Pure Randomness

Sometimes I wish I had more quiet time to sit and savor my thoughts; or simpler yet, savor the moment I'm in at that particular time. I feel at a loss for words today, yet so much is running through my mind. Simple things. So I sit and try to write, while Aiden sleeps in his highchair, hands resting in his mac and cheese, mouth open, so tired.

Random thoughts ...

Aiden's been particularly quiet today. Maybe adjusting to his new map from yesterday? or maybe he's just plain out tired from our two day trip away from home, which included a late night playing with cousins, an audiology appointment AND auditory verbal therapy, back to back. My little man's such a trooper. I commend him for all he goes through and truly, he is THE.HAPPIEST.KID I know. It's amazing how such a little person can have such a big impact on an adult ... that adult being me.

Teenagers. not easy. especially after an all nighter with friends. enough said. BUT, LOVE HIM to death and am amazed at the young man he's turning into. no matter how much his mouth gets him into trouble. Ugh.

I love playdates for Kailyn. She's been consumed in GIRLY LAUGHTER and conversation all.day.long and I'm loving every minute of it. Sometimes ... no, lots of times ... I wish I was her age again.

Aiden came into the laundry room today, stood on the dryer door as I was putting clothes in the washer, looked right at me, and said, "AWSH" out of nowhere, not once, but three times. No prompting. Not a word from my mouth. All on his own. It still amazes me my DEAF son is learning to SPEAK from HEARING!!! Does the amazement ever end? I hope not.

I'm so THANKFUL for our AV therapist. Although it's a good two hour drive, I've never seen Aiden so involved. I am amazed each and every time how Dr. Don can keep Aiden's attention for well over an hour. Yesterday he even helped out in the soundbooth prior to therapy, working with the audiologist to get Aiden's right CI back on track (Aiden hasn't been responding to the low frequency sounds as well as I'd like with this ear). LOVE.HIM.

Amazing moment #1 of yesterday's therapy - Aiden pointed to the star mobile hanging from the ceiling, and spontaneously announced "SAR" which of course we all clapped, and broke into a chorus of "Twinkle, Twinkle".

I miss my mom. Really.really.really bad. She's such an AMAZING woman. I'm so lucky to have her.

This weekend, I had the privilege to meet another CI mom. In my rush to get out the door on our way up north, I FORGOT all of Aiden's back up equipment, INCLUDING his battery charger AND disposable batteries. I was SO lucky to have Erin Toe's mom close by and come to my rescue. It was so wonderful to finally meet her. She was the second person to email me back after I found out Aiden was deaf. She provided me so much COMFORT and HOPE. As I told my SIL the story, I held back tears remembering the words Toe's mom wrote to me. Words I will never forget,

"Do not let this define who your baby is, but even more so, do not let his deafness define who you are either." THANK YOU W! for EVERYTHING!

I can't believe I'm going to be an aunt on my side of the family. I have 16, maybe 17, nieces and nephews from my husband's side of the family, all of whom I SIMPLY ADORE. This will be the fourth grandchild for my mom, the other three of course, being mine. I can't wait to see my brother's little boy and welcome him to our world.

Amazing moment #2 at therapy with Dr. Don. As we sang "Ring Around the Rosy", Aiden decided, out of nowhere, to bust out with "ashs, ashs". I've sang this song with him like twice. Maybe. Guess it's going to be our next all day, everyday song to sing!

It makes me all "GIDDY" (a word I love and stole from a bestie back in Texas) inside to live so close to my husband's family. I had a blast hangin' with my two sisters (actually, my husband's sisters, but they're just as much mine as they are his) the night before Aiden's appointments. Chatting, drinking cocktails, laughing, remembering. fun.Fun.TRIPLE FUN!

Only two weeks left of school. I'm so excited for all we have planned and so THANKFUL we have the opportunity to have this fun and provide our kids a memorable summer (trip to Disney, camping with grandma, family reunion at my BIL's cabin in New York, possibly a trip to Texas for a hearing loss camp).

Now I have to go. My AMAZING, supportive, absolutely HILARIOUS husband is taking me on a FUN date,

to get away from reality for a bit,

just him and I,

no kids invited,

and I can't wait.

