Archive - 2010

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Birds Of A Feather
2
The R-Word
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Rabbits, Rabbits, Rabbits
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Using Sign Language To Support Speech In Kids With Special Needs
5
Who Let The Dogs Out, WHO, who, who, who?

Birds Of A Feather

  The other day my daughter and I took our dog for a walk around a local pond. We explored the reeds, quacked at the ducks and enjoyed just being outside in nature together. Of course I automatically switched into teacher mode. My poor children—everything seems to turn into a “teachable moment.” You can take the girl out of teaching, but you can’t take teacher out of the girl. Sorry, that sounds wrong—in a very “blue pages” kind of way. (Ontario teachers will totally get that reference.) I talked to Avery about the insects and the flowers. She feigned interest for about a minute, but was more interested in leaning beyond the railing of the bridge to get a good look at the ducks. If I hadn’t had a tight grasp on her belt I’m pretty sure there would have been a splash followed by a BayWatch style rescue of some kind. Then in the distance in the marsh, I spotted a Great Blue Heron. I was excited. I squealed, “Avery! Look! It’s a heron. A heron!” She turned immediately. The kid apparently enjoys birds as much as her nerdy mom. She scanned the horizon and strained to see. “Do[…]

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The R-Word

  What’s in a word? Letters of course. But there’s more. A word has the power to evoke emotion; beautiful or ugly, inspirational or devastating. In the eighties “gay” was a common descriptor. As in, “Oh my god, those jelly shoes look totally gay with those parachute pants.” A few decades later, while shopping with a friend I said, “This song is so gay.” To which she replied, “Really? It’s homosexual is it?” She worked in an industry populated by gay men and pointed out that using gay as a synonym for stupid or odd was offensive. Prior to her bluntly putting it into context like that, the concept had no relevance for me. I didn’t have any gay friends at the time and wielded this word with complete disregard for the feelings of others. Unintentionally, but ignorantly just the same. Chances are if you were a teen in the eighties or nineties you also threw around such phrases as, “I can’t believe how retarded that movie was.” Or “I look like a retard with this perm.” I was guilty of using it until I suddenly became faced with the reality of the word. I have a sense of humour[…]

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Rabbits, Rabbits, Rabbits

No, I’m not reciting the rhyme that is supposed to ward off campfire smoke. I’m literally saying there are rabbits, rabbits, rabbits EVERYWHERE this summer. Back yard, front yard, side yard, boulevard…there are herds of marauding fuzzy bunnies everywhere. They’ve been grazing on our lawn, which I don’t mind. I’d like it more if they’d focus on eating the weeds. So far they’ve stayed out of my garden, but that’s probably due to the fact that I’m a horrible gardener surrounded by excellent gardeners. These bunnies are well fed. And they’re BIG. And plump. I wonder if any of my neighbours have ever trapped one? Maybe roasted it or put it on a spit? Eww. You’d have to skin it first though, right? How disgusting would that be? Remember that movie “When Rabbit Howls” starring Shelley Long? And why do I even know that? It’s odd I can remember who starred in a 20 year old made for t.v. film, but I can’t remember where I left my car keys (that’s not a metaphor by the way. My keys have been missing for three days). Anyway, if a neighbour had skinned a rabbit I suppose we’d have heard some kind[…]

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Using Sign Language To Support Speech In Kids With Special Needs

“It’s Signing Time With Alex and Leah!” This is the refrain that goes through my head all day, every day. Avery loves this show more than any other. Signing Time teaches sign language in a simple but engaging way. We signed with DS from the time he was a baby. He picked it up right away and was soon signing, “More cookie please!” before he could speak. It was fun and novel, but soon he began talking a blue streak and left the signing behind. Then Avery came along. When she was first diagnosed with a chromosomal abnormality doctors told us she would likely never be verbal. We had already been signing with her for “fun” but continued to sign out of necessity. Her signs came slowly but steadily. As she grew she was able to easily communicate her needs through sign. Eventually she had more signs than her average peers had words. Her vocabulary was extensive and impressive. I can only imagine her frustration level without sign language. We were confident in what we were doing but others questioned our choice to sign with Avery. “Why would she even try to speak if she can just sign?” I explained[…]

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Who Let The Dogs Out, WHO, who, who, who?

It was a ruff night last night and I’m dog gone tired. The kids didn’t wake me. They slept like babies. It was the wild animal kingdom outside my open bedroom window that woke me. It started with a single dog barking his furry head off, which soon spread to dogs near and far (I don’t care about the far off dogs, it’s the near ones I had a problem with). There were low growlers, high pitched yappers and assorted yelps in between. When I thought the canine chorus couldn’t get any louder, a screeching cat joined the cacophony…or catcophony in this case. To make matters worse, the woman in the house “kitty” corner to us (funny enough, not the cat owner, but the owner of the dog who started it all) began yelling, “Lucky! Lucky stop it!! LUCKY!!!” It took every ounce of self control I had not to yell, “Sir (this woman has a very deep voice), stop shouting at your dog and bring him inside!” She finally got Lucky under wraps. Then the cat settled down and the other dogs followed suit. In the words of the Baha Men, “Who let the dogs out?” and why? It[…]

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