Saturday, August 23, 2008
Thing 4?!
Well, just when we thought we were on the downward track of sleep interrupted nights and diapers God decided to give us a reminder of who was in control. Of course He waited until I sold all of our baby stuff and maternity clothes at a garage sale and I had finally made it back to my pre-kid size and actually bought some new shorts for the summer. We've taken a while to announce it this time because I'm still trying to get used to the idea but it looks like we'll have a new little blessing around the beginning of March. We've got conflicting opinions around here - Garrett wants a sister and Connor wants another brother. I have a feeling Connor may get his wish. When we get together for the kids birthdays, there's 15 kids between both sides and only one is a girl. Now comes the hard part of thinking up names. We were still deciding on Landon's middle name while I was in labor at the hospital. Any suggestions?
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Terrible 2's already??
The last couple of weeks Landon is starting to show a big stubborn streak. Lately he has wanted nothing to do with his therapy - especially at home. When I try to work with him with some of his toys he'll pick the toy up, put it away where it goes, then grins at me. He gives you this look like "yeah - I know what you want me to do but I'm not in the mood so forget it!" His other thing when I try to do stuff is he'll just leave the room and go into his brothers room. When we see our AVT, he will do a couple of the sounds and then just stops until she moves on to a new activity. He seemed to loose interest very fast. Today he actually had one of his better sessions in a while. He went through three whole activities making all the sounds/words she asked him. After the first activity he did try telling her "bye-bye" and waving - guess he figured he had done enough :) We had talked at his last session (she had taken off last week with school starting for her kiddos) that maybe he was getting bored since we had been doing a lot of the same things over so she came today with new sounds/words and new activities and it seemed to work. Guess I'm going to have to come up with new things to do with his toys here and see if he's just bored with what we've been doing.
He's also started taking his implants apart - especially in the car. We'll look back at him and he'll smile with the battery falling out of his mouth. He knows what he's doing too because if I catch him just starting to take them apart, he says "uh oh" and tries to put it back on his head. Guess we'll have to break out his hats again for in the car. At home if he's playing in the boys room with them they know to watch him. They call out "Ear alert - Ear alert" when he takes them off. He loves wearing the CI's so I think it's just him being bored and it's something to play with. When I show them to him in the morning he climbs in my lap for me to put them on.
The baby gate we had between the living room and kitchen broke 4-5 months ago and we didn't get a new one because he really never went in there unless we were in there. I had to go last week and buy a new one. He discovered he could climb the chairs and get on top of the table. We can't keep the ladder down on the boys bunk beds because he'll climb up to the top bunk. He's definitely keeping us on our toes.
He's also started taking his implants apart - especially in the car. We'll look back at him and he'll smile with the battery falling out of his mouth. He knows what he's doing too because if I catch him just starting to take them apart, he says "uh oh" and tries to put it back on his head. Guess we'll have to break out his hats again for in the car. At home if he's playing in the boys room with them they know to watch him. They call out "Ear alert - Ear alert" when he takes them off. He loves wearing the CI's so I think it's just him being bored and it's something to play with. When I show them to him in the morning he climbs in my lap for me to put them on.
The baby gate we had between the living room and kitchen broke 4-5 months ago and we didn't get a new one because he really never went in there unless we were in there. I had to go last week and buy a new one. He discovered he could climb the chairs and get on top of the table. We can't keep the ladder down on the boys bunk beds because he'll climb up to the top bunk. He's definitely keeping us on our toes.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Testing
Our AVT did a preschool language scale test on Landon so we could get an idea of where he is at in his progress. The test is just a universal preschool language test that could be given to any child - it does not factor in his hearing loss or anything like that. Here is an idea of where he is at:
**Keep in mind he had a hearing age of 8 mths at the time.
Age at time of test - 1 yr 9 mths
Auditory comprehension - 1 yr 3 mths age equivalent
Expressive communication - 1 yr 10 mths age equivalent
Total language score - 1 yr 6 mths.
He is definitely making up for lost time. Our AVT said she didn't know whether to smile or cry. She was happy he scored so well but sad because she said we wouldn't be with her for a whole lot longer. She said towards the end of the year we would redo it and depending on how he does we may cut back to every other week for therapy. She thinks his comprehension is better than what he tested just from what he does weekly in therapy but he was in one of his stubborn moods that day and wouldn't do stuff that we know he can.
Way to go Buzz!!!
**Keep in mind he had a hearing age of 8 mths at the time.
Age at time of test - 1 yr 9 mths
Auditory comprehension - 1 yr 3 mths age equivalent
Expressive communication - 1 yr 10 mths age equivalent
Total language score - 1 yr 6 mths.
