Interviewed by Puppets
This summer is zipping by and I’m trying to appreciate every
moment—the good and the not so good.
First, I’m lucky Flynn enjoyed her camp adventures. She adored Art Camp and liked learning about
the artistic cultures of the Caribbean and Japan. She was very enthusiastic and I’m impressed
with the quantity and quality of the art she produced. Our favorite project from Japan week was
making Candy Sushi. The children combined
fruit roll-ups, gummy worms, and Rice Krispy treats to make an edible item
resembling a California Roll. It was
very creative.
Flynn reported Chinese Immersion camp was “hard but sort of
fun.” The Chinese camp was held in her
new school. She quickly learned how to
count to 20 in Chinese and mastered some greetings and other vocabulary
words. It took her young, sponge-like
brain just a few days to absorb what took me MONTHS to learn when I took some
beginning Chinese classes before my trip to get Flynn. We’re
both excited about all she will learn once she officially starts
kindergarten. We received a packet from
Flynn’s school on Saturday and are pleased to learn her actual kindergarten
teacher was her main camp leader. Hopefully
this will make Flynn feel more comfortable as she starts her new educational
experience.
I really enjoyed teaching my summer session class at the
University of Minnesota. I taught this
class once before to a large group of about 120 students. This summer I instructed 23 future mass
communication professionals and appreciated the opportunity to really get to
know my students. I hope I don’t sound
too boastful—but I’m pleased with my development as a teacher. Last Fall I took a course called “Preparing
Future Faculty.” It gave me some new
tools to make my lectures more relevant and, dare I say, exciting. I had several lectures this past session when
I felt things were really clicking. I’m
happy because I remember this feeling from my days anchoring newscasts and
programs on the radio. It’s nice to have that feeling again. This Fall I’m teaching a course entirely
online. It’ll be interesting to see how
it differs from traditional, lecture-based teaching. I’m grateful for the opportunity.
So that’s the good. Now for the not so good. We’re dealing with some issues with Flynn’s
cleft, speech, and teeth. On July 19th
Flynn had a nasaloscopy to determine if work needs to be done to “tweak” her
palate. Flynn was a real trooper during
the procedure. She was lightly sedated as they pushed a tiny camera and cord
through her nasal passages and down into the roof of her mouth. Flynn had to be awake so she could repeat
sounds and sentences so we could see her palate in action. I truly could not ask for a better girl when
it comes to dealing with medical appointments.
Once Flynn’s speech therapist, Kelly, told me what to look
for I could see on the big TV screen in the room that Flynn has some “bubbling
and leaking” in connection with her palate.
This is problematic because it is a hindrance to her producing good
speech sounds. Flynn has done a lot of
hard work in her speech therapy sessions—but no matter how hard she works she
can’t overcome the physical and anatomical issues.
We met with Flynn’s surgical team on July 24th. I was totally ready for some bad news and
prepared to talk about another surgery for Flynn. Much to my surprise the team advised it would
be best to wait before another round of surgery. Dr. Wood said he wants Flynn’s head to grow
some more and her adenoids, tonsils and palate tissues to “mature.” We will reassess after the winter
holidays.
I’m grateful we have such a great team of doctors and are
getting wonderful advice. This situation
is a life lesson for me. I’m the type of
person who likes to plan, take on challenges and move forward. In many situations with Flynn I have to learn
to let things happen as they come. I’m
certainly not in control of things and can’t manage all circumstances. It’s a humbling and hard lesson.
We also visited the dentist recently and he determined Flynn
needs oral surgery to fix some deep cavities and to take a good look at the
teeth growing in her cleft area. We’re
traveling to St. Cloud early this Wednesday morning for the surgery. We have to be at the surgical center at
5:45am. So that means a 3am wake-up call
for grandpa and me as we take a sleepy Flynn on a long drive north. This dentist is a specialist and if we tried
to book and appointment in St. Paul we would have to wait until sometime close
to Thanksgiving. I want to get this
taken care of before Flynn starts school.
The early wake-up call will give me a flashback to my days as a morning
newscaster! We appreciate all good
thoughts as Flynn undergoes this procedure Wednesday morning.
Flynn was also a superstar as we participated in the last
session for the “Transition to Home” study at the University of Minnesota International
Adoption Clinic. We began this in-depth
research in September 2009. It’s amazing
to see how far we’ve both come since the study began. This last session lasted more than three
hours. Flynn once again wore the
semi-uncomfortable brainwave cap and spent a good hour playing games and being
interviewed as the team scanned her brainwave patterns in the next room. I participated in a lengthy phone interview
with a researcher in Washington State.
Flynn played games to test her memory and had her saliva collected so
they can examine her stress hormones.
The final activity involved a pair of puppets talking to
Flynn and interviewing her about her feelings.
The session was taped and I got to watch the entire event via closed
circuit television in another room. Some
of the topics were very emotional for me to hear. For example, the puppets asked Flynn about
her dreams. Flynn said she often has bad
dreams. The puppets asked her for more
details. Flynn explained that she often
dreamt she was alone in a hospital and could not find her mother. This is a real emotional button for both of
us—since Flynn was indeed alone during her first surgeries in China. She also talked about how happy she was to
have a mother who cared about her and helped her. It was emotional for me to hear her
forthright answers and a challenge for me to keep my composure.
On a lighter note, I’ll share an amusing exchange between
Flynn and the puppets. Some of the
questions are geared to gauge certain things—like attachment, emotional
maturity, self-control, and structure in the household. It is sort of a parental nightmare to hear
your child talk about what goes on privately in your home. For example, the puppets asked Flynn “Does
your mom feed you healthy snacks or can you eat anything you want to eat.” Flynn replied, “Well, I only like healthy
snacks so that’s what I eat. (Hooray Flynn! In truth, she’s been known to eat
Oreo Cookies, ice cream and Tootsie Rolls!)
This is a classic Flynn exchange:
Puppets: Flynn can
you watch anything you want on TV or does your mother tell you what to watch?
Flynn: I can watch
anything I want on TV (long pause) as long as my mom says it’s okay.
You have to love a girl who won’t rat out her mother! Flynn is the best.
