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Tonight we went out to dinner. You may recall that I have two children with special needs.
Anyway, so mid-way through the meal we hear what sounds to me like a child crying. There was a child sitting about five tables behind us in the uncrowded restaurant who is just around ds' age. We had said hello to her when we came in. Anyway, so when I heard the crying (I have hearing loss myself and have difficulty telling where some sounds come from), I assumed it was the child.
Much to my great pleasure, ds starts signing "baby." I was ssssooooooo happy because that is the first time I have seen him sign "baby." I knew the child behind us was not a baby, but I figure that ds knows she is a young kid, and he knows that babies cry, and the fact that he is putting all this together is fabulous. Plus, he noticed the crying! And a NEW sign!! How great is that?! So I start getting all excited and saying to him, "Yes, a baby is crying. I hear it too," and signing "baby" back to him over and over. ds signed baby a number of times before we left, but true to form did not give an indication of why. However, I just keep talking about the baby crying, etc. with him.
On the way home from dinner, dw confronts me. Apparently there was a much older child in a wheelchair in the table right next to ours who was making these noises. Clearly this was a child expressing herself, not a baby crying.
I feel like such a jerk. I had wondered why the woman sitting in the table next to us kept glaring at me. I truly hadn't seen the child at the table next to ours, or heard that this is where the noises were coming from. I had looked over at their table a few times as they came in and everything, and somehow missed seeing this kid.
When dw told me, I felt like crawling in a hole. This is right on the heels of me saying something to another mother of a child with special needs (also a child who uses a wheelchair) about the fact that my children are not "wheelchair bound" but both have special needs. I realized on my way home from that experience that this was not probably the correct terminology, and that "wheelchair bound" probably has a conotation/tone that I totally did not intend. I was so red in the face as I thought about it.
Why can't I get these things right?! I am just completely mortified.
Anyway, so mid-way through the meal we hear what sounds to me like a child crying. There was a child sitting about five tables behind us in the uncrowded restaurant who is just around ds' age. We had said hello to her when we came in. Anyway, so when I heard the crying (I have hearing loss myself and have difficulty telling where some sounds come from), I assumed it was the child.
Much to my great pleasure, ds starts signing "baby." I was ssssooooooo happy because that is the first time I have seen him sign "baby." I knew the child behind us was not a baby, but I figure that ds knows she is a young kid, and he knows that babies cry, and the fact that he is putting all this together is fabulous. Plus, he noticed the crying! And a NEW sign!! How great is that?! So I start getting all excited and saying to him, "Yes, a baby is crying. I hear it too," and signing "baby" back to him over and over. ds signed baby a number of times before we left, but true to form did not give an indication of why. However, I just keep talking about the baby crying, etc. with him.
On the way home from dinner, dw confronts me. Apparently there was a much older child in a wheelchair in the table right next to ours who was making these noises. Clearly this was a child expressing herself, not a baby crying.
I feel like such a jerk. I had wondered why the woman sitting in the table next to us kept glaring at me. I truly hadn't seen the child at the table next to ours, or heard that this is where the noises were coming from. I had looked over at their table a few times as they came in and everything, and somehow missed seeing this kid.
When dw told me, I felt like crawling in a hole. This is right on the heels of me saying something to another mother of a child with special needs (also a child who uses a wheelchair) about the fact that my children are not "wheelchair bound" but both have special needs. I realized on my way home from that experience that this was not probably the correct terminology, and that "wheelchair bound" probably has a conotation/tone that I totally did not intend. I was so red in the face as I thought about it.
Why can't I get these things right?! I am just completely mortified.