SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!

What an absolutely amazing year full of fun friends and wonderful teachers. As I was setting up the Frog Class party while the kids were down in the gym getting ready for the Community Meeting, I just stepped back and took it all in. In this beautiful classroom with so many things to explore and learn about, Christian's life changed. There in that classroom he learned how to master the /f/ sound. He also learned how to negotiate over toys with friends. He learned about the solar system. He played Spiderman everyday. He laughed, and sometimes cried. He read books, played pirates, planted gardens, and built towers. He told stories, was line leader, and also on garbage patrol. He played the trumpet, french horn, and even the banjo in that classroom. He danced and sang with his friends. Countless raisins and Goldfish were snacked on. 

I know I've bragged before about just how AWESOME his teachers were this year, but I have to say it again...THEY WERE AWESOME. We were beyond lucky to have such a committed, passionate, bright, energetic and FUN teachers for our little boy. On top of it all, they all were experts in educating a child with a Cochlear Implant. They advocated and cheered him on every step of the way and supported our family in our never-ending fights with insurance companies, as well as being fabulous liasions with our school system. I honestly am going to miss seeing them everyday. 

From Top to Bottom: Christian's in-class SLP, his in-class Educator, and his Audiologist. WHAT AN AMAZING TEAM!!!!!

I know that Christian had a blast this year with all his friends. He has developed into a silly, social, and energetic little boy who can't get enough of his friends. I hope he remembers his year as a Frog with just as much happiness as I do. I know  I will always remember his year as a Frog as the year that gave him his foundation and his confidence. 

IEP Update and HUGE News

I sat down the night before our meeting with his speech report in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. As I read through the scores I just cried. I cried tears of joy, knowing that my boy just wasn't doing well, he was doing absolutely amazing. My boy, who is profoundly deaf, was in the upper 90th percentile across the board in expressive and receptive language. My boy, who relies on a Cochlear Implant to listen and speak, is functioning well over one full year older than his chronological age in all subtest scores, including Sentence and Word Structure, Concepts & Following Directions and Recalling Sentences. My little boy, is just amazing.

I poured over each and every test, and just smiled. The Goldman-Fristoe 2 Test of Articulation was of great interest to me this year as it is a quick and dirty test of articulation accuracy. Last year, Christian demonstrated 41 articulation errors at the word level. This year, his current error count is 17. Wow. That puts him still above typically hearing peers in articulation errors.

At our meeting, we sat down with our teachers and the Director of Speech Language Pathology. We all were in tears, as our in-class SLP went into detail of Christian's little life as a Frog class member. We chatted about how he really IS a stinker, and is all boy through and through. We affirmed that what we were seeing on paper was a true representation of Christian. We talked about how sometimes he is a bit overly sensitive, how he fidgets, and how he sometimes loses interest in some tasks. We talked about how all those characteristics were typical of 3 year olds. Especially boys. We learned that he is still Mr. Social in his class and throughout the preschool. We were assured that he has many friends and is well-loved. Of course I cried some more.

At the end of reviewing these scores, I jumped ahead and asked for help writing goals for next year's IEP. I didn't even know where to begin. And that is when we learned that Christian's school was recommending that he no longer receive Related Services as he no longer requires them. What this means at Christian's school is that while he will be monitored intensely, he no longer requires pull-out speech therapy. He will still have an IEP, but the goals will be targeted informally in the classroom, with periodic monitoring as needed. He will only be testing once per year as well. Basically, Christian has graduated from therapy. What is so wonderful about the model at Christian's school is that while he won't be receiving services, he'll still be closely monitored. What this does is really help prepare him for heading into either our parochial or public school come Kindergarten, which is only 2 years away.  

While we as a family will always be committed to Christian's success, we finally feel like we are able to step back a bit and just enjoy our beautiful, silly, sweet, and slightly spunky little boy. I feel like I can breathe just a little bit...just in time for summer. 

working hard.

I caught Christian today concentrating and fixing his lips to say "front-end loader" with a good /f/ sound to his friend at a playdate after school. I saw how he looked him in the eyes and asked him to "Say it again, please" when he couldn't hear him ask if he wanted to go play basketball. He fixed his magnet several times, without even stopping. 

Days like today remind me that while Christian is doing just fabulous, he really has to work HARD to listen and speak. Every word and every syllable are fought for. He is my smart and sweet boy, who as time goes on, will have to work even harder. I'm so proud of how far he has come.

