Medical Bracelets

Got these from : http://www.simaenterprises.com/ Love them! They are waterproof which is always a plus and you can see from Brook's a little card slides inside w/all the necessary info that you write yourself. I would advise buying the pen unless you have one yourself, needs to be extra fine tip so you can write it all in.

Decorating the CIs part 2

Thanks to another mom on cicircle, Julie (mom to a beautiful girl named Lera), we are now proud owners of flower coils. These are very light (the buttons were a little heavy) and easy as pie to do. Now Julie is way more crafty than I and has Lera's very fancy, but this is the generic version since this is all I could come up with. These are held on like I did the buttons with small velcro circles. I bought the artificial flowers at WalMart and cut the stem off completely so the back is now flat, attach the stick on velcro and you have it. Brook likes these best of all!!

Just Because

Some people are just always nice because they want to be. The kids had 10.00 each and wanted to go to Kmart which is only 25 miles away but they had a change of heart at the last minute and wanted to stop in Cracker Barrel first to see if they had any 10.00 items to spend their money on. I agreed to go look and Gage immediately found this jacked-up jeep for 7.99 and Brook was just looking at everything. Well this lady who works there was eavesdropping on our conversation about either getting the jeep now or chancing that it won't be there the next time we visit. He asked the lady to hide it for him and she explained that she couldn't just hide it(although she was getting a kick out of him), he'd better get it she said, it was the only one left. He said "but it cost 7.99 and then I'll have to pay tax, I just don't know that I can afford this right now". hahaha, she and I both were a little taken back by this comment and I was all for him getting it so we didn't have to go anywhere else. Brook had decided on the grabber thing that picks stuff up off the ground. Next came the manager, actually to talk to the lady who was employed there but he too was drug into this "BIG" decision of the day. He put on his best sales pitch and he and Gage talked about the hydraulics, the lift kit, the suspension. Finally, he had sold him! We were getting this Jeep. I usually notice people glancing at his implant or asking me what that is, but this time, no one looked! I watched, their eyes were looking directly at his eyes. I said NOTHING! So we walked over to the cash register and Gage again spoke to the lady, calling her by name (he'd read her name tag!!). This poor lady nearly fell on the floor after that, she couldn't believe this little guy could read her name. He is a little small for his age but he is in fact six and in the first grade, despite being almost the same size as my four year old. Anyway, I heard the manager call this lady back and he gave her a basket..."after they pay for their toys, let them pick out several candies and put it all in the basket for an Easter Basket! no charge" I was floored. So they paid for their toys and then picked out several candies, not just .50 candy but like a flashlight full of candy and more. I was so astonished at how nice they were! And this was no charity. They just really liked Gage! Brook was just wandering around the whole time and she didn't even speak to the people. So I finally told the lady, "that's plenty really, y'all are sooo sweet! you didn't have to do that but how nice!" Gage continued to talk to everyone and as we were leaving I looked at the lady and said "you have no idea, do you?" and she gave a confused look...I said "you have no idea that they are both completely deaf. They have cochlear implants now but when they are off, they hear nothing". Her jaw was on the floor, I kid you not. I then gave her a quick explanation that he had to learn to hear first, then learn to talk, then learn to read. She had been so impressed w/him reading the other employee names like Rhonda (which is a hard one for a 6 yr old to be reading w/the silent letter). I knew that those people didn't need that information to be so kind. I felt like if they realized how much I appreciated it, it may give them the encouragement to keep up the good work. We parents often get stares, rude comments, stupid questions, you name it. When someone is kind to us FIRST, and not out of pity, it truly makes me want to be a better person. I think we left the Cracker Barrel today with more than just prizes, and I can't thank them enough! Makes you just want to be nice to everyone, you never know how much it can mean. And after a rough night of hateful emails the night before, this kindness came at a good time for me.

Reading abilities of deaf children

(still haven't figured out how to close caption videos myself) Recently the topic came up about how some studies (believed to be dated)show that deaf people even in high school are not beyond about a fourth grade reading level. Well, some of us don't agree! This book he is not familiar with and has little trouble reading it. It's on a 4-8 year old level, meaning a 4 yr old could understand it and an 8 yr old could read it independently. You'll see he's only six and does very well for his first independent reading of it. There is a difference in learning to read and reading to learn. This transition usually takes place by fourth grade where kids have to learn to comprehend and actually acquire and retain knowledge from what they are reading. Reading expands vocabulary as well. Gage doesn't LOVE to read, he finds it boring so I buy those four wheeler and truck magazines, he loves those. The trick is finding something interesting to them.

