Al's progress with hearing (cochlear implants)

I was at Canadian Tire earlier this week and was pushing Alex in a cart. As we were walking down an aisle, I stopped in front of a huge framed mirror so Al could look at his reflection. I stood there staring at my son's reflection and had a major realisation that he is no longer a baby. His legs dangled off the seat and seemed to go forever ending at his shoes which were laced up and seemed so grown up. I've been told by some that Alex is really developing a personality in the last couple months and as I observed his silly faces he was giving himself I realized it too.

On a hearing note, Alex misses his ears when they are not on. Since we don't have the magnet screwed in very tight, the coils often fall off, especially when Alex takes a spill, knocks his head or accidentally catches them with his hands. Whenever they do fall off, he comes running to an adult immediately to have them re-attached. He also covers his ears (the real ears) with his hands and then turns his palm upward to say: No hearing?

He is vocalising a lot, much of the time the same sounds. As you see in the video, he points to stickers on the wall and vocalises because he knows there is a sound associated with them, he just hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. What's awesome is you also hear him say bye to his dad while he is on the tractor. And yes, I did falls on my bum while taping and at the end of the video he did run me over...good times!

Progression

"Bye, bye, bye" as Alex waves his hand in the air. I am officially declaring that Alex's first word is "bye". He does not pronounce it exactly perfect, but it is very close. Also, he knows what it means and he knows he is saying it and repeating after other say it so therefore IT COUNTS haha!
He is trying so hard to imitate sounds, especially lately. We still have not heard many vowel/consonant combinations from him other then "ma ma ma", "ba ba ba" and "ra ra ra" but at least those are present. The best sound in the world is hearing him babble almost like he wants to converse with us.
The other night my husband and I are playing cars with Alex and we are doing the fire truck sound. "weee oouuu weeee oouuu" and although he could not do it perfectly, the intonation was exactly perfect. He had the right timing and it surprised my husband and I so much and when we began to praise Alex he seemed almost proud of himself!

My husband is not often home in the evenings but yesterday he had a day off. While getting Alex ready for bed Mich read to him the story of Pinocchio (in french since that is the language Alex will be speaking first) and Alex pointed at the pages at first and vocalised a bit. He really seemed to enjoy it. I have read to him before and he never even paid 10 seconds of attention but yesterday was different. It was really encouraging to see him interact with his daddy's story.

The teachers in daycare say Alex is even doing some gestures with the songs and follows really well. He seems happy with his ears. He no longer takes them off and chucks them to the ground when he is upset, he has fallen asleep with them on whereas before he would take them off when he was tired.

I'm impatient for the what the future brings but looking at Alex now, he is growing too fast and I keep having to remind myself to cherish these times and to quit thinking ahead. Look how he has grown!

Alex Is Practicing His Listening Skills

Great listening skills are being developped. You can tell by his behaviours and reactions..good boy!

This video is overdue! It was about a month ago. It is a few examples of some of the sounds our guy is making. Not bad concidering he was almost completely mute at 10 months old. Love him!

One Month Later

I am such a slacker. I have so many videos to post and great things to say about Al's progress but I can't seem to find the time to get online and post when I have other things creeping up my to-do list. Even today, I need to be working on my report cards. Going back to work has been a whirlwind for sure. Every second Alex is awake and I'm not at work I try and spend with him, it turns out to be like 3 hours in the evening and maybe 1 in the morning. It's not enough! I miss him terribly and he misses me to since he is starting cry when we part (either because of daycare or my mom picking him up). But back to his progress....

Al is trying hard to replicate noises, he growls, he moos, he saps when giving kisses, he flicks his tongue and makes galloping noises for his horse he is babbling mamammam and I herd just a few times bababa. He loves music and dances when I turn on the radio, he points to himself when I ask him "Where's Alex", he startles when the dog barks, he hates when the dog growls and comes to bury his head under my neck, he points to the side of his face next to his ears when he hears the train going by near our house and whenever he hears a new noise.

We haven't had any problems with his processor (knock on wood), all his caregivers are super supportive and we even have a resource teacher appointed to him some of the time while he is in daycare. Stay tuned for videos as proof of all of these miracles.

Monkey See...Monkey Do!

I need to charge the batteries on my video camera and seriously start recording these things. First, Alex is producing some great new sounds. He learned that a dinosaur or a lion makes a roaring sound. He roars really well. Second, last night Al was eating dinner he blurted out a "ah" sound repeating after me. When I feed him I open my mouth wide and say " ah ah ah" three times. This morning while eating breakfast, Alex actually repeated after me, three times "ah ah ah" multiple times. He is so good at taking turns too. Also, after showing him his picture with Santa (taken last night) I would say to him "ho ho ho" he couldn't actually say that but he did hum under his breath three quick hums. Amazing how there is now proof of Al's hearing finally coming out of his mouth and not just with his expressions and behaviors.
Can't wait for Christmas break with him (2 whole weeks). Looking forward to working hard with hearing and more AVT goals!
Finally, Alex loved going to see Santa, didn't play shy and sat on his lap like a charmer while the photographer only shot two pics before getting this one!

Routine Change Up

Well I've officially been back to work for a week and two days. Alex has spent three days so far in the daycare at my school and he absolutely loves it! It's somewhat sad that he is not even a little upset to see him mommy leaving...well sad for me at least! It's much harder on me then on him since he adapts so well and is so social already!
New developments with his hearing have come up some good some not so good. First, he has on a few occasions pointed at himself when asked the question "who is Alex and where is Alex?". He is no fool though since he immediately starts pointing at himself first thing in the morning when I put on his ears he tries to trick me into thinking he is answering the question before it is even asked. But, like I said a few times he has done it. Also, he is letting me know when he hears new sounds more and more often. Today I began banging his spoon on his bowl of oatmeal (not sure why I did that) and he would point to his left ears indicating "I heard that".
Unfortunately, more then ever it has been a battle with Alex to keep his ears on. He takes them off often during the day, it used to be when he was tired but I'm fearing now there is another reason I can't put my finger on. All of his caregivers are committed like us to having him wear them 100% of waking hours of the day. We just need to keep him distracted I guess!
AVT tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it very much.