Little Moments

It's the way you call your sister "Beaners", and how you make-up the little stories to make her laugh. It's how you ask so many interesting questions, like "Mommy, where do you think that firetruck is going?", and then before I have a chance to answer, you answer yourself and say "I know, he's going to the grocery store to get breakfast for the OTHER firefighters". It's hearing you talk with your friends, engaging in conversation, not just keeping up, but leading it. It's listening you sing along to the radio in the car. It's watching you read your books outloud, listening to you re-tell the stories.

It's all these little moments everyday that make me so proud of you, and how hard you work everyday.

Bragging...AGAIN.

We had lunch this afternoon at Sanitary Fish Market in Morehead City. While we were waiting to pay the bill, Christian saw the stand of yummy candy on the way out and began to just chat it up with the ladies there.

"Wow, look at that! That's a lot of candy! I've been a good boy, Mommy!"

The sweet ladies looked down and complimented me on how well he speaks for a little guy. They asked me how old he was, and when I told them he was just 2.5 they were shocked. So, of course I wanted to shock them again. I turned Christian around, showed them his CI and his aid, gave the quick 15 second "My son is Deaf but speaks and hears thanks to this miracle of a technology" talk.

As they oohed and ahhed, I smiled, and thanked God silently. I'm such a proud and lucky CI Momma.

Imaginative Play

Over the past couple of months, I've really noticed Christian's imagination just blossom. Just as every 2 year old boy does, Christian makes sound effects for all of his vehicles. He makes them crash into the wall, and almost always exclaims "Oh no, car! CRASH!". He is completely obsessed with anything and everything that has to do with fire trucks. For his 2nd birthday, he got this amazing fire house set from Fisher-Price.. It is set up in a little nook in our kitchen, and is officially his favorite toy. He has named all of the firemen, with the help of his Nana and Daddy (Joe, Mike, and Leroy). I hear him throughout the day making Joe do various things such as "Go up the ladder Joe". My favorite is when he puts Mike on this trap door and says "Down the hatch Mike". He'll make up long audible stories about these firemen and all the things they do at the firehouse. I found them all laying down on the top floor, and he said "Firemen are taking a nap. Firemen sleepy".

My favorite is when he plays with his friends and they make up little scenes in the firehouse with their guys. He handed one of the firemen to his friend the other day and asked him to "Put Mike down the pole...Weee".

I can't help but just smile and laugh listening to my deaf son play like this. I never thought that I would hear him play and use the vocabulary necessary for this type of play. It makes me proud, and I feel so blessed to witness yet another Cochlear Implant miracle day after day.

If Your Happy And You Know It...

Jump up and down and give your little boy a HIGH FIVE!

Yeah, that's what I did today. Our fabulous nanny who helps me two days a week while I work from home was here today. She was singing "If Your Happy And You Know It" to the monkey. I was in my room, getting ready to shower (at 4pm...ah, the life of a Mom), and all of the sudden, I heard:

"AP-EE! AP-EE! AP-EE"

I LOVE IT! It seems like everyday he's picking up new words. I've noticed since his implant that he is also ALOT more responsive to music and songs. He likes to sing-along and bop up and down and dance.

I feel so blessed being able to witness these small miracles everyday.

25dbs BABY!

Today we had Christian's 4th mapping at Hopkins and we were SO thrilled when he had consistent repeatable responses at 25db-ACROSS ALL FREQUENCIES. Check out the Speech Banana so you can get an idea of where he is hearing now. Even though his aids amplified him up to 45db, he never had access to sounds higher than 750hz. With his implant, Christian now has access to almost all of the SPEECH SOUNDS. This technology truly is a miracle.

His map was adjusted and turned up a bit more, and we have 4 new programs to try. Christian is constantly amazing us with how fabulous he is doing with his implant, and we can't wait to see what these new programs can do for him. We haven't started our official aural rehabilitation through Hopkins yet due to some scheduling conflicts there on their time (although we are going to speak with a SLP tomorrow about getting things scheduled), but we have been working around the clock with Christian on his listening and speaking skills. My Event Planning skills are definitely getting rusty, but I am sure that I can give some of the SLPs a run for their money these days! It seems like everyday he has a new word or sound. His new favorite words are Ketchup and Hot Dog. Such a boy.

Sometimes, you just need to hear it from other people.

This past weekend, I was so glad to have my best friend from home fly in and spend the weekend with us. it was so nice to spend time with her and to be able to actually talk in person and not over the phone!

I was so excited for her to see how well Christian was doing with his implant. Christian decided to completely show off, and started saying some new words this weekend just for his Aunt Kate, like "Hot Dog". Kate was so proud of him, and definitely couldn't believe how wonderful he was doing.

We also attended one of my dearest and closest friend's little boy's 1st Birthday party. Over the years, we've become close with her extended family, and they all have followed along our journey with Christian. Everyone at the party was just so happy to see Christian chit-chatting and talking to EVERYONE. He was helping his buddy with his presents, turning to his name, clapping when people clapped behind him, and again, showing off.