Muffins With Mom

Keeping Aiden busy during the day can be quite the task. One of his sensory goals for OT is:

"Persist at a purposeful activity for 5 minutes, with prompts if necessary."

which is one of a few short term goals to help achieve the long term goal to:

"Demonstrate simple praxis and organization of behavior by persisting at interactions with toys/equipment and imitating actions of others to enable purposeful play."

One way I have found that helps us reach this goal is to engage Aiden in helping around the house. He LOVES to help with cleaning up, laundry, sweeping the floor, feeding the cats, COOKING, etc. Not only are these activities filled with wonderful vocabulary, but Aiden is completely engaged until the end, which provides that needed sense of accomplishment and feel good of "I did it!". Even though it may take me twice as long to get these activities done, each additional minute is worth it.

So, the other day we made muffins.

Well, truly, Aiden baked and I directed.

"Open please mommy!"

We measured ...

and he poured ...

then stirred it all up (with a little help from mom).

He placed all the muffin foils into the pans,

and of course, we had to lick the bowl. YUMMY!

Even though we set the timer, he kept coming back to check out his muffins,

and like any good cook, insisted on tasting them before sharing with anyone else.

A WOW Kind of Day

Yesterday, was a great language day for Aiden. I guess things do come in three's.

ONE: It started at Little Gym, where he was playing basketball. There was an incline leading up to the hoop, which he was standing up on, guarding the hoop with his life. The orange ball he had, dropped out of his hands and rolled down. As he looked at me, GRUNTING and POINTING, I said, "Aiden, come down and get the ball." He continued to protest, guarding his post, pointed again, then signed ORANGE, while SAYING "AHJSH". (pause) "BAH". over and over again as he pointed to the orange ball! Of course, this time I got him that orange ball as tears welled in my eyes. Not only two words at once, but he used his language spontaneously to get what he wanted!

Note - We JUST started into colors the past few weeks. We don't typically sign with Aiden, but have been signing the colors after we say them which has gotten him to attempt to say the color back to us. Yesterday was the FIRST time he has actually EXPRESSED a color in his language.

TWO: On the way home from Little Gym (which is absolutely amazing by the way), we were stopped at a red light and a big gas truck pulled up next to us. He pointed right at it and SAID, "UCK"! As many times as I've pointed trucks out while driving the boy has finally got it ... and can only hope the /t/ comes before the /f/! LOL

THREE: While waiting for his sister at Little Gym that afternoon (told you we love the place), he only had one CI on (ya, that's the not so exciting part of the day ... we're in search of the second one, and I didn't have time to get his back ups going as we were already late to K's gymnastics) ... anyway, he kept trying to go out the door. I was probably a good eight feet away and in normal voice tone, said, "Aiden, stop." That little booger looked right at me, smiled, and SAID "SOP" and kept on doing it. You know I had to keep on saying it and sure enough, each time I said it, he'd smile and repeat!

oh, and there was actually a number four WOW moment.

FOUR: As we're sitting in the car, at a light once again (we're always on the go), a motorcycle buzzed past. I of course, pointed to my ear, did the whole, "Aiden listen", but didn't tell him what it was. He too, pointed at his ear, did the raspberry sound back to me, and said, "dada". His dad rides a Harley, so that is what he associates motorcycles with. My boy didn't even SEE the motorcycle, he just HEARD it, and knew.

So besides the fact that we're still short one CI, which I will tear apart the house today to find after no luck last night, I have to say, that yesterday, was one WOWZIE type of day for my little man.

Isn't this journey just AMAZING!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

Check out the ROUNDING of these lips!

After many, mANY, MANY months

of working toward this sound ...

.... WE FINALLY HAVE THE

LONG O AND OO!

(make sure to turn the music off on the left first)

Now, this video doesn't capture the /oo/ as well as he truly says it,

as he's not much of an on-the-spot performer and

says it quite well when the camera is not

close by. You may notice too, his first /oo/

sounds like /m/ which we always watch closely,

as these two sounds can be easily confused

and could show a mapping issue if Aiden were

to consistently confuse them.

Some words we've added to his vocabulary list,

or have made clearer with his new sounds are:

uh-OH

(instead of uh-um)

WHOA

(as in whenever he trips or falls, and with QUITE the emphasis I might add)

shjoo

(for juice)

mo-mo!

(no-no as he yells at the cats)

Elmo

(instead of just "elm")

mo

(instead of ma for more)

Now if we could get that dang /ee/ out of him.