Loving Me Some Laurie Berkner

Ever since Aiden was a baby, I have always sang to him. Even if he couldn't hear me, I still sang. I didn't want to lose the habit of singing, because I knew one day soon enough he'd hear his mommy's voice singing sweet nothings into his ear.

Then he got his CIs and I really sang. Everything I did, I sang to him (if I couldn't think of something to sing, I sang whatever it was I was doing to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat or some other catchy tune). I narrated our activities through song. And I still do.

I also downloaded tons of songs from iTunes and one of my favorites is Laurie Berkner. Back last summer, when Aiden was about 5 months post activation I would play songs from the computer over, and over, and over again. I'd pull out the speakers and turn up the music full blast. I'd pick him up and dance with him, sing to him, and try to make him dance.

Nothing. Nada. Nilch. Zero. Not even little tike be-boppin' moves.

and I received nothing from him for a good while (well, he'd do motions for me to my songs, such as Twinkle, Twinkle or Patty Cake, or my own lovely "narration" tunes). Finally in November, I ordered the Laurie Berkner DVD. I figured maybe if he SAW them dancing, he'd do the same. He loved it, but still wouldn't dance. In fact, not only did he not dance, he just wanted to SIT and watch the video and give me crazy looks as I danced around like a fool in my living room trying to get him to do the same.

I continued to play it (and other music) all.the.time. I continued to sing to him, all.the.time. I continued to dance around my living room like a crazed mommy all.the.time (good exercise though). We are such a huge music loving family and I couldn't imagine if Aiden didn't enjoy it with us. It scared me he just wasn't "getting it". I've heard many stories and seen many videos of CI kids enjoying music, dancing, playing instruments, and even carrying a tune. I just continued to hope Aiden would too.

That was two months ago, and not only is my little monkey finally getting up off his bottom, but he's LISTENING to the words then IMITATING the actions even when his back is turned from the tv screen! He's PREDICTING what's coming up next, by HEARING the tune and the words, and PERFORMING the actions before some words are even sang! and best of all, HE'S STARTING TO DANCE!

Laurie's music is so AWESOME. She has totally taught Aiden what turn around and shy are and has helped me with teaching him many other GET UP AND MOVE verbs, animals, how to high five, AND has a lot of the LINGS throughout her music. In fact one of my favorite songs from her is Walk Along the River, because the chorus of it is all "oo-ah's" which "oo" is one of the lings Aiden still does not say. Not to mention her tunes are just catchy (I find myself singing them in my head way too much) and Aiden's finally catching on.

Once again, I'm truly amazed by the miracle of CIs. Yet another check on the list of things my son wouldn't be able to do without them - hear music. Check him out.
(make sure to turn off the music to the left)
(I am in the process of captioning ... it's mainly Laurie Berkner singing throughout)



On the same note, him and I also TRIPLE LOVE the Tune-Ups CD from the Listening Room on the Hearing Journey website by Advanced Bionics (this site also has great activity ideas - even if your child doesn't have AB, you can still sign up and access the Listening Room). The program was created by a Speech and Language Pathologist along with a Board Certified Music Therapist for young children with hearing loss. It's integrates language, music, and listening and is so much fun to sing and perform to.

Aiden doesn't realize just how much therapy he's getting through all this music, and to me, that's what it's all about! What are some of your favorites to listen and dance to?