Kinder Duty

I had kinder duty yesterday and though it would be interesting to take Connor. Usually, I am very lucky in that I can leave Connor with someone and spend the 3 hours with Riley and Riley only. Given his first term performance at kinder (pre-grommets), I was very interested to see how he was going. But, I thought Connor would have a ball, and there was a mothers day thing on; so I thought what the heck.

Did he have a ball or what. Here the kids are, playing "whats the time Mr Wolf" - and heres buggalugs - not even 2.5 - yelling out to the 4-5 year olds what time it is. Not that he was supposed to - but geez it looked adorable to see!!

Riley is going so well. His teacher and I got a bit of an opportunity to chat yesterday and she is over the moon at his progress. She feels that he is more than ready for school, and that these grommets make all the difference to him.

It's just nice to see him happy. Involved with the kids and trying new things. When Riley got his grommets the first time at 3 (nearly 4), his friend told her mother "mum, Riley doesn't talk Chinese anymore" - which, to me, summed up his experience without hearing.

Imagine trying to learn an entire language; but only being able to hear part of it. In order to communicate with these people, you require a whole new language; but, those people you want to talk to are only learning aswell. I imagine it would be awful for every aspect. But, before Riley got his grommets, I had no idea just how much of him it affected.

His confidence took a big nosedive. He couldnt hear enough to feel confident to try new things. He didn't hear the instructions properly and he didn't quite get why. So, instead of making himself look like an idiot, he just stopped. "I can't" became his mantra and "no, I don't want to" became his response of choice to group activities.

Seeing him now though - my heart just swells. Whether it's my fault for not picking it up earlier, or whether it's just life - that is something I grapple with constantly. But, at the end of the day, it's not something I have had to live with; I have only had to support it. So, my issues don't really come into play.

His speech is now completely age appropriate and his behaviour reflects that of a 5 year old. Truly, I couldn't ask for anymore. We will continue with speech therapy and his social activity on a Saturday until the end of the year; but only because I can't see how it hurts him. He enjoys it, he gets something out of it and I don't feel you can overdo something like speech therapy.

As for Connor - he will adore kinder next year. Although, he was so tired last night, Lamb racks for dinner turned into toasted sandwiches and fruit; he had a ball and it was truly a beautiful thing to see. Confidence in a toddler.