Gage gives his views on dating

I decided to share one our usual chats we had. At age seven, he already knows he wants a lot of girlfriends, and he thinks he's figured out how to save small pets...?
He's now been hearing w/his ci for three and a half years!

Good Speech Therapy

Does this look like therapy? Actually at the park we went to today to have our outdoor speech lesson for Brooklyn, had a little waterpark inside. So this was their reward for participating in today's lesson. We were working on the "F" sound so we did some sentence repeating and I said mine incorrectly to see if anyone would catch my errors. Brook caught only one error but Gage caught all my "mistakes" and took pride in pointing them out to me.

Deaf Children and Music

So Kim sparked a memory for me with her post about music. When I was pregnant with Gage at age 26, I had a good job which I enjoyed, even the one hour drive gave me time to listen to my music. I love anything from rockers like Pearl Jam, to rappers like Tupac (2Pac, aka Makaveli)... Now as I drove that one hour to and from work, I would crank up "my music" and sing the words as best I could, admiring the geniuses who wrote them. I noticed a consistency. When I played rap, my dear sweet, unborn child would roll around inside my belly. He'd stretch and kick, and I'd laugh, imagining him throwing up his "rap hands" as I did when I would get into the songs. People always would tell me, "you better enjoy that music while you can!" meaning the lyrical content wouldn't be appropriate for a young child. So I did...enjoyed every word, every breath, every story told thru those speakers.
When Gage was born, we quickly found out why he picked rap as his favorite music...he was in fact deaf. He couldn't hear me talk to him as he rode reverse in the back seat, he couldn't even see me...but he could feel the radio...if I put it on just the right tune. After all, I didn't have to worry about the lyrics anymore. So we continued our love of rap...until he got his cochlear implant that is. Now as you may have seen from previous posts, he's ACDC/Alice in Chains all the way! As far as feeling the music now, Brook is my rapper. She loves bass! But Gage loves the guitars and the voices that scream! Gage does still feel music and songs...but on a much deeper/higher level now. I don't mean physically, I mean he has learned how to emotionally feel a song. If you look to the upper right column of my blog here you'll see two slide shows. The one where Gage and Brook are babies has a beautifully done version of "Amazing Grace". Gage nearly cried when I was making that slide show just from listening to that song. He came up to me, hid behind me (one of the few times he's ever been shy or embarrassed) and asked me if I might cry listening to that song. I saw the look on his face and I could tell he was a little touched. I explained how beautiful the song was and lots of people cry at songs. He doesn't have tears...never has, never will so not a tear was shed. But he was touched. He's much more into music than Brook is at this point, as a matter of fact I have to wrap it up here, he's awakened and now waiting his morning youtube dose of Highway to Hell...so much for that lyrical content huh?

"Hay Man"

So I didn't have time to blog yesterday, why?...Because at 830am I was out in the garden, watering what little has survived my husband's tilling this year and guess who pulls up?...the Hay Man...named Peanut. I have another "neighbor" named Cornbread.*grin* Anyway, lucky I had taken these shots the day before but at 830 am I didn't have my camera in hand as I thought I had only came outside to garden. Well, he came to collect all his hay he had cut and bailed the day before. He loaded them all up on his loooong trailer and he rolls the window down and asks if Gage wants to come help him (we know him well btw) Gage is busy saying "what? huh?", looking back and forth quickly between me and Peanut afraid he'll miss the important information exchange. While Bilateral Brook heard him clear and has already made her way up to his big truck. Then when Gage figures out he's about to miss something big, he's off in a sprint...which means I am too. Peanut being the kind man, can't leave Brook behind and says "Mom, you may have to go too, I can't handle them both and run the tractor"...so off we go a mile away to the chicken farm. The kids took turns riding in the big tractor picking up bails and loading them into his hay barn. It was very loud and a busy farm, glad I went. While he took his turn first, Gage talked non stop. Though I couldn't read his lips, I'm sure it had something to do with mud, trucks, tractors or tires. Brook had her turn and only waved, signed "I love you" and grinned her shyest grin. We all had fun and learned lots of new vocabulary yesterday. Then we went swimming w/some friends...big day but we all slept well. Oh did I mention Brook has a black eye? Somehow a pad lock flew from Gage's hand and nearly knocked her eye out....and they look so sweet....?

