Cochlear Contest

Are you on Facebook?  If you haven't already seen it, I have a treat for you there.  Search for "Cochlear" on Facebook.  Once you get the Cochlear TM facebook page, click on the box below the banner that says "Celebration 2013 Video Contest."  You will see a few thumbnails for videos.  You should recognize Boo's video ... there is a picture of us nose to nose.  Will you do us a favor and vote today, tomorrow and Thursday for that video?

This is the thumbnail picture

If we win, we get a free plane ticket to San Diego and hotel stay at the Cochlear conference, where we get to learn more about Boo's implants.  I think we may have a chance.  It would be great if you voted!  Especially any of you out there that have been "lurkers" on this blog.  You can remain anonymous, because I can only see the votes of those who are friends with me on FB.

Thanks so much!!!

Evelyn and Boo


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Alas, we did not win the contest, but I am happy we created the video.  It was worth it.  A teenaged girl with implants won.  I think she will get a lot out of the conference.  She deserves it.  Thanks for your support!

Thoughts on Conspicuousness (Part 2) - Confusion

There are some stories that are just confusing when you are a conspicuous family.  People try to do the right thing, but miss the mark, often showing how much our family stands out.  There are so many stories.  Remember this one of my sweet father in law and Scootle-Doot?  Yeah, well there are more.

Once, I was with Scootle and Boo at an Aquarium with friends.  It was busy that day.  I was able to keep Boo close, but excited Scootle was racing from exhibit to exhibit.  At one point, I see that he is getting too far away and I start to call out to him.  Oblivious, he keeps on walking ahead and I lock my eyes on him and try to catch up.  Two older African-American women are near Scootle as he starts looking around.  They see he is lost and one of them gently guides Scootle to an African-American family at an exhibit even further away.  I keep calling out to him and finally the woman's friend gives her an elbow jab and raised eyebrows, throwing her head back in my direction.  The woman registers all of this and returns Scootle to me, with much apology.  This is both comical and frustrating.  I know they meant well and I do not blame them.  It is just frustrating to think of the implications of my lost child getting "returned" to the wrong people!

Something similar happened with Boo.  Last summer, we had an extended family vacation at a beach.  At the beach, Boo is completely deaf.  His processors cannot get wet, so we take them off.  I sometimes try to leave them on when he plays in the sand, but he is so used to it that he doesn't even want them.  This means that Boo ends up playing by himself, content in his own little world, hearing nothing.  Due to the tides that particular week, we set up our chairs on top of a small hill.  Below the hill were little tidepools that the kids liked to play in.  Boo was content staying there by himself while the big kids played in the surf.  There were at least four adults up on the hill watching over him.  He gets up and starts walking around the pools.  A couple comes walking up the beach.  (You can guess what happens next, can't you?)  They decide he is lost and start ushering him in our direction.  I jump up and go down the hill, mama bear mode.  They come to tell us that this poor little boy is lost and ask if we have seen his family.  I let them know emphatically that WE are his family.   I am sure they were flabbergasted and mortified, but I don't even look at them.  I just scoop him away.  FRUSTRATING!

Boo at the beach just last week, in his own world

At a grocery store I frequent REGULARLY with my kids, one of the workers there would always look at us.  Finally, she got the nerve to ask me if I was a social worker.  White woman + black kids = social worker?  I can't quite pinpoint all the reasons why, but the scenario still makes me sad.  I think our culture thinks white people + black children = charity.  Not so!  How could I possibly explain to the world how much I needed children in my life?  How can I explain that as much as one thinks adoption is a "good thing," that the "good thing" is only a tiny piece of the big, complicated puzzle? (Note to self:  try to illustrate this puzzle!)

These stories rest uneasily in my gut.  There are no easy excuses or answers for how people acted here.  I am not even exactly sure how to react.  I am left confused, enraged.  I confess I am also left snickering a bit.  How about you?  Do you have stories like this to share? 

Friday Flick - Jumping Bean

I finally found a way for my jumping bean to jump without losing his "ears."  Oh, what fun!  (Sorry for the terrible video from my phone - again!)

Things that make you go "Awwww"

Boo-boo and his speech therapist were playing with a doll house today.  She was giving him instructions to "put the bed in the house" and "put the boy in the bathtub."  When it came to "put the mom in the bed," he tried as hard as he could to take the little doll's (painted on) shoes off.  Then, he tried to take her ears off, just like I take his processors off every night before he goes to bed.  