While we know that Christian is doing well, it just is nice to hear other people notice it too. I'm glad I have a little show-off!

Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose...

I HAVE TO GET A VIDEO OF THIS!

Christian is now pointing to his body parts and even attempting to say them. When I ask (and of course sign!!!) to him "Where is your Nose?", he points to his. When I ask him "Where are Mommy's Ears?", he sticks his cute little finger right on my ear.

Seriously, he is amazing. How is my profoundly Deaf son who is only aided with ONE aid right now doing this? Prayers are being answered.

xoxoxox

Mommy!!! FINALLY!

Just a quick note to let everyone know (especially my parents who I know are sick of hearing me talk about this) that Christian FINALLY signed "MOMMY" this evening. If take a look to the right and see his running list of signs, the kid is doing great. There was just something about him signing "Balloon" and not "Mommy" that made me a bit sad. He HAD his "Ma Ma Ma" spoken sounds, that disappeared a couple of months ago. So, this evening, once Daddy got home, and we we practiced walking on the front lawn, the little man FINALLY signed my name. Chuck deserves a big hug and a kiss from me, as I know he's been working very hard on this particular sign and word with Christian. Thanks sweetie!

I'll never, ever, EVER forget this day.

First Steps

I know. Everyone has warned me to be careful for what I wish for. My monkey is SO heavy, that carrying him and holding him these days for long periods of time has become burdensome and quite a pain. So, yes...I have been wishing and praying for him to walk.

He decided yesterday was the day, and now takes 4 or 5 steps to his Mommy or Daddy. I'll work on getting a video up soon.

As a family, we're also taking our first steps today on a different sort of journey. We're visiting The Johns Hopkins Listening Center and meeting about Christian's cochlear implant candidacy. I'm not sure what to expect, but we're hoping that we'll have some answers on what road we're going to be taking next. I'm nervous and anxious. So, we'll see how it goes.

Every little bit helps

We had behavioral booth testing today, and all I can say is OH MY GOD.

Something we're doing is working.

Maybe it's the constant enunciation. Maybe it's always making eye contact. Maybe it's reducing the background noise in our house. Maybe it's the repetition. Maybe it's just the aids working. Maybe he's gotten the hang of "Learning to Listen". Maybe it's because I'm literally in my kids face ALL WAKING HOURS speaking and signing to him and making every moment of our day together a LANGUAGE OPPORTUNITY.

Or maybe it's just because he's older, we're wiser, and he's a rockstar.

Whatever it is, we're going to keep doing it.

Christian's hearing loss is in the severe-profound range. Without his aids, he hears in the 85db-80db range. Today in the booth he had CONSISTENT responses in the 45-40db level. That puts his hearing loss in the moderate range aided. No kidding. We knew he was hearing alot more than we thought he was when he started throwing out words like Hat and Cat. I think that while he is doing alot of lipreading, that he really can hear that hard "T" sound. I never would've expected him hearing THIS well though. It's just wonderful.

Still, even with his fantastic progress, our audiologist today indicated that she believes he would benefit from a CI. The aids cannot be amplified anymore. In fact, she told us that other than for ear molds, there's not much more that she needs to do with him.

So, we're waiting for the Hopkins appointment, and we'll see what they say. In the meantime, I'll just continue to brag about how well my kid is doing.

Ladies and Gentleman, We have "Ball"

Aunt Jess sent Christian a BALL PIT for his birhtday....needless to say, HE LOVES IT! He's been saying "Ball" for quite a bit, but I haven't really seen a consistent use of the sign up until this past week.

Check out the video I took of him in the pit, saying AND signing BALL!
*disable the music below before playing!*

It's So Much Fun Being One!

It's official. He's no longer my little baby. My sweet little infant, nestled in my arms, dependent on me for everything. No more cute little baby clothes with smocking and ducks. No more SIDS MOVEMENT MONITOR (ok, that's a good thing). No more gummy smiles...no more baby...

He's now a TODDLER. He is One Year Old. And I am still flabbergasted on how freaking fast this year went. He eats whatever we eat as a family. He has MOLARS for Pete's Sake.

We celebrated his 1st Birthday this past weekend, in our usual style, with a "Cupcakes and Cocktails" theme. Our little party had almost 50 people in attendance, an insane amount of alcohol involved, a moonbounce, suprise guests, and lots of cupcakes. We felt so lucky to have our little guy surrounded by our family and friends (who learned how to sign HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!). His Aunties Natty, Ali, Rezzie, and Jax all spoiled him COMPLETELY ROTTEN, and also helped us pull off the party with ease. Thanks to my folks, who took care of the little details like cleaning my house and taking care of the food, Chuck and I were actually able to enjoy our time with Christian and our guests. I have to say though, the biggest surprise was my Aunt and Uncle from NC showing up and having a cameo appearance. It meant so much to us that they made the trip!

