Blankie #4

  Since E has not been feeling that great, he and is blankie are INSEPARABLE. We have three identical blankies that we bought when he started showing an attachment so as to never worry about being without one and to provide a nice wash rotation. Two stay at our house and one stays with the woman who cares for him while we are at work. When he is sick, I try to wash and rotate the blankies even more than usual. We decided to buy a fourth identical blankie. That's right...FOUR. They have slightly changed the design of this particular blanket, so blankie #4 is a tiny bit different. I wonder if E will notice?

Mommy Needs a Time-Out!

  Today is one of the first days I can remember when I found myself just about to loose it. E is not feeling well today. He has a cold. We took him to the pediatrician and got clearance to continue on to our audiology appointment. We made sure to keep hands cleaned and sanitized and contain coughs, but we didn't want to cancel our CI appointment because it is going to become very difficult for me to get off work (that's right...new job starting very soon). The appointment didn't go well because E was just in blah mode. He wasn't cranky, he just didn't feel like cooperating.
  On the way back home, E slept a bit, but woke up just in time for the sun to be in the perfect location to blind everyone in the car for the rest of the ride home. That's the really bad thing about our appointments...we live in the Western part of the state and so we are always heading home with the sun blaring in our face. E acts like he is a vampire in danger of disintegration whenever the sun shines in his face in the car. Because of the angles and the curves in the road, I cannot keep the sun out of his face unless I just put a tent around him. I hang blankets from the sun roof, tie coats to hooks, etc. to try to block it all, but it never works completely. He screams like he's going to die every time a ray touches his face. He yelled at ear-piercing levels for a complete half hour on the last leg of our drive. Since he had been asleep, he wasn't wearing his CI or hearing aid and so he couldn't hear himself, but Mommy and Daddy sure could! Our nerves were shot and there wasn't a thing we could do about it. E is not even two years old and when you rely so much on your sight, it makes sense that anything that interferes with your sight would be a major problem. We understand, but it doesn't make it any easier. By the time we got home, my husband and I were both in need of our own time-outs. I'm thinking about starting to carry my ear protection from the gun range in the car on all trips.

The Hug Game

  E likes to play his "hug game" which involves pulling the cushions off the love seat. He stands on one of the cushions like "king of the mountain" and signs that he's going to get you. Next, he steps of the cushion and runs to you for a bear hug. This is a video of him playing his hug game with my husband and me. I love the super-close-up at the end :-) E loves the hug game and will play continuously for about a half hour almost every night.

Problem Solving...Toddler Style

  E doesn't like his hands to get dirty. He has actually perfected standing up when he slides down the slide while holding his hands in the air so as not to touch the ground. He doesn't mind dirt as long as it comes off with a few quick brushes. Anything more than that is a cause to stop playing and come to me for a clean-up. Today, E got mud on his hands. After a quick look around, he decided to clean them himself....on the dog.

First Snow of the Year

  We have had a very mild winter and this is our first snow of the year. I couldn't wait to get E out in it since he was too young to really understand it last year. As soon as it started to stick, I took him out on the deck to check it out. E will not wear his gloves for anything, but we didn't stay out very long. He loved the snow! Of course it can be hard to tell if it was truly the snow he loved since being outside is his favorite thing ever.

  There is much more snow out there now, but of course it is getting dark. We might try out a bit of sledding in the morning.

Gimme a Kiss

Just in time for Valentine's, E showed that he verbally understands "kiss". E is showing that he is understanding the things he is hearing with this cochlear. He still prefers to sign his communication. We still use both verbal and signing, but there are several things that he has responded to appropriately when we have been out of his line of sight. E likes to give kisses and who doesn't love a sloppy toddler kiss? :-)

Finger Painting

Plastic table cloth to protect the floor?....check
Baby wipes and paper towels on standby?....check
All supplies laid out?....check
Paintbrush for E since he doesn't like to use his fingers?....check
Stripped down to the diaper to prevent ruined clothing?....check
Watching my son turn finger painting into face painting?.........um......

Extra long bubble bath tonight?....CHECK :-)

Audiogram time

  We had another audiogram yesterday. As you can see, E thinks these are pretty fun. He did great responding to all the tones, but ignored the speech. They said this was just an example of highly developed "selective hearing" ;-) He is pretty used to hearing people speaking now and so he just doesn't pay it much attention. We have started the fine-tuning portion of his appointments. It was nice to see that his implant seems to be working very well for him.

  E continues to love to sign and add new signs almost daily. He is also responding to verbal direction. We can stand behind him now and tell him to go and get his shoes so we can go outside. He will sign shoes and go get them and bring them to you. We have several songs with hand motions that we can now sing without the motions and he will begin to do the corresponding hand motions and hum along. E has not said any new words so far. He started off with a bang, but then seemed satisfied to have tried it an now has backed off. As long as I know that the implant is working as it should, I am not concerned about this. He seems to prefer to sign for now which is fine by me and he happens to be a rock star at it anyway. E responds consistently to his name and I can now tell him "NO" or "Don't Touch" from across the room and he will stop in his tracks. We continue to just follow his lead and focus on the learning items in which he takes the most interest. We are really enjoying watching E's love of music develop and the wild dance moves that come along with it!