Wordful Wednesday

A little taste of Boo's speech therapy session which happened on Monday .... he is understanding and speaking a lot more.  I think he is up to 100-120 words.

 

It Is....

FOUND !!!

So.... I don't want to implicate any family members in the lost ear fiasco we had over here.   I will just say that we looked everywhere that a 2 ft tall person might have thrown, buried or hid the ear.  What we failed to do was to look everywhere that a 6'3" tall person might have thrown, buried, or hid the ear.  Apparently, a 6'3" person in our house must have been holding a 2 ft person who was having an ear throwing tantrum.  6'3" person did a great thing and put the ear up for safe keeping on top of a storage closet on our back porch.  Perfectly logical in light of a major tantrum, no?  All that to say, the ear was nice and dry - safe and sound.  Thank you for being happy with me.  (And I love the parable parallels.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

The Ear Low Down

He did it.  He finally did it.  Our sweet, adorable, innocent Boo-boo either threw, buried, trashed or shipped one of his cochlear implant processors (aka:  an ear) to an unknown location which he refuses to disclose. 

It happened Saturday, when we had some guys replacing our HVAC compressor outside.  Bill was watching the boys as they looked at the men and played with their various cars and riding things outside.  As the men's work got more involved, I suggested the boys come inside.  As Bill prepared for Boo-boo's inevitable come-inside-meltdown, he noticed he was only wearing one ear.  No big deal, we've seen this before.  He looks around a bit and doesn't find it.  Long story short, we ended up looking for three days straight and did not find the processor.  We have gone over the entire yard with a large magnet AND a metal detector - lots of screws and stuff, but no processor (and I am convinced that a submarine might be buried in our backyard because the metal detector says so).

We are still looking for the ear, inside and outside the house and haven't found it.  It is an $8,000 loss ($1000 more than I thought!).  It has been very distressful and yet it is not as bad as it could be.  When you are implanted with cochlear implants, you receive two back-up processors in addition to the two you wear regularly, so Boo-boo has two pairs.  We put a spare one on immediately.  He has not gone without hearing out of one ear.  Having a back-up pair is important, in case you lose one, or the programs get wiped out of one or both, etc.  Insurance typically replaces a processor per ear ONCE.  The difficult part about all of this is that we expect Boo-boo to wear these processors for 10, 15, 20 years (a lifetime)?  And without even reaching a year after his surgery, he has already lost a processor.  Given our boy's rambunctious nature, and the many years of boyhood left ahead of him, I'm guessing that even though we won't have to pay $8,000 now, we might as well start a separate savings account for the day when we will have to cough up that dough.

We expect to be filing our insurance for a replacement processor by the end of the week if we do not find it.  What do you think?  Any guess as to where it might be?  Suggestions to where we should look?  Just to make things more interesting, here are some bits of extra information:

• weather here is crazy, so the trees have just recently lost all their leaves - we have a few piles of leaves in the yard
• the processor is brown, our yard looks pretty brown
• Boo-boo, Scootle-doot and the dog are co-conspirators in digging lots of holes in the yard, in the - of course - brown dirt!
• the processor has a magnet and we had piles of metal from our old HVAC unit in our backyard
• the men had a van and a trailer in our back yard (don't ask me why the boys were allowed to play there at the same time!)
• a huge hole was dug and then filled in to build a platform for the new AC compressor
• our kid is capable of anything

On a serious note, I want to thank everyone who has been worried, praying, hoping for us to find Boo's ear.  Let's hope we somehow find it by Friday.

Epic Tantrum

So, today's speech therapy session started something like this:

At the sink, the water is running. 

Therapist:  "Boo-boo, turn the water on."

Boo-boo:  "On, pease."

Therapist:  "Fill the cup up.  Full."

Boo-boo:  "Full."

Therapist:  "Pour the water out."

Boo-boo:  "Empty."

Laugh, giggle, joy, full, empty, full, empty, repeat.  Turn the water on, turn the water off.  Dry off the cups and return to the therapist's office.


Therapist:  "Can you put the cow in this bowl and the duck in this one?"

Boo-boo:  "Moo, duck."

Laugh, squeal, repeat with other objects.  Last object - a firetruck, with wheels.  (My boys are nutso about cars and trucks.  Boo-boo loves anything with wheels.)

Therapist:  "Ok, Boo-boo, we are going to read a book.  Can you put the firetruck in the bucket?"

Boo-boo shakes head no.

Therapist:  "Boo-boo.  It's my turn to get the firetruck." 

