Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Kaan is having the time of his life:

Kaan is having such a good time here. He likes going places. He likes being in that different environment of the hotel room. He likes going to the hotel lobby for breakfast, and for dinner. Most of all he likes the exercise room on top of the lobby. I don’t understand his fascination with big machines, but I reckon this is a male thing.
He sometimes comes to the UMAP building, of course everybody is in love with him. He is a cute boy, still a baby with big, beautiful brown eyes, they talk to him and indulge him in many ways. Also we discovered something new: a room full of toys! I didn’t know that, but UMAP has also a speech therapy program just for kids, for that reason, they keep a room full of toys. We go there quietly, and ask whether we can borrow some toys. That makes his day. The music teacher, Lynn, brought mom an article about what to do in Ann Arbor with small kids. Of special interest to us was: Fantasy Forest. It is an indoor play ground. On a rainy day Mehmet brought Kaan and mom to the Fantasy Forest they must have spent there six hours. He also enjoys going to restaurants very much. He sits on his high chair and orders from the menu, o.k. sometimes the menu is upside down, but still…
I guess just being all together with his dad and mom and grannie “on vacation” does it for him.
It was my job to read to him to sleep before all this happened. When I came back from the hospital, Mehmet took this over of course. We all lay in the same bed together, Mehmet would read and we would all listen. After two or three nights like this, my son didn’t want me in bed with him anymore, pushing me away with his little feet. But Mehmet told him with a certainty, that I am grateful even to this day, that this wasn’t acceptable. We either read all three of us together or not read at all.
Now that I can talk somewhat Mehmet encourages me to take that role again. So I accept the challenge. We borrow books from the UMAP therapists, and go at it. My favorite is Dr Seuss. Of course my speech sounds awful to the normal ear. But Kaan’s little ears it is sweet music, he doesn’t care. And I enjoy the process so much, it is a real blessing to be able to read to my little man again, that I read to him for half an hour every night since then.

1 comment:

Claire said...

Reading aloud can be great for speech therapy as well as family bonding time. Keep up the good work!

I'm an SLP in training with a particular interest in aphasia. I enjoy reading your blog posts.