Deaf Santa

This was our first year visiting deaf Santa at Pearlridge mall. Along with HSDB, other schools attended the event. Seemed to be a big deal for the deaf community, which was awesome to see. All the schools performed a skit or sang Christmas songs. It was a great way to get everyone of the deaf community into the Christmas spirit. Also love attending these events where I can socialize and get to know parents of deaf children. Carter and his classmates did a great job in their performance!

Annual Gingerbread Family Tradition

Who wouldn't want to decorate gingerbread houses during the holidays? We love it! Carter had a blast this year... By making a total mess! Hehe, I wouldn't want it any other way, as long as he had fun doing it. 

Big Brother Carter

Huge announcement! Carter became a big brother on November 20! He loves to help mommy take care of his new baby brother and to kiss him all up. He couldn't be any more loving :)

Happy Halloween!

So I know this is really, really late but I needed to share! 

Carter had a school parade on Halloween and I went to check it out. All students dressed up in their costumes and went from classroom to classroom for candy. I thought it was going to be more like a parade rather than trick or treating, but he wasn't complaining about all the treats! 

By the time we finished, the kids were exhausted and hot. I wish they made sleeveless costumes for Hawaii, hehe. Later that night, we tried to go around the neighborhood to experience it all with him but he was just too tired and grumpy. We only visited about 5 houses and called it an early night. Seemed like he understood the concept of going from door to door, holding out his bag for candy, lol. 

It sure was an eventful day for him! Glad he enjoyed Halloween this year. Now onto the bigger holidays... Can't wait!

Busy, Busy Day

Carter had his parent/teacher conference yesterday at HSDB. His teacher said he's thriving! From August to now, he's learning to follow directions and to stay within boundaries. There's still a lot more work to do but I'm so happy he's progressing nicely! 

After school, we had to do his ear molds at Kapiolani. Just sharing a few pics from our busy day!

Waimanalo Pumpkin Patch

We took Carter to the Waimanalo Pumpkin Patch this past weekend. There's not as much things to do like the Kapolei Pumpkin Patch but Carter still had a lot of fun! An open space to run and dirt never fails! Along with their field of pumpkins, there was a hayride, corn field maze, and food stands. Carter could've cared less about the pumpkins but climbing up and down the fields was all he wanted to do anyways :). We picked out two pumpkins to carve and decorate next week!! 

Special Olympics: YAP

This program is the best! It's called the Young Athletes Program and its part of the Special Olympics. YAP is for ages from 2 years to 8 years old. They're not able to participate in the Olympic Games yet, but YAP prepares them for it. We get together once a month, every third Saturday. They do activities that will help the kids focus on following directions like circle time, singing and dancing, coloring, and other sports to get their hearts pumping. Every month, they have themes, such as jumping, batting, or balancing. They set up about 8 different courses for them to practice. 

The entire staff are caring, understanding, and encouraging! You can tell that they have a passion for working with special needs kids. It's a "safe" place where you can let your child be "himself" without judgement from others. I love it! Not only does Carter get the socialization with the other kids but he's working on his motor/gross skills all at once. He loves it and I love seeing him smile and laugh along with the other kids. I would definitely encourage all parents to put their kids in this program!

Wish I took more pictures but Carter was such a handful! :) :) :)