Sierra- speech therapist and mothering

We had a great meeting today with Gillian. She worked with Sierra for about 1 hour.

At first, Sierra acted like a wild monkey and ran and screamed around.

Then Gillian got out some books and I sat with her too. She calmed down and then Sierra worked with her. She pointed and enjoyed interacting with Gillian.

Then she got out the chocolate-- Sierra's cooperation and attentiveness was perfect then. She worked on tongue movements and sounds with both Weston and Sierra. When they performed enough times, like Pavlov's dog, they got a treat. They both enjoyed it immensely---- especially the treats.

She told us what we know, that Sierra is delayed in speech and language. She said not to worry yet. Gillian was definitely stumped by our girl in some ways. She said she'd be expecting a lot more tantrums and fits because Sierra can't communicate. She was truly stumped that Sierra seems unconcerned about persisting in talking.

Gillian was encouraged that the new verbalizing and babbling had only been happening since fall. She said since she is making progress that it's not time to rush back to the US- yet.

She is willing to work with us and see what progress we can make. We have a list of therapy that we must do.

Our first goal is to work on Joint Attention and sustaining attention so that more therapy can take place. This includes things like- taking turns, face/eye contact and cooperation for a goal time of 10 minutes.

The second goal is to work on imitation (which you can't do if there is no attention!) This involves tongue and lip games/exercises and improving sound repertoire.

Thirdly, imitation of sounds and modeling sounds by playing noise games, making consonant sounds together and modeling full words.

This all boils down to one thing---- time and effort. These are the areas of motherhood that I lack in- you know the on the floor playing together. Playing games, reading, giving the children undivided attention.

While we were flying back to Mongolia I read a book called- Steady Days- A Journey Toward Intentional Professional Motherhood by Jamie C. Martin. Isn't that an enticing title? I would love to be a more professional and intentional mother. It is totally opposite to, "getting through the day, making sure everyone is mostly clothed and fed without anyone getting severely injured" which is my current goal!

Most of the book is being more organized so to make the most of the time with the children. There are suggestions about how to do this which included organizational tools and things.

The best part of the book is what she calls a "motherhood conversion." This really resonated with me. She defines it by telling a story about a new mother who has high hopes as her infant enters the world. But suddenly she realizes that her life will never be the same again and that her world revolves around her children.

This is great:

• "The idea that there is no holidays from mothering. Growing up with a traditional school year filled with holiday and long summer breaks or working in jobs with vacation time and sick days doesn't prepare parents for this completely consuming role... It is a beautiful job--- don't get me wrong--- but downtime is generally a thing of the past."

This is the best paragraph of the whole book:

• "Gradually however, I began to welcome the dynamics of my new life. I decided to try and embrace them as wholeheartedly as possible, instead of fighting the inner battle over the interruptions to "my" time. This was my conversion experience. Once I was able to accept the fullness of my new life, it them became possible to enjoy it much more." p. 56
  

Sometimes when I feel like a "bad mom," I realize I'm still growing and learning and improving- just like any professional. I am undergoing a motherhood revelation- and conversion of my own.

There is a woman here who has 8 kids. She is what I call a "Jedi mom." She's a mother who has things under control with a calm precision. When Weston was one, I complimented this mother. At that time she had children from the ages of 17 down to 2 and she told me something that really encouraged me, "I've had 17 years more practice than you." That is so true. It is good to see progress.

Anyhow, I think becoming a lay speech therapist is going to help my motherhood goals.