Reason # 3234

Bean performed in her Elementary School Talent Show tonight...

She actually "performed" three times.  She did a hula hoop performance to the song "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz.  She performed with her ASL club.  She participated in the Grand Finale...

All this week she has been telling me that she is a little nervous to perform.  I had assumed it was the hula hoop performance that she was nervous about.  I assured her all week that it is all just for fun.  Do your best, smile and have fun with it...

Earlier today she finally told me that she was ok with the hula performance, she was nervous about the ASL club performance... ???... I was floored.. "Bean, ASL is your second language... What can you be nervous about?"  Turns out, she felt alot more pressure to excel in that performance...

Let me give you some background... I transferred Bean into DKE when she started 1st grade (after being in various combinations of ESE/ DHH classrooms).  She is now in 2nd grade and just thriving in this enviornment...  She is paired with an INCREDIBLE ASL interpretor who just 'gets'  her and really allows her to be independent while constantly shadowing her... Ms Jennifer approached me last year asking if I thought it would be ok to start an afterschool club to teach kids ASL... WOW!!!! Neither one of us thought that it would catch on, but it became one of the most popular afterschool clubs! So many have signed up and are just committed!  I have no words to describe how happy it makes me to see kids address Ellie by her sign name, or just sign to each other- because they can and they want to.... 

I asked Bean why she was so nervous about the Signing Time song that they were going to do.  She has been signing since she was 6 months old.  She can sign circles around me.  Signing is as natural to her as English...

She told me...

"They practice all of the time... What if I forget the words?"  It had absolutely nothing to do with language, she just honestly did not want to let her group down if she forgot the words to the song...

This is reason # 3234 why I love my girl more than life