Playing Catch Up

Okay so I visited around some of my favorite blogs yesterday and today, when I saw a really, really good one from Kim titled "Shel asked, What it was like?" ...it's about her losing her hearing, it's awesome to read how she explains to people who have always been d/Deaf how we hear compared to sounds thru hearing aids and she has the cutest picture of herself (taken just a few years ago!)
If you haven't read, please do. Then I stopped by Rachel's and saw "Scars from CI Surgeries" and I had to dig out my pictures of the kids. Now before Gage turned two he had a ci surgery and they couldn't locate his cochlea so they were not able to implant. This was our doctor's typical incision during 2003. Now w/Brook's last ci surgery (2007) when she became Miss Bilateral you see the incision from this same doctor had been revised and perfected to three inches, in just four years!!

Caution Hearing Impaired Children

A few years ago when I had these signs put in front of my house after moving to the open country land in which we now live...I would have never dreamed I'd be typing what I'm about to. At the time I had just found out Brook was losing her hearing, already at a mod/severe level and Gage was recovering from cochlear implant surgery, hearing nothing...as we awaited his activation date. I called the sign man for the second time, explaining that I really needed those signs (I had asked the month before) because on our old country road, people aren't as cautious as they are in busy traffic. "Yes, ma'am....I understand" he said and within days they were up on my street. Oh people slowed down alright, to take a look...to stare...maybe they thought we looked abnormal or maybe they were just curious..? At that point in time, I was taking things day by day, no real long term plans for my kids, just hoping that if nothing else...they would learn to communicate well with the family and just do the best that they could in school. If I had fast forwarded to see this blog/journal I would have never believed that it was me writing!

Today we cleaned house...literally. The kids are growing up but our house is not so I needed them to downsize their toys so we could have room to breathe. As it turns out, now that Gage is a little man of 7 years...he don't even need a toy box anymore. (sniff, sniff) He's grown into big boy toys and they do not require a toy box...tools are in his tool box, his hot wheels in their case, video games w/the tv.
So we went the 20 min drive into town to the local Salvation Army to donate what we no longer need and I also needed to run a few errands. I asked the little man if he wanted to try to go into the post office alone. He agreed he could handle it so I told him "I need 30, one cent stamps." There was practically nobody in there and he went in alone, only to return w/a note and pen. "Right it down, I forgot"....I looked at him w/the confidence I sent him in there with and said "you can do it, I need 30 one cent stamps" and I gave him the pen and blank paper back. By this time five people walked in and he had to wait, and wait, and wait. After about four or five min...I admit I had already unbuckled my safety belt and told Brook to do the same, I figured he needed help. To my surprise, he bolted out the door, all smiles w/the stamps in hand! Woohoo, he's a big boy now! You just never know how things are gonna turn out. So here's your caution sign:
Caution, Hearing Impaired Children.........grow up fast! just like all kids do!

Patient Big Brother

Before you hit play let me explain...both are deaf and swim w/out their cochlear implant processors. He is a skilled lip reader and she is not. Good thing she's liking sign right? He can be very patient when he wants to be.

I think it's ducks...?

Gage thinks maybe he has some duck eggs in his cabin. Since the pond is actually down the street, I seriously doubt it. But he and Brook found baby bird eggs inside their cabin this morning when they went out to play.
p.s. and no comments on the shoes, she always picks out her own clothes...don't worry, we aren't going anywhere today!

Closed Captioning your Videos

Now I have to stand by Deaf Village w/the closed captioning of videos. I've always tried to caption mine and if I added any uncaptioned videos to my blog I always transcribed what was taking place. Sometimes there just wasn't enough to caption so I just wrote in what was said into my post. So if I or anyone decides to add a video to our posts who are subscribed to Deaf Village, I know that it won't be posted on the board w/out captions or transcription and I'm fine with that. I totally understand that it wouldn't be fair. I can't understand any ASL vlogs so I've been handicapped at reading and learning from their vlogs. Now, if they are on Deaf Village and want a video posted, they'll be required to caption, just like I was asked to from many readers at Deafread some time ago. So I personally applaud Deaf Village for making this a rule. Also there are other supporters as well, I read Jamie Berke this morning who was in favor too.

He's on the phone again....?

