detail of her life. He wants her happy. He wants her smiling and not feeling detached. I know God is involved in every detail of my life. I’ve asked Him to use me however He wants. So, if he wants me to brighten someone’s day by simply signing “thank you”, I’d do it!

All this rambling just makes me contemplate. I’m not saying today was a “divine appointment” or that God CHOSE ME to bless an “unfortunate soul”. It’s just got me thinking about how I react when God really does speak to me. Will I be willing to do what He says? Will I listen to the small things He asks me to do? Will I step out and do something little for Him…or something big? I want to!

I hope you figured out how to read this post. I only colored the words I knew in sign language. It made me think this is what the conversation must have seemed like between me and our cashier. I was moving my mouth but she only “heard” the few words I signed. (Granted, she could probably read lips, but you know what I mean!) I doubt I’m as brave as our cashier. It would be hard to work with people that can’t understand you! I wish sign language was more common! And that I had paid more attention to the non-animal and non-food signs on my Signing Time videos!

Speaking of which, my heroes are Signing Time are going to Ghana to teach sign language to deaf orphans! Isn’t that cool? Go check it out!

Press Control A is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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I’ve started making lists of things I want to blog about. That way I’ll never be at a loss for posts. I’m forever riding around, or cleaning out something and a great blog idea pops into my head. Well, now, on my new igoogle page I have a post-it note that I update with new ideas. (btw, did anyone make their own igoogle gadget? if so, I want yours, too!)

One of the items on my list is one of the memes I’d been tagged for from bee. (It was like a week ago…) But as I started doing it, I realized I’d already done this one! (See, that’s why I need a list!) So, if you’re up for it, here’s my meme!

So, onto Item #2 on my post-it: Les & Lydia sing the ABC’s. It doesn’t sound amazing, but it is.

Lately my husband has been working across town about an hour away. His company rented an apartment so he can sleep there and be able to work early the next morning. (Imagine driving all the way through Atlanta during rush hour!) So, Lydia and I have not only been entertaining ourselves, Lydia has been talking to her Daddy on the phone a lot.

I’ll put the phone on speaker and let Lydia hold it, so we can both talk to him. The other day I said, “Did you tell Daddy you were singing your ABC’s?” So, Les started singing the ABC’s on the phone. Lydia did the same and signed along with it. She was so excited! Dancing, holding a phone, singing with Daddy and signing! It was adorable.

Yesterday, Les called and talked to Lydia for a few minutes. Soon, Lydia put her hand up in the air and started signing her ABC’s, then signed “daddy”, then pointed to the phone. I said, “Les, I think she wants you to sing the ABC’s again.” Sure enough. He started singing; she started dancing and signing. She could not have been happier.

I have a good hubby, huh?

*

(don’t forget, my giveaway is on till friday! leave a comment & you could win some moo minicards!)

Post Its is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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When I was pregnant, I was so excited to be a mama. I wanted to do the best things and know the best products. I knew I wanted Lydia to be on a sleeping schedule. I knew I wanted to breastfeed. And I knew I wanted to teach her sign language.

I had heard a few stories of parents who taught their kids sign language before they could talk. My sil taught Nora a few signs like “eat”, “more” and “all done”. We babysat Nora for 11 days when she was 17 months old. If she hadn’t been able to sign those 3 words, it would have made our week a lot harder. So, I was pumped to start sign language with Lydia.

When Lydia was about 3 months old I discovered Signing Time. Signing Time is a collection of dvd shows that teach sign language to hearing kids. It’s cute, professional and funny. Here’s a sample of one of Lydia’s favorite songs.

See, Signing Time is tv show, an educational program, a video series…but, really it’s just a Mama who loves her 2 girls. Rachel de Azevedo Coleman is a musician. She and her husband were in a band. And they brought their little girl, Leah to the practices. When she was 14 months old they discovered that Leah was profoundly deaf. Imagine what that must be like for a musician! Rachel says she put down her guitar and picked up sign language. That’s love right there! Rachel wanted her daughter to be able to communicate with everyone around her–she even started volunteering to do sign language story times at their local library. This was the very beginning of Signing Time.

It came to fruition when Rachel’s 2nd daughter, Lucy was born with several physical problems including cerebral palsy and the doctor’s diagnosis was that she would never be able to communicate. Rachel started writing songs and soon Signing Time was born. Leah & Lucy can communicate through signs and speech even though the doctors said it would never happen. I love the Signing Time Foundation‘s mission, “to enrich the lives of children of all abilities”!

Lydia’s life has been enriched by this family’s hard work! I started watching Baby Signing Time with Lydia when she was 3 months old. Most kids don’t sign until 10-12 months, but I couldn’t wait! If she had been deaf, I would have been signing to her anyway! I started with “milk” and “eat” and “more” and “all done”. Soon, she started reacting to the signs–getting excited for milk or food. Then about 11 months she started signing “milk”! She’s continued to learn signs as quickly as I can teach her.

This week I counted 51 signs that Lydia knows. 51 signs she does to me with no prompting. 51 objects or feelings she can tell me about. 51 things I wouldn’t know about my daughter unless she could sign. I could literally talk about Signing Time and sign language forever. Next to breastfeeding, it’s the thing I’m most proud of for doing with Lydia.

This week Lydia has been ecstatic about Baby Signing Time, when she gets up in the morning she wants to listen to the cd. When it’s time to watch TV, she signs “baby”. When we get in the car she demands to hear “baby”. She can sign along to all the songs even before the words come one. She signs things she’s never seen before like a train and an airplane! Lydia also signs the alphabet when she hears the ABC song. I know it’s not perfect, but she’s doing it! She even babbles in sign language.

The thing that I love about Signing Time is it’s an example to me as a mother. Rachel’s family had a problem. She could have just worked on Leah. She could have just worked with Lucy. But she wanted the best for her daughters. And her desire extended to her family–her whole family is involved with Signing Time. Her nephew is one of the main characters on the video along with Leah. What courageous moms! I hope that if my niece had been born deaf, I would work hard to teach my children to communicate with her. I hope I’d be the mom that transforms the whole world so my daughters can have a better life. I want to be the woman that continues to enrich other’s lives, no matter their ability.

Here’s a few pictures of Lydia signing “more”, “all done” and “milk”.

And a video of her her “signing” the ABC’s. Watch her little hand up in the air. Once she sees me videoing her, she stops!

Baby Baby Baby Signing Time is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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