Boo-boo:  YELL!

Therapist:  "My turn." 

Boo-boo:  Throws off one of his cochlear implant processors.

Therapist:  "No.  Do not throw."

Boo-boo:  YEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!  Throws off second processor.

Therapist and me:  Furiously shaking our heads no since he cannot hear at this point. 

Boo-boo:   Throws firetruck across the room and grabs for ears to throw off processors (which he is no longer wearing). 

I give him my hand to try to calm him - SCRATCH, PINCH!!  YELL!!

At this point, the yelling is constant and LOUD.  Boo's face is purple.  Fierce tears are streaming.  The therapist suggests we try time out.  I concede.  She puts him in a small chair.  He is kicking, screaming, scratching and trying to get away.  At this point, I see fear in his eyes.  I take him in my arms.

Scratch, hit, pintch, pull hair, pull earrings, almost break necklace.  Scream, cry, yell bloody murder.

We try all types of tactics.  I try to soothe him with rocking and stroking.  Nothing stops the non-stop flailing arms and legs, trying to grab any part of me to hurt me while screaming at the top of his lungs.  It has been 10 minutes now and he does not stop.  The session is clearly over, even though our time is not up.  I take him to a secluded area in the hospital - yes, we are in a hospital, with people in little rooms everywhere listening to this screaming child of mine.  We are alone.  Not satisfying.  All of the above continues, while the therapist goes back to her room to retrieve my things, which Boo-boo has thrown all over her office.  By the time she returns, I am crying, too! 

I don't know what to do!  I am so sad that I cannot calm my child.  So sad that I have to restrain him physically to keep him from hurting himself or me.  I am embarrassed to leave the hospital and to pass people in waiting rooms in order to get to my car.  I am a mess - Boo-boo is a mess.  I don't want people to think I am kidnapping my own baby. 

The therapist knows a back way out.  We go downstairs through the emergency exit.  Boo's cries echo up the concrete stairs.  I have to walk a block across a park to get to my car.  I am restraining him while he cries and I cry.  We pass kids playing and people with their dogs who just stop and stare. 

He continues to cry half-way to Scootle-doot's school.  I estimate that this tantrum lasted about half and hour.  He is exhausted and breathing heavy at the end of it all.  His face has a look I have never seen before.  My arms hurt from trying to restrain him for so long.  This was a tough morning, to say the least.  So many questions, so many inadequacies on my part. 

Yes, I know this is very typical behavior for a two year old (he will be two Friday!).  But there is a lot more to this.  My children are fragile and sometimes, I get carried away with their resiliency and forget to respect their needs.  We have been visiting grandparents since last Monday.  I wanted extra help since Bill has been traveling (he returns Wednesday).  There was a lot of driving, a lot of different routines, a lot of different people coming and going.  All of this, while both boys' favorite person in the whole wide word is missing.  We arrived last night and both boys got to bed late. 

This morning, it was a rush to get Scootle to school and Boo to therapy on time.  Add to all of this Boo's inability to express some of the most basic needs of two year olds due to his language delay.  He was tired!  He was happy to wake up in his own bed and home and I plucked him away.  And then I let the therapist put him in time out!?  That look he gave me made me so sad.  It was as if I gave up on him, deserted him.  If anyone was going to put him in time out - which he doesn't understand anyway - it should have been me. 

I canceled my plans to go grocery shopping with the boys this afternoon and all of us just stayed put at home.  We took long naps, played outside and did lots of cuddling while going back to our NORMAL routine.  Boo-boo fell asleep as soon as he touched the bed tonight, back in his world, back in his security. 

And I sit here, ridden with guilt.  I am going away Friday-Tuesday.  More upheaval on the way, baby.  At least he will be home with daddy.

K's Word Board and More Than You Want to Know About Speech Therapy

So, K is 22 months old and he has "mastered" about 20 words.  By "mastered," I mean that he can understand the word, imitate the word and spontaneously produce it.  He understands a WHOLE lot more and can imitate quite a bit more as well, but his word count of mastered words is at about 20.  By two years old, normal hearing children have a word count of about 300 words.  Quite a contrast.  

Our family trainer has been such a big help this week.  I am so grateful for her! (Yes, I am, Ms. C!)  She has given us a new challenge and we are ready for the task.  We are going to work on teaching K 10 new words a week in order to start closing that word count gap.  That means that Bill, A, the sitter, and I will all be focusing on teaching K a set of ten words weekly.  So that we are all on the same page, I give you the K Word Board:

 

K missed out on a normal hearing child's babble stage.  He babbles quite a bit, but by giving him specific babbles to imitate and produce, we are getting him to work on lots of different sounds and patterns of sounds together.  We are supposed to work on this 12 times per day!!!!  Per day!!!  

