We have a dream...

On Friday I met with one of the lovely staff from Taralye (one of the early intervention services available to deaf kids in Victoria). With their help, one of the tasks for the day was to set a goal for Jaime that we may aim to achieve.
At this point in time, the goal set was simply to in time, allow Jaime to attend a mainstream school and integrate well with her peers.

This task has got me thinking... What are our goals and aspirations for Jaime? What are our expectations? What challenges do we expect to face? ...and how will these change as time progresses.

I write this blog not only to share our story, our adventure through Jaime's quiet world, but to also create a record so that I may look back and reflect on my own outlook. Perhaps I will look back and laugh, perhaps I will shed some tears, or perhaps I will shake my head at how naive or anxious I have been.

At such a young age it is difficult to look much past tomorrow, yet so important to consider Jaime's future. Surely any parent can relate, we all hope our children will grow up happy and healthy, we hope our children will be intelligent and have friends... everyone wants that...

...I hope that Jaime may be able to hear her mothers voice, I hope that she may one day be able to laugh at her fathers jokes and I hope to hear the words "mummy" and "daddy", these dreams sound simple, but for Jaime these milestones will not come without their challenges.
Longer term, and a much broader goal, I hope that Jaime may achieve whatever she dreams without roadblocks in her way. Everyone's child will face hurdles, we just happen to already know some or hers.
I do not find this goal setting easy, I am constantly worrying if what I hope for Jaime is realistic and achievable. I am excited about beginning our journey with Taralye, I look forward to the support and guidance. What's more, the motto of Taralye "getting deaf kids talking" is exactly what we are hoping for.

When talking about hopes and aspirations, I may be moving forward and looking to the future however my husband is still stunned that Jaime is deaf! How can she be deaf? Everything about his daughter is perfect, how can her ears just be there as decoration?! My husband is thankful for the modern technology that may allow his beautiful daughter to hear, he is glad that we have the opportunity to communicate verbally with our daughter, he was struggling to come to terms with the prospect of having to learn something new, to have to sign; that may sound selfish, however you can't help your feelings (and I am not here to 'pretty up' our story).
Everyone goes through a form grieving, some may come to terms with their child's deafness in a matter of hours or days, others, who knows... This is why we all need to seek support and guidance, no-one needs to travel this journey alone.