From Contrail to Comets

Last Wednesday Cormac had his last day at Summit SPeech School :) He will be heading to preschool in September. While we are thrilled he is doing so well we are sad his time at Summit is over. Luckily, his support services in district will be provided by Summit so we will still be part of the school. I am hoping we stay part of the Summit family forever. Our lives would not be the same if we had not found out about Summit and we will be forever grateful for all of their support over the last three years.

On the car ride to school his last day I was thinking to myself "I hope we are making the right decision. I hope he will be OK. You know, all the usual self doubts you have regarding decisions we make about our children. As I am thinking all this I hear from the back seat "Mommy?" I say "yes Cormac?" He says "Why is there no contrail coming out of that plane flying in the sky?" My first response was "I don't know". My second was "you are going to be alright kid!" And he says "I know Mommy." Then he says "Contrail looks just like a comet!". Gotta love this kid. I don't know many people LET ALONE three year olds who know the word contrail. Anyway, it made me feel just awesome that day. Totally made me forget my worries (for a while).

They made him a special breakfast and I was able to stay with him for his last morning. It was sweet how the kids interacted with him. He certainly has no problems making friends.






By the way, the Eye Spy containers were a huge success. The glue gun was not sufficient and we had a minor spilling of rice but I was able to put clear packing tape on them and you can't even see it. Now they are more durable. We played Eye Spy for the long trip to the beach last weekend.

As we reach this next milestone in Cormac's journey I still can't believe all he has accomplished. He continues to baffle me on a daily basis with what he can hear and say. He NEVER stops learning. He loves it. His ability to recall information is better than mine. I honestly think he has a photographic memory. I have never really seen anything quite like it.

We spent approximately 112 hours in the car just commuting to Summit since April. I then spent approximately 225 hours entertaining Ciaran and Colin while Cormac was in school. I was pregnant and had a baby somewhere in there too. For the last month or so I had Calleigh along for the commute and the wait time. I say this not to complain but to just know while it was a tough time for us IT WAS WORTH EVERY MINUTE OF OUR TIME! It's time we will never get back and I mean that in a good way. For Cormac this was and is the most important time. We can't go back to being three when he is six. What he achieves now is the strong foundation he will need for his future.

For those of you who read this who are in the beginning of your journey to hearing just know it gets better. It gets easier. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It's tiring, it can be frustrating at times but I think the rewards are just so much sweeter. We might never know why we were chosen to have children who are deaf but know that your hard work is rewarded. Years from now when are children are successful, happy adults you won't even remember how tiring it was to get there (I hope).