Trista Faith: School Update!

I'm so sorry it has taken me this long to post this update. I know many of you have been wondering how the kids are doing at their new school. One word comes to mind...AMAZING! I cannot even begin to tell you how happy we are with the decision to enroll them at St. Rita's.

The first week was a bit rough for Talan. It was definitely an adjustment to be somewhere all day long and take a nap at school. He's doing great now, though. He's signing up a storm! A few of the words he has learned are:

Thank you
Please
Bathroom
Good morning
Sleep
Cow
Horse
Boy
Girl
More
All done
Brother
Car
Play
Yellow
Color
Ball

Trista is amazing all of us at how well she's adjusting. In her classroom she has 2 hearing teachers (Connie & Andrea) and 1 deaf teacher (Megan). I cannot even begin to tell you how comfortable I am with Trista being taken care of by these three wonderful women. They even send me texts throughout the day to let me know how she's doing. Trista has already built strong relationships with them in her first few weeks of attending. So have I! :)

Trista absolutely loves her teacher, Megan. Megan was born deaf and actually graduated from St. Rita's. Megan started working in the LOFT program right after she graduated so she's been there for 4 years now. It is so awesome to have a role model like Megan for Trista to look up to and to learn from. Every time I walk in to pick Trista up, Megan is working with Trista on signing.

Trista has learned:

Mom
Dad
More
All done
Milk
Bath
Ball

I can already tell that Megan is going to be a big part of our lives! Look how happy Trista is with her!

Trista & Miss Megan

Megan teaching Trista the sign for "ball"

Trista & Miss Connie

Trista and Miss Andrea

Some of Trista's little friends

Trista kissing her baby doll

As you can probably see, Trista also got her orthotics since I posted last. Yes, they have flowers and butterflies on them...OF COURSE! :) She's been doing great with them. She is now keeping them on her feet the majority of the day. We haven't noticed a difference in the way she's walking yet, but I know we need to be patient and give it some time. Patience is not my best quality!

Me, my mom, my mother-in-law and my 2 sister in laws are all taking Sign Language classes. Last night was our second class and it has been so much fun! They offer the classes right there at the school and they even bring in some of the dorm students that are deaf to work with us. It has been a really neat experience.