Here are his words for this week.  He is very good at the letter "p," so we are going to build on that.  By each word are three bubbles:  does he understand it?  imitate it?  use it spontaneously?  Today we made popcorn, listened to it pop in the pan and sang the popcorn song.  We will be eating popcorn all week.

Popcorn

Popcorn, popcorn,
Sizzling in the pan.
Shake it up, shake it up,
Bam, bam, bam!
Popcorn, popcorn,
Now it’s getting hot,
Shake it up, shake it up,
Pop, pop, pop! 

This pocket has cards with sounds he was first introduced to as he was learning to listen,  sounds such as "buh" for bus, "moo" for cow, "ah" for airplane, etc.

This pocket holds the "ling six" sounds, which are a quick way to test whether K is hearing at the entire speech spectrum.  The ling six sounds are:  mm, oo, ah, ee, sh, s.  By doing a quick check of these sounds daily, we can test whether K's implants are working correctly.  Sometimes we do this with a bucket of plastic easter eggs.  He holds an egg to his ear when I say, "listen."   I cover my mouth with my hand (so he can't lip read) and at some point, say the sound.  When he hears it, he drops it into the bucket and I know he heard it.  He can hear these sounds from a distance of up to 25 ft!  For a cochlear implant recipient, K has really good hearing! 

And these sheets are going to be my speech maps for weeks & months to come.  Since we are working on P words, this is a P unit.  It gives us a list of age appropriate words with the P sound at the begging, middle and end of the word.  It gives us suggestions on activities, songs and books to use to help emphasize the p words.  So tonight, I read K Ten Apples Up on Top, Peekaboo Bedtime, Please Baby, Please and Pajama Time before bed. 

We have a lot of work to do, but I am so glad to have some very specific direction on how to help K learn to speak.  

Fly Me to the Baboon

K and I saw the moon this afternoon.  I pointed to it and said, "moon."  He pointed and said, "baboon," which is now his default word for when he just can't quite figure out how to make his mouth say a new word.  His speech is picking up fast! 

Here is a list of his current vocabulary to add to the list of random animal noises he can imitate, at 6 months after his cochlear implant surgery:

• up
• down
• open
• mama
• daddy
• bubbles
• more
• bye bye
• milk
• all done
• purple (?)
• balloon
• ball
• amba (Samba)
• apple

Implant Update

Yesterday, as K walked down the hospital corridor, one hand in mine, one hand in his Speech Therapist's hand, we ran into his surgeon.  Such a caring man who smiled to see little K.  He was happy to hear that K is saying "Oh, oh" and practicing other words.  He squatted his whole 6 ft, 6 in (?) frame down to check on K's scars and to make sure the magnets on the back of his head are not too strong.  I love that man!  We continued down the hallway.  All eyes on K, as he flirted and giggled along the way.

I cannot believe it has only been two months since his surgery.  He has adapted so well to his new gear.  And it is a bit of gear for a little guy.  He will grow into it more and be able to wear the whole apparatus around his ears and not attached to his shirt as you see in the pictures.  This morning, as I got him up from his crib, he immediately pointed at his ears for me to put his receivers on.  He loves to hear.  He loves to make noise.  I often forget he is deaf.  It really is a miracle.  He cannot wear his gear though, when he sleeps, when he takes a bath, goes to the beach, or has anything to do with water.

So he wears this gear all of the time when he is not in one of the above situations.  He hears ZERO without them.  People ask the funniest questions (just to add to the ridiculous adoption questions we get asked).

Will he eventually be able to hear without them?  Umm... no.
What are those sensors on his head?  Sensors?  No, he is not a bug.
Is that a blue-tooth?  Hello????  Yes, my baby is in a special unit of the CIA. He is talking to his superior right now. You better be careful what you say.

I'm reporting you for asking stupid questions!  See my face?  You don't want to mess with me!

