Terrible (yet Truly Terrific) Twos

Okay, I know Aiden's TWO, and going through what every parent hears as the "terrible twos". I think it's more like the "terrible two years", because this started quite some time ago and I see no light of it getting better in the near future. *VERY DEEP BREATH*

The boy keeps me on my toes all.day.long. Being a sensory seeker and not being able to stay still for more than 10 minutes (unless it's for an episode of Elmo, with a binky, and a sippy cup of milk OR he's strapped into his high chair), there is much trouble to get into. Aiden's not a child to sit and play with his toys for too long, that is, unless I'm sitting right next to him entertaining (which I attribute to the COUNTLESS hours of at home play therapy). He'd rather climb to his sister's top bunk and take all the deco off her walls; or head upstairs to get into his brother's xBox gear; or into the bathrooms to stuff toilet paper in all the toilets and watch the toilet flush, then of course, wash his hands. All this, with spurts of a here and there tantrum, makes for a very long day for mom.

Other examples of our day include:

Bedtime. UGH. We start his nightly routine (bath, book, prayers, take off CIs, bed) around 7:30 and he's not sleeping until nearly 10, sometimes later. Aiden's now in a big boy bed. I would've kept him in a crib well over the age of three, but my little Houdini was a master of escape and I was terrified he'd break a bone sooner or later. He likes his bed, but getting him to go to sleep has not been easy. He stands at his gate and screams. I've gone in, put his ears back on, talked to him about how it's "night-night" time yada, yada, but I gotta say, this is wearing. CIs off, CIs on, CIs off, CIs on. It's not easy and so now I just leave them off, sign to him it's time to go to sleep, and let him alone (or one of us climbs in bed with him until he falls asleep - I know, not good). We added the gate to keep him in since he was getting up in the middle of the night to head downstairs for some late night tv and Nilla Wafers. Seriously.

Naptime is no more. Well, I do still stick him in his room for one, BUT 1) he either cries until I let him out or 2), he'll tear it up. Very seldom does naptime = sleep a.k.a. a break for mom. The other day I went to "check on him" and he had moved the rocking chair to his dresser, got the wipes out of his top drawer and pulled out eachandeveryone, (and ya, it was a new pack). This was after he decided to "clean out his closet". Good thing I caught him before he emptied the drawers.

Bathtime. It used to be easy, LOVED bathtime! He'd let me wash his hair without a problem, would play forever, it was simple. Fun. Now however ... water + a toddler who cannot hear = disaster. That's all I'm going to say. (besides I need to learn a few new signs ... NO and STOP are not working in this situation).

The cats ... oh the poor cats. Thank God one of them is patient and the other one can run fast.

Grocery Shopping. Reserved for my husband or for me on my husband's days off. I continuously torture myself to "try again", thinking it will be different this time, only to fight a screaming toddler to sit in the cart, strap him down, and then start all over because somehow, someway he always gets out (see above comment about "Houdini"). Honestly, I have had people ask me if I needed help.

Restaurants aren't any better. He's at the age where home or a park is the best (and safest) environment.

I'm working on him understanding that sitting in the "time out" chair is not a fun thing to do. He laughs when I put him there and tries to give me countless hugs as I try to talk to him about what he did to get there.

I'm working on trying to use other words besides "no" and "stop" (which he completely understands), and use these times as "learning to listen" opportunities.

I'm working on my patience ... or should I say, Aiden is working my patience.

I often remind myself he's a sensory seeker, most likely due to his vestibular/balance issues. It's easier for him to be constantly on the go than to sit still, feel off balance and become dizzy. I know he gets just as frustrated with communication as we do. At 2 1/2 with my hearing kids, they understood and could speak back. They could tell me if they "got it" or not. Aiden's been hearing bilaterally for just about 13 months and understanding what I'm saying or communicating back is not near as easy. I won't let his hearing loss or sensory issues be an "excuse", but most definitely know they're a huge factor.

and even though I say all this, I do have to say, Aiden is truly a happy go lucky kid with a smile that melts hearts, has hugs for everyone, is in constant exploration, and is all around, a very good boy. He has an amazing personality, one that will take him far in life.

and for all this, I am thankful.

Patience ... oh, and watching my little man hear and speak ... yep, that's truly all it takes (well, and a glass of wine doesn't hurt) to get through these "terrible, yet TRULY TERRIFIC", days.