This time he's taking messages! I couldn't believe it when my child, came running out after lunch today as I mowed the lawn, to inform me that my sister had called. With impending thunderstorms this afternoon I decided to cut the grass quickly today while they played video games inside. (and yes Mother, I went inside three times to check on them, they were fine!) But after I had been out there for about twenty minutes, Gage came running outside, like the house was on fire. I cut the lawnmower off to find out he was just relaying a PHONE message he'd taken moments earlier. I finished cutting grass wondering if the message was correct. Apparently I was to call her back at two clock...which I did. Indeed she had called and she repeated their conversation and he told her (via speaker phone) that I was cutting the grass and maybe I'd be done by two...which is funny because she phoned at 11:30 and although we have a lot of yard being in the country, we don't have that much!!At least not that we cut w/a lawnmower, the rest is cut w/the tractor...(and I don't do tractors). She went on to tell me what a long conversation they had. He told her all about the new toy truck he'd bought, he described how he was taking care of Brook since I was outside...I was very surprised since I'm usually there to help with these things. Just goes to show, they need to try things on their own. I would have assumed he couldn't do that, but HE SHOWED ME! Good listening practice, get those guys to see if they can repeat things via telephone, or walkie talkie even!

Daddy did you know?

Daddy did you know I'm a big girl now?...I can help you fix things, I can go hunting, and I can go camping, just like my big brother. Daddy did you know I love it when I get asked to go ride four wheelers or go to the parts store, 'cause I'm so big...but I'm still small enough to hold in your arms and rock before bedtime...and Daddy did you know that I love you despite how many times I may tell you as a teenager I don't!...(always remember I do)...And did you know when I wrapped my newborn hand around your pinky that you'd be giving that tiny hand to a man one day that I hope is JUST LIKE YOU!!...and Daddy did you know I'm the luckiest little girl in the world to have a daddy like you? Happy Father's Day!

I Am Aware

As parents of deaf children we not only become so close to our kids just because we love them, we become very aware of the things around us for teaching purposes, for safety reasons, and communication flow. I talk teaching purposes all the time so I'll only brief you on that subject. We all know how to take all of the day's opportunities to add language/vocabulary/speech into our children's developing little minds. The children look out at the pouring rain and we, as sometimes obsessive teachers, think "it's raining cats and dogs" a good little idiom to explain, or we think of a little song to sing "it's raining it's pouring" or we describe the saturation with any and every word we pull from our internal thesaurus.
Now I, as a parent of deaf children I am also aware of my surroundings for safety purposes. It's easier to hear to certain things if you are told what to listen for. I've read somewhere that if you see/hear the questions first, you are more likely to be able to answer them correctly after a passage has been read, since you know the key things to listen/watch for. However, in life we don't always get questions first. Our conversation takes place and then you are tested by your peers with the various questions that follow. Sometimes for safety reasons, I give the kids what to listen for. As we walk from our car, thru the parking lot, hoping to make it into the store safely, I'll say "now listen for cars cranking, or backing up". If they are outside playing, I say "listen for cars/strangers to pull up and run inside if hear anyone".
I am also aware how dependent Gage is w/out his processor on his vision. While outside swimming, if one drop of water gets into his eyes, temporarily impairing his vision, it's panic time until he wipes his eyes. I have to keep a towel really close for him at all times while swimming. Brook isn't a very good speech reader, and she could care less if water gets in her eyes. She is still visual and has recently shown interest in sign where Gage still has not. Gage seems to have an internal switch where, while wearing his processor on he's dependent on hearing. Take that away and he's reading people. I'm also aware that with no processor, I have to watch my positioning when speaking to him. I have to make sure my full face is looking his way, no partial views, no hair hanging in my face. Sometimes if we are outside I have to remove my glasses which are transition lenses and turn into sunglasses outside. I also have to position his back to the sun so he's not looking into the sun to read my face. I watched him at the beach and he would talk to people, have full on conversations with people who never knew they were talking to a deaf child. The conversations just flowed. I watched him study their faces, I think they loved that about him, he seemed so caring, so respectful, so interested in what they had to say...and all may have been true but I was aware he was reading. His ability to maintain communication flow w/or without his processor amazes me, he's a very skilled conversationalist. Brook never relied on speech reading and was implanted before it got to that point, but Gage went quite some time as a three year old reading speech only, no hearing. So his skills have been rightfully earned I guess. I'm sure many parents can relate, we become more aware of even the little things than ever thought we would. Sometimes I find myself telling people, even family, "she didn't hear you...someone was sliding a chair just as you spoke, can you repeat that?" because they assume she's not minding, or assume she's not interested, when in fact she never heard what they said to begin with.
So as parents of these little guys we become much more aware, consider it a gift or a curse( I say it's a gift) ...