The gear is amazing.   It all came in two suitcases.  Yes, we have two suitcases of gear. We have two sets of everything just in case (so he never has to lose hearing for any large amount of time) ... and there are TONS of accessories- not bling, just different size cables and connectors and magnets and tools and holders and on and on.  There is always a back-up of everything.  It is complicated - though for us, it has become second nature pretty quickly. For a baby, everything falls off all of the time.  The magnets come off easily (or they would cause sores underneath), the receivers fall off and the gear is just big for his little ears.  At night, we take the gear apart.  The batteries, which are now worn on his clothing, get put into chargers to charge overnight.  The rest of the gear is put into an electronic drying device overnight.  We call everything his ears, since they are his ears.  We put our baby to bed and then we have to put his ears to bed separately.

I mentioned we were at the hospital.  We go there once every week for Speech Therapy.  Though his therapist is super nice, cute and sweet, K can't stand her.  He will stand her (or anybody) if they hold his hand to walk, but that is it.  Every single session we've had, he's thrown a temper tantrum.  My boy can yell ... remember those early days when we didn't know why he yelled?  Well, now we do and he still yells.  He yells, arches his back, throws down some major crocodile tears and has a pity party.  She still smiles at him every time.  God bless her.

At home, we continue to work on sounds and words and I try to talk to him as much as possible.  We have a box full of ooo-ooo's, choo-choo's, ssss-ssss, brrr-brrrr, aaah, ahhhs, pt-pts, moo-moo's, meows, etc, as these sounds are assigned to specific little toys to help him produce those sounds.  Just like his big brother, his favorite sound is the brrr-brrr and he does that as he pushes his little cars around.  He is learning to say "hi", "bye" and "up" at the moment.  Very, very cute.

Now, let me search my hundreds upon hundreds of pictures (had to get an external hard drive) to see if I find some pictures of K and his gear for your viewing pleasure.

Not walking yet doesn't stop K from riding this up and down the park.

K running away at our photo shoot

My baby is bionic.  And I love it!

Saturday Sunshine - "Oh, oh!"

Overflowing Love, Overflowing Joy Today

My heart feels so tender for my K today.  He is a brave little baby.  We had his "turning on" appointment for his cochlear implants today at 1:30 pm.  Of all days, today, he could not fall asleep for his morning/midday nap.  Maybe he could pick up on all the excitement.  Bill and I both took him to the Audiologist, while A stayed with Grammy and his 7 and 12 year old aunt and uncle.

After a lot of preliminary testing, K's devices were finally turned on.  The first time, he whimpered a bit.  But every single time we've turned his devices on since then, he closes his eyes and rests his head on my chest (be still my heart) for a little while before he is willing to engage.  It is completely overwhelming for him, even though he is set at a program that is not very loud or very clear.  We will gradually move him up the programs until he is at his full hearing potential.

After the two and a half hour appointment, he was exhausted.  He fell asleep immediately in the car, which never happens (same child who only slept at hour 11 of a 13 hour drive).  He was knocked out for the rest of the afternoon.

I woke him up for his dinner and again turned him on, after getting A and my sibs quiet (a feat in itself).  He buried his face in my arms and held on to me tight.

I leave you with a couple of videos.  They are not edited, but you will get the idea.  K, welcome to your new world, the world of hearing.  We love you so much and you can hold on tight for as long as you need.  We are right here.

Countdowns...

in 7 days.... my cast comes off
in 8 days ... baby k's ears get turned on

i cannot wait any longer

enough scratching people i love when i hug them
enough yucky peely skin on my hand
enough swelling and tightness in this crazy heat
enough moratorium on working out

my temporary discomfort will end
the world will open up for my baby boy

we are counting and ready for some semblance of normal.

K Surgery Day

7:15 - Checking in

8:00 - Pre-op - he just had his "giggle juice" which made him a hilarious little drunk

8:30 - Dad went for coffee, mommy blogging therapy and we wait ...

9:45 - First device has been implanted.  Our audiologist was just called to go make sure it is working properly.  If all is well, they will start on his left ear.

10:30 - All is well with first device!  Our audiologist is so cute - she is so excited for K.  It helps calm our nerves.

Tentative "turn on" date for his new ears:  July 21

11:40 - 40 minutes into surgery on his left ear.  All should be done in an hour and a half!

12:40 - Dr. White (my new hero) just came out and told us all went well.  Both devices are working and K's brain responds to signals sent through them!

We are so relieved and should see our little guy soon!
Pics will be posted as soon as I can.

Thank you, thank you, thank you God!
Thank you, thank you, thank you family and friends!

Here he is in the recovery room

So much love for this baby who is now:  HOME.

He looks drugged because he is!  He was totally asleep and only opened his eyes once when the flash went off.

Signing off for today.  Your support has been amazing!