Just Like Me

So I'm on the computer and I notice how quiet Brooklyn is...fearing that she's just colored on my walls as usual, I jump up to find my little sweet girl has just given her doll an implant, complete w/belt for the controller and everything. Some of her babies are hearing and some are not. She informed me that it was not an implant but a hearing aid "just like me when I was a baby". She recently saw a video of her when she was an infant.

Gage's old voice

"da do known" it how it sounded but he's trying to tell me that it has chocolate on it. quick sample of speech before he learned to hear well.

activation day

this is how funny Gage thought hearing thru his ci was for the first time. You can hear my mother saying "can you hear Brook" as Brook cooed in the background. Just came across this and thought I'd share.

Decorating the CIs

I've been seeing other parents decorating their little ones' cochlear implants/hearing aids. I'm experimenting here. Brook loves the big buttons and for Valentines Day, I tried making a heart from felt. Felt tends to sit flush w/the coil but the buttons stick out a bit. I need to lower Brook's magnet strength for one thing, she's wearing a two right now and it's pushed out pretty far, thus causing the buttons to stick out. Brook said this when she saw me adding the buttons to her coils..."that's what I want for MY real baby!!" Four years old and already planning for her real baby(who is going to have two cis like her, she says). Anyone wanting to share their decorating ideas, send them my way, I'm not creative!

as easy as 1...2...3

Some people use toupee tape but this is what we use, we have access to it at Walmart and have used it for six and a half years now,even with hearing aids. Some people still have trouble keeping those aids/processors on so I'm showing our easy 1,2,3.

Brook Speaking

she has common speech errors which perfectly fine for a four year old! If you listen she says "b" for v in vacuum, she's working on her "r"s and "l"s as well, they seem to come and go. Here you'll find common speech errors.
http://www.speech-pathology.org/pathologists/resources/speechdevelopment.php copy and paste

Gage's first phone call

this was his first official phone call to someone outside the family. He phoned this little boy in his class and was so nervous, he forgot to hold the phone near his implant. I think the little boy's sister was distracting to him as well since you can hear her. He did so good, I helped him out a little but he was so proud of himself!

Brook the teacher

she even remembered to praise her baby for a job well done, when the baby got the correct stickers !

Brook reading a book to me

Can you say TEMPER!! When she is in the mood to be the teacher, she does not want my help!!!!!

Correcting OTHER'S Speech

We have made progress w/Gage correcting people's speech, he does it in private now! At a family gathering last week, he ran over and jumped in my lap and whispered that another family member made a mistake. I said "that's okay, what was it?" and he said,"she said mu instead of much." I had to throw in a "good listening Gage." Now here in the deep South, people do at times slack on the word endings. We don't necessarily pronounce the ends of words as clearly as we do the beginnings, I catch myself at times leaving the endings of words off as well.example(yella/yellow) and I think sometimes what I notice people doing, is maybe finishing their words but unvoiced...guess it's just dialect but I do have to say, having two deaf children has really improved my speech! Guess I had to improve or Gage would correct me...wouldn't that be something if a boy born deaf became an AVT!

Sound Check Cochlear Implants

I do this in addition to a Ling check to see what frequencies may need adjusting.I use this chart: www.soesd.k12.or.us/Page.asp?NavID=713 I do this w/both children.I write down problem areas and compare notes w/audiologist.

Look at our library book !!!

I can't tell you how honored I was to walk into my library today and check out Jodi's book Rally Caps. I've read the book already since I ordered a copy for myself a while back but decided it should be in my library as well and here it is!! We were the first at our library to check it out! All I had to do was ask the library after I had them help me search for books w/characters wearing cochlear implants. When they discovered they had none to offer, they were more than happy to put her book in our library and told me anytime I had a specific book in mind they would always do their best to order it for me! How nice is that? You rock Jodi!