He is definitely making up for lost time. Our AVT said she didn't know whether to smile or cry. She was happy he scored so well but sad because she said we wouldn't be with her for a whole lot longer. She said towards the end of the year we would redo it and depending on how he does we may cut back to every other week for therapy. She thinks his comprehension is better than what he tested just from what he does weekly in therapy but he was in one of his stubborn moods that day and wouldn't do stuff that we know he can.
Way to go Buzz!!!
Monday, July 7, 2008
4th of July
Hope every one had a good 4th of July. It's become a tradition to spend the day at Eric's sisters house. She lives right next to the levee so we can see all the festivities across the river in downtown Baton Rouge without actually having to go fight the crowds. We usually go swimming but the weather didn't cooperate this year. They do a mock battle reenactment with the USS Kidd and luckily the rain decided to stop then so we headed outside to watch. When the first bomber plane flew over head, Connor took off running for the house with his fingers in his ears yelling "They're gonna bomb us!!!" Every time one would pass over Landon would point at it and make the "AAAHHH" sound we do for the airplane. The boys had a blast - spending most of the day playing a new Wii game Nanny had bought. They liked the fireworks show - except for Connor who watched with his fingers in his ears. Landon didn't blink the whole time and then at the end clapped. Last year he didn't hear them - even with his hearing aids. What a difference a year makes.
Landon tries to say most of what you tell him now. He'll say something and if we say the right thing back he gets this big smile on his face and either laughs or gives us a kiss. I keep his listening toys in separate plastic containers - all the fish in one, all the snakes, etc.. He now will pick up one of the containers, look at what is in it, and says the sound for the what is in it. He does the snake, fish, hop (for the bunnies that jump), round and round and round for the tops, cut (for the velcro food and knife), and ducks. The others aren't in see-through containers so I'm going to have to go to the store and get some more clear ones and see if he'll start doing it for more. His favorite thing right now is the Little People house. He loves to put the mom and dad in the chairs, shakes his finger and says "sit down". It's worked out good for us because when he stands up in the tub now we just shake our finger and he sits down.
Landon tries to say most of what you tell him now. He'll say something and if we say the right thing back he gets this big smile on his face and either laughs or gives us a kiss. I keep his listening toys in separate plastic containers - all the fish in one, all the snakes, etc.. He now will pick up one of the containers, look at what is in it, and says the sound for the what is in it. He does the snake, fish, hop (for the bunnies that jump), round and round and round for the tops, cut (for the velcro food and knife), and ducks. The others aren't in see-through containers so I'm going to have to go to the store and get some more clear ones and see if he'll start doing it for more. His favorite thing right now is the Little People house. He loves to put the mom and dad in the chairs, shakes his finger and says "sit down". It's worked out good for us because when he stands up in the tub now we just shake our finger and he sits down.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Don't mess with Texas!
We took a quick trip to Houston, Texas this weekend. Garrett is really into "batter, batter, baseball" and Connor loves anything to do with Space so we decided to take a mini vacation. We went to an Astros game, NASA's Johnson Space Center, the Downtown Aquarium, the Kemah Boardwalk, and the Houston Zoo. We did a lot in just 2 days!!
Landon's language is starting to take off now. It seems like in the last 2-3 weeks he's made a change. He used to just scream when he wanted something but is now trying to say the word for it and is trying to imitate words we tell him. Some of the new words he can now say are thank you, more, bread, and drink. He does more but these are the ones he says on his own and at the right time - and that I can think of off hand. He also says roll 'em up when we do pat-a-cake. I need to sit down and make a list of everything he says and can understand because we've definitely seen an increase in the last few weeks.
Landon's language is starting to take off now. It seems like in the last 2-3 weeks he's made a change. He used to just scream when he wanted something but is now trying to say the word for it and is trying to imitate words we tell him. Some of the new words he can now say are thank you, more, bread, and drink. He does more but these are the ones he says on his own and at the right time - and that I can think of off hand. He also says roll 'em up when we do pat-a-cake. I need to sit down and make a list of everything he says and can understand because we've definitely seen an increase in the last few weeks.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Wearing his CI's
I've gotten asked quite a few times about how Landon is wearing his CI's and the setup we use so I figured I'd post the pictures here for everyone. We use the babyworn setup so the part on his ear is smaller and slide the controllers into pockets on the back of some onesies my sister made for him. I'm no seamstress so lucky for us she is.
Once we put his shirt on, it helps hold the cables on and keeps them hidden so they don't catch on stuff and pull his ears off.
We had trouble with the clips that came with the babyworn catching on things or brushing against stuff and they kept popping off. This has worked out great for us.
Once we put his shirt on, it helps hold the cables on and keeps them hidden so they don't catch on stuff and pull his ears off.
We had trouble with the clips that came with the babyworn catching on things or brushing against stuff and they kept popping off. This has worked out great for us.
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