Rock N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

Gage rode in the BOY CAR on the way to the beach which was full of loud rock n roll music I'm sure! He's already an ACDC fan and also digs Alice in Chains. Well he wrote a little diddy today and I promise you guys it's hard to keep a straight face around my house when we encourage imagination. He demonstrates also good voice imitation and inflection too! We are never bored here!

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

...and I mean it!

call me an AVT mom, 'cause when I see this shot, my first thought is look at all those vocabulary words!!! We have not only colors but new words, new textures and more. What I always try to do when the kids are interested in something, is ask them lots of questions moving through all five senses. "Is it rough or smooth? Can you eat that? Is it sparkly or dull? Does it make a sound? What does it smell like?" So we could sit and discuss one shell for ten minutes! In doing this...Brook holds one shell up to hear ear and when I ask if she heard anything she said "yes, it sounds like The Last Mimzy" (apparently the little girl on that movie listens to a shell??)

Okay, back to reality today!! Which isn't so bad.

The Village People

I'm so excited about www.deafvillage.com if you haven't checked it out...go, run, fast! It just started this weekend and it's like a newspaper online (to me anyway). You can go there each day and catch the headlines from the bloggers who have joined to share their news. Doesn't matter if you are deaf or a parent of a deaf child, or if you are wearing aids or ci's, sign/cue/speak...whatever! I've not read all the headlines yet, but I was lucky enough to participate and read some of their preliminary discussions when setting it up right before my vacation. You can read all about it...go...join...read...mark on your favorites list! I'll be reading w/my cup...I mean pot of coffee each morning to catch the latest on my favorite bloggers.
And Rachel's right, I was told when I had Gage that it takes a village to raise a child.....YOU'RE NOT KIDDING!!

Sand Beneath Our Toes

Well, we are home, we left our footprints in the sand...only to be washed away moments later by the salty sea. The kids were so excited they ran into the ocean with their clothes on!
We Moms are OVERLY cautious sometimes and it took me a full day of the sand and sea to be at ease with my deaf children running around with no processors on. Brook played behind me and Gage in front and I found myself turning from front to back making sure they were still there, even though I had family there to help. I forgot how LOUD the ocean really is, and I found it hard to hear anything other than the waves crashing before us on the shore. I watched Brook build her sand castles and I watched Gage dragging people off the shore line to come see his jellyfish museum. He had collected like six jellyfish in his bucket and he wanted everyone to come see them.

I watched him speak to everyone that passed in his soft voice, he didn't realize he needed to elevate his voice out there since he had no idea how loud it was. I'd point up and say "louder" and he'd raise his voice. I watched him study the careworn faces of the elderly, the overly tanned faces of those teenage girls, and I'm sure he smelled the alcohol from some of the people's breath. These are things we may not even note while at the beach. I had to help him once when I noticed a lady wearing reflective sunglasses and she seemed to be in need of some dental work. I knew that would throw him off so I had to go over and help interpret for him then. We had so much fun and were sad to have to return. We all got along until that last hour, I actually said these words "can you please NOT TALK for ten minutes!" All you moms know how we never imagined we would ever say such a thing about our deaf children, but I have to admit...I did!!!.....more later

New Sounds

The ocean (sea)
The seagulls
The laughter
The wet sand
The music
The splashing
The diving
The seashells
The sharks (oh my)
and much much more
We are leaving for a quick trip to the beach in the morning, these are all new sounds or new vocabulary words for my kids. The last time we went to the beach was four years ago. Brook couldn't hear but we didn't know it and Gage was three months away from his ci surgery, so he heard nothing either! This should be lots of fun. I'll post everything Monday night!
p.s. six hours in a car w/my kids.......hmmm, should be interesting!

the Country

Do you remember me saying "I'd rather see a snake" well I almost stepped on this little booger! Check him out, didn't seem to be poisonous but he's seen his last day anyway. The men paving the road were kind enough to lend me a hand as long as I lent them a hoe. Kids were amused, you know I put my kids on the porch (I mean safety first) and I was like the paparazzi w/my camera.
p.s. for those cringing, this was about five feet from my front porch

