Week twenty eight

In the midst of days and days of rain and wind we had a glimpse of blue skies and slightly warmer weather on Saturday afternoon. Clark was down for a rather long nap when the clouds cleared and the sun came out. Glenn and I tossed up the options of making it out to the Arboretum before the sun came down. I went back and forth between an Arboretum adventure of just going to the nearest park. In the end we decided to brave the lowering light and make a mad dash to the Arboretum once Clark woke up. 

I am so glad we did. The light extended itself and did not end our adventure prematurely. We had a small play at the new Pod Playground, where I have never seen so many children in one place! Clark was a bit intimidated at first and sat high on a slope and surveyed the scene. After he finally had a play, we went for a lovely walk, climbing hills and looking at trees. And Clark's favourite thing? Chasing the magpies. He was relentless, running after them and, oddly, mooing. For how do you scare away something? You moo at it apparantly. 

I truly believe that it is when you cannot fathom the idea of upping and heading on an adventure, that you need it the most. I am sure I have said this before, but I mean it. However when it is cold and grey or the week has been long, it can be easy to forget that once we arrive at our destination and get out in the air everything is simply better. 

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On another note, and for prosperity sake, this week Clark finally received a mould for his FM. This was something a bit new for Australian Hearing and I am grateful that they extended themselves and were innovative. The FM receiver was not sitting properly in Clark's ear, so the audiologist suggested an ear mould (similar to when he had a hearing aid). It finally arrived and we have had two days of Clark using the FM during group time at childcare, and have had huge success. Besides the obvious outcome of Clark being able to hear his teacher better amongst the noise of the Toddler room, it also really highlights to the teachers how much extra attention Clark needs in order to hear. That although you can have a one on one conversation with him in close proximity, he really struggles at times to hear specific sounds when there are other noises to distract him. This knowledge can only be a good thing and mean that the staff will be more aware of his hearing loss. This is something that Clark will use when he is at big school, so the more we use it now the more used to it he will be down the track. Another positive!