Throughout the party, I couldn't help but look around and FEEL the love that was in our home. With all the ups and downs we've had this year, we have relied alot on our family and friends' strength and prayers. Our entire circle of friends has embraced our new journey that we are on with Christian, understanding that we are on a bit of a different one than they may be on. We are SO lucky...

Christian learned to sign AND speak the word "Hat", just in time for his party. Ok, his spoken "Hat" sounds a bit more like "BPAT", but give the kid a break. He can't even hear the "H" sound. He loved all the attention he was getting, but was not into eatting his cake. He was more into smearing the frosting ALL over the place. Who doesn't love STICKY fingers?!

I made a little movie with the highlights from the party...be sure to disable the music at the bottom before clicking on it.

Al Gore Is Onto Something....

What do Washingtonians do when it's 71 degrees in January?

For the past two days, DC has been feeling the effects of Global Warming. Christian absolutely loved getting into his stroller without his wintercoat that makes him look like Randy the kid brother from A Christmas Story. Be sure to disable the music at the bottom of the blog before watching the video.

Melting my heart...REPETITIVE CONSONANTS!

Christian has ALWAYS been very verbal (surprisingly enough), even before he received his aids. Due to his loss, he obviously hasn't been hitting ANY of his language milestones (which even though I know he's deaf, it still bums me out).

It just so happens that after his aids were readjusted with a 4db gain (he's hearing in the 60-65 db range with his aids now) that we now have the MA MA MA MA MA MA sound. It's loud. It's clear. Is it him experimenting with his mouth? Is it a fluke? Is he really babbling? Whatever the reason, I'll take it. I started crying today I was so happy and emailed our EI teacher immediately. I think he is LEARNING TO LISTEN!

God's Love Letter...

This whole weekend has been just wonderful. We spent it together as a family, not stressing about test results, communication strategies, or the unknown. We just focused on eachother. We needed it. BOY, did we need it.

This weekend was Christian's first with his hearing aids, and he did fantastic. I couldn't be prouder of my little guy. Sure, he got curious every so often about the aids, but he kept them in. Chuck and touched them more than he did, as we were constantly investigating the "buzz". We learned that since his right ear has a higher setting on it (that's the ear that he is profoundly deaf in), it will have more feedback. Sure, it's going to be an adjustment. He has these special little tools, cases, clips, batteries, you name it....all to let him hear. And we're trying so hard to make sure that we put them in right. I did have one moment, when I looked at my sweet little man playing with his new Tonka truck and thought "He deserves better than this". And then he looked up at me, gave me the cutest 6 3/4 tooth smile he could, and I snapped out if. Yes, he deserves better. Yes, THIS SUCKS. However, we're dealing. We will continue to deal. And he will be great. We know it.

Today on our leisurely stop at our favorite bagel shop, I noticed two very nice looking young men walk in. One was really tall with curly hair. The other was of medium build, and I swear he looked Greek (which is part of the reason I think I remember them so vividly, b/c I always look at greek-types wondering if we're related). They were handsome, and they looked just like any other college-age kids...and then they started to sign to one another. I just about jumped out of my seat, grabbed a pen (because I knew my mediocre ASL would NOT help me out at this point) and wrote:

"Hi! My name is Tina. My son is deaf. What's the sign for Bagel?"

Ok. Stop. Look up at what I just wrote.

Forget the fact that I talked to complete strangers (b/c if you know me, you know that's not a big deal). And, yes, I needed to know the sign for bagel, because Christian was CHOMPING on one at our table. I referred to my kiddo as deaf for the first time...FOR REAL. And I WAS PROUD. I was proud to be able to use my crappy understanding of ASL to sign his name to them and to give him is age and to say Thank You. I was proud to sign "I'm his Mommy". But most of all, I was proud of Christian. Meeting those two guys is what my friend calls a Love Letter from God. It's hard to explain, but when you get one, you know it.

This week is going to be one for the record books. We have several doctors appointments, and LOTS of playdates with our friends for the neighborhood. Tomorrow night, I'm heading to Buy Buy Baby with a dear friend of mine to help her register for her shower. A Moms Night Out is in the works with the MOMs Club, and one of my good friends' birthdays is on Thursday. Most importantly, I'm heading to Pittsburgh for a bachelorette road trip for one of my best friends. It's going to be A CRAZY BUSY WEEK!

xoxoxox