Rachel's Raising Cain

AND I DON'T BLAME HER. Rachel (for my family or anyone who may not know) is a young adult who wears cochlear implants as does her little sister. There is a servcie called deafread.com where many of us who are either deaf or have deaf children are members of and it's just a blog listing. It's very organized and we can get up in the mornings and read all the latest deaf related headlines from the one spot (although plenty of people are not members who have good blogs to read too!I have them bookmarked) Many of my blog entries have made it to the front page at times and many have not. Rachel is a very succesful ci girl who has won many educational awards in her time. It would take me a full post to name all of her successes. But that's not even the point. The point is that I had to remove myself as a listing member because they booted Rachel for being a Cochlear VOLUNTEER. They think that she's got Cochlear funding to run her blog and since I too am a Cochlear volunteer, I know that is not true. It saddens me that they booted her w/out even trying to clarify the matter. I too had not disclosed that I was a Cochlear volunteer(yet I wasn't booted)...so as dishonest as they tried to make Rachel feel, I felt obligated to remove my diceitful self off their listing. Many have come out to support Rachel and I'm very glad they have. She has very strong views and maybe that is a threat for some people. I think they were wrong to remove her blog and I know how tough she is, what makes Rachel mad, makes her stronger. So we should be seeing a lot more from her and Elizabeth one of the co authors of www.cochlearimplantonline.com . Gottcha saved girls, and I will be reading.

"Still Waiting for Your Rewards"

...as the commercial goes. Well Gage isn't. He'll just make do w/what he has, and that happens to be a lot of cardboard. Somewhere in that "tent" in my child who actually slept there.

p.s. that is one of my favorite commercials when the guy goes mountain biking w/his friends but he has no bike.

Mapping session

How thrilled does he look? We had a quick mapping session today just in time for the beach! I told the audiologist he was having trouble understanding the birds. No he don't talk to birds but he thought one was a hammer and he thought another was some sort of alarm. Got him straight so now he not only hears them he understands what the sounds are. When she mapped him, he only had some significant changes in higher frequencies. Now he should be able to hear that ocean!
p.s. like the guitar tattoo from Cracker Jack?
and I'm not a Cracker Jack Volunteer (grin)

If You Fall Down, Get Back Up

Gage taught Brook how to ride a bike today. He decided that he would take her training wheels off and teach her to ride...and guess what?...he did just that!! She was so proud of herself, she may have fallen a time or two, but she got back up, and rode! Kind of ironic I was just thinking about how my kids have just taken off, they are getting the things they need by themselves, they are fully independent. So in a sense their training wheels have been removed, they aren't so dependent on mom & dad anymore. They are riding by themselves, not needing to lean on us anymore. Sure we're still here to pick them up, but they're brushing themselves off, and climbing back on, that's the important thing....
on second thought, can we stop the aging process?

I May Have a Signer Afterall part 2

Since Brook has shown an interest in something, we're continuing to build. No captions again but all she's trying to do is spell her name...that K is a little tricky. She starts and then keeps starting over at first but for a brief second you'll see that she does actually get that K. I only showed her twice how to do her name and she seems to be picking it up quickly. Gage wouldn't let me film him as he tried to do his name...it took him quite some time (like three minutes) to get his four letters GAGE and he swapped back and forth from left to right hand...he's just not very coordinated w/the signing. Both kids have mastered spoken language so no matter what you believe about withholding signs or not withholding signs while developing spoken language...you can see there is no need to withhold anything now. She has her speech down pat, as a lot of kids do now days, adding a second or third language even, is quite common for those w/or without hearing loss. Rachel C. as you know has spoken language down and went on to learn and master French. As Brook ages, she may choose to add something else. Who knows. Most of you know by now we tried signing w/Gage as an infant when he couldn't hear but he wasn't having it. There are some kids who just aren't interested, he is one of them and Brook is not. We used AVT all the way w/both kids and now that their spoken language has a solid foundation, we discovered that Brook is going to be much more interested in signing than her brother. I'll have to go to the library and check her some videos out. I will say that this may spark some competition between the siblings. Gage told me the other day as I was putting their batteries in their ci processors..."make sure you make me hear the best!!"...he's told their audiologist this before too! Oh, sibling rivalry! p.s. This is in no way meant to spark any type of battle of the communication modes. This is, as always, a post about what's going on in our house, our situation, our lives. The intent is to show that just because something may be witheld at first, doesn't mean it will always be witheld. What we chose to do worked for us, kids are very different...you can see that plain as day from my two. I'm excited as Brook has a new interest that involves learning. We will continue to build her verbal language but we will also set aside a few minutes each day to add to her signs. I would be just as proud of her if she had chosen French or any other language. Go "B"!! I have to also let Gage know that just because he's not interested, that's okay too. He's good at other stuff.