Blog backlog...

I have been a terrible blogger lately.  In the past three weeks, I have made it, broken hand and all through two out of town trips, 12 overnight guests and 9 doctors/therapist appts for the boys and me.  Why in the world did it make me so stressed out?  HA!  Everything went off like a breeze, our guests were wonderful and gracious, but what the HECK was I thinking?  That was enough activity for the whole summer, packed into 3 little weeks.  This week is another story altogether, with K's bilateral cochlear implant surgery Wednesday.

We again have guests, Bill's parents, who are actually coming to save us, as we have no idea what lies ahead, how to take care of a post-op baby whose ears will be "turned off" completely for 2-4 weeks, along with his energetic older brother and his one-armed mother.

All will be well.  I feel it.  And my Summer and Fall calendars are completely free after this week.

I am ready for Wednesday.  Ready for K to go into the next phase of his way too eventful little life.  Bill and I will be at the hospital all day.  I plan on taking my laptop, giving updates and passing the time with catching up on all my blogfriends.  I have missed you.

K with his speech therapist

Cochlear Implants

Yes, K will be getting cochlear implants on July 7.  A 5 hour surgery.  Both ears.  Yikes.  Gulp.  Yes.  Let's go.  For those of you not familiar with cochlear implants, here is what they look like:

The first picture (all pictures swiped from interwebs) shows the actual device K will get, the Cochlear Nucleus 5, though his will be beautiful brown to match his skin and the transmitter will be black to blend in with his hair.  He will either wear it like the second picture (with the heavy battery pack attached to his clothes) or like the third picture (though I don't know how large this child is, so the ear pieces may just be too big on little K. 

Click here to see how cochlear implants work.  It is pretty wild, actually. As you can see, it is not a matter of just wearing this funky head gear.  They are called implants for a reason.  There are delicate parts inserted into the cochlea, as well as a magnet inserted under your scalp (I always what those little round things were and how they stuck on the back of people's heads).   I cannot believe technology is able to do all of that.  I cannot express how thankful I am to people who have worked to make it possible for a deaf child to hear.  For MY child to hear.

After surgery, K has to be "turned off" for 2-3 weeks until all the swelling is down.  Then we turn the implants on and a new world begins...

Hearing: Day 11

We've read that children who were adopted have a "family age," an age that begins when you become a family.  Our family age is 4.5 months.  What that means is that though our children are 1 and 3 years old, they may exhibit behaviors, especially when it comes to attachment, that are more in line with a 4.5 month old baby.  So true! 

K has a birth age (1 year) , family age (4.5 mo) and now, a hearing age (11 days).  It has been 11 days since he has had hearing aids.  Though he has been quite a vocal baby for the last few months, he is a newborn when it comes to sounds.  He hears sounds now, but doesn't know the difference between a dog barking and a door slamming.  Noises are not yet attached to their source.  Though one thing we know for sure he recognizes: a woman's voice.  When we were having his last hearing test in a sound booth, he sat on my lap.  This test occurred on day 1 of hearing for K.  He would turn towards sounds on his left and right, searching for where they were coming from. But when he heard a woman's voice, he automatically looked up at me (tears).  Somehow, with his limited hearing in his first year of life, the sound of a woman's voice got through to him.  When his hearing aids were first turned on, my voice was the first thing he heard.  He danced.  He smiled.  I cried.

So what has little K been like in the last 11 days?  QUIET!  We are thrilled beyond thrilled that his torturous volume has gone way, way down.  Not only is his volume down, but he vocalizes a lot less and listens more.  He lights up every morning when his hearing aids go in and I say, "Hi, baby!"  It makes my day every time.  We've learned to now love K's vocalizations.  Gone is the yelling.  Here is the cooing, the gurgling, the sweet baby sounds that melt your heart over and over.  It is so sweet.  We love it.  We love him.  He is amazing.

Wordless Wednesday - Blue Ears

Hear This! (with correction)

By the end of next week, our K will be sporting two blue hearing aids!  If those don't provide the hearing he needs, we move on to implants.  The good news:  he SHOULD hear with one or the other and be able to lead a very normal life in the hearing world!  Besides speech therapy and lots and lots of appointments to continually fit hearing aids/implants to a growing boy, we hope all will be well.  Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes.

I could cry with gratitude.

------

Note on corrections:  Bill and I both heard different things from the doctor.  I heard K will hear with one or the other device, Bill heard should (with very small possibility of not) hear with one or the other.  Going to focus on the positive!