These wonderful ABC books with contrast, are everywhere, but I found this image from Amazon.
Last night I spent the evening with my daughter and her father (we are divorced and our respective partners could not attend, sadly.) She was being awarded at her high school from Student Council for her kindness and willingness to help others. Her graduation is in two weeks and though a lot went into my daughter's education and socialization she managed to pull this off, on her very own. She is her own feel good story.
She was born three months prematurely and had an intracranial bleed a day after she was born. We were told she would not be able to speak, hear, see or do much of anything. She almost left the world a few times however, amazingly, she made it. And she hasn't stopped talking (at home) since. Or hearing the tiniest chirp of a baby bird. Or seeing a little bit of cookie I may have left in my cupped palm. She is in a wheelchair but can also move around with a gait trainer and has a lot more control of her body than we ever dreamed of her having.
The award was a huge deal as Christa was not one to socialize much in school Every IEP meeting the teachers and therapists would say the same thing, "she just doesn't join in." After a long haul, she joined in, she raises her hand, she is kind to others, she talks to her friends and she has had a stellar last two years in her school. She is tired, she is ready to transition into adulthood but she hasn't lost her spark to show a lot of love and kindness to others.
What does this have to do with books? In the early nineties when she came home from the NICU, I would prop (a book as seen above) up on her little baby holder and she would stare at it for a long time. I would walk by every half an hour or so and turn the page. I went with the red, black and white for contrast, though I decorated her room in muted pastel Winnie the Pooh and Beatrix Potter, she needed vibrancy so I made sure she got the contrast she needed. I read stories to her, as did her father, step-father and grandparents, she always loved a good story. Her little chuckle or sad noises would always prove to me time and time again that a kid that can "get" the elements of good story, on any level, it's so important to start them off as babies. No matter what their condition is.
She can read on her own now, her favorite books have matured a bit since Okomi, but she still asks me to read to her often. Sometimes she whips out her pointer finger and reads it herself. It may never be Harry Potter or Little House on the Prairie or the wondrous The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe but this summer while she is off (for the first time in decades) I will start one of these series and read them to her. She deserves to be entertained as we all were as young adults, even if it takes someone to read them all to her. I may go audio, I am not sure, but I think it would be more personal reading them to her myself.
Congratulations to our tiny but tenacious two pounder who beat the odds, she wakes up every day with wide eyed wonderment, and always, always wanting a good story.
2 comments:
She's amazing and so are you Cheryl for being the caring, loving,and tenacious mother that Krista deserves. I applaud you both.
Thank you, Estella, it takes a village as we all know but I never wavered once from my devotion to her. She is such a sweet kid, I am very proud of her just for her being her! :)
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