AJ has been awake since 7:30am. It is now 5:13pm. That's right, no nap today. He is cranky and ornary, as any 2 year old would be when choosing to fight naptime. But today is a day where I wish it was easier to communicate with AJ. Although these days don't come as often as they used to, when they do pop up, they hit hard.
I warmed AJ's milk cup as usual and gave it to him in his booster chair. Not ten seconds into drinking, he drops the cup, resulting in sweet vanilla milk flying everywhere and pooling on his tray. As I rush to soak up what I can from his tray and rescue his cup to refill it, AJ begins screaming. I repeatedly sign "Wait! Wait! Wait! Mommy make you more! Calm down!" My son continues to screams and then shuts his eyeballs. UGH! Anyone who has a child that is deaf or hard of hearing knows that somehow they just "KNOW" if they shut their eyes, they can tune the world out. It is extremely hard to get his attention.
Of course being tired, thirsty, and hungry don't make it any better. Add to all that the fact that in his eyes, he thinks I took his cup away. Again, I frantically sign to my son. Nothing soothes him. Nothing helped him-until I brought a fresh cup of milk and tapped it on his tray. Since his eyes were still closed, he was still tuning me out until he felt the tapping. His only form of communicating is crying when something is wrong. It is a constant guessing game.
Having a deaf child requires lots of patience. I am not always the best at having said patience, but I certainly try. My voice cannot soothe him. He cannot tell by my tone of voice if the situation is bad or good. I can't just SAY "It's ok honey." He can't hear us trying to comfort him. Hopefully soon, he will...