"Ryan"

None of my children have the easiest names to say for any toddler, much less a deaf one with cochlear implants learning to hear and speak. For a little while, Aiden would say his own name when he'd see his picture on this blog. It sounded like "Ayen", but it was very short lived. In fact, I'm surprised we don't hear the same "Ayen" for his brother and sister since all my kids have two syllable names ending in the "en" sound. He has NEVER attempted either of his sibling's names, except closed mouth humming of the two syllables that each name has.

This past weekend, we were outside and Aiden was playing in the car as his daddy, brother, and I sat and talked. He was being his typical silly self so I ran to get my Flip.

Glad I did. (Excuse my loud excitement, but how about that /r/! AND it was the FIRST time I've ever heard him attempt to say "dad" instead of dada, and "cat" (do you hear a final /t/?) instead of just "meow").

Make sure to turn the music off on the left first!

I just had to pull this post back, as I wrote it very quickly this morning. What I forgot to mention is what a GREAT BIG BROTHER Ryan is to Aiden. As soon as Aiden sees Ryan, a huge smile instantly lights up his face, and he runs up to him screaming this brotherly, "Let's get on the floor right now and wrestle" type of scream. He loves everything about his big brother (including getting into everything in his room), and Ryan just said to me last night, "I love playing with Aiden, he's a great little brother." I love it.

the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

the GOOD Aiden has added new words to his vocabulary list! He now says "meow" (without the /e/, so more like "mmmmow"), "hah" (hot), "buh, buh" (boat), "dah, dah" (duck or quack), and "En" for his classmate Ben.

He has even attempted to say his own name, is sounds like "Ay-en"!

Aiden continues to try to walk. He's going further and further, but just is not taking off. He can walk clear across the living room, will look at us, then fall to his knees. Frustrating but good that he continues to try.

He is trying to blow ... bubbles, a piece of paper across the table, my hair, anything. We've been working on this to help him with his "oo". It's hilarious! He either lets out a big ol' raspberry or has a wide round mouth blowing out, like sounding out the letter h.

He is trying to imitate us more, but mainly just the number of syllables. For example, for banana, he will say "ah-ah-ah" or pumpkin (and open and many other two syllable words) he will say, "uh-um" or "ah-um" and with each one he inflects his voice.

He's trying out /p/. I have been working on p since last summer! He's been saying "uh, uh, uh" (up, up, up) for some time, but I've heard it with that /p/ a few times now. We've been blowing a lot of bubbles lately too to help that /p/ POP!

His receptive language is growing. I really need to sit down and write a list.

He doesn't cry anymore when I drop him off at school! He smiles! This is HUGE!

the BAD Aiden is still stuck on the same consonants and same vowels. We have m, b, d, and sometimes n (although it seems we've lost it). Then put these with the his vowels of "ah" and "uh", and so consists his vocabulary list.

Even with all the HallOOwEEn sounds of /oo/ and /e/, still nothing. For /oo/ we get a deep, nasally /m/ and for /e/ we get that gasping for air sound.

Buh-buh (bye-bye) is just that and has been replaced with da-da. No clue.

We've completely lost the long o and long i that we'd hear every once in awhile.

The only Lings he'll use are /ah/ and /m/. Period.

He's still on the bottle. This is supposed to be only right before bed, but when Aiden wants a bottle he goes into the fridge, climbs up, and gets his own. I often find him sitting on the couch drinking his bottle. We had to put a lock on the fridge.

He's still not walking.

and the UGLY

Terrible twos 6 months too early ... the boy is out of control.

He's stopped sleeping through the night. Again.

He screams. Either a deep throat gurgly all out "AHHHHHH" or a shrill high pitched "AHHHH". His AVT thinks it's the boy in him. I'd like to take this part of the boy out of him.

We're working on the term "inside voice".

He's still not walking.

I have to say though that my little monkey makes me smile all.day.long. He has such a great personality, so much spunk, is such a little comedian, and truly is always happy (even when he is screaming, he laughs at himself when he's done ... he thinks it's funny ... I don't).

So there you have it ... so glad the "good" list is longer than the others! Although I have concerns with his expressive language and his maps, I do believe he's doing amazing. I look at him everyday and can't believe my baby is deaf. We have an appointment Wed. with our Hopkin's audiologist to hopefully clear up these mapping issues ... hope this adds more to our good list!

18 Month Mommy

Aiden had his eighteen month well baby visit yesterday.

As I sat there waiting I couldn't help but reminisce

about his two month well visit.

The tears welled up in my eyes that day,

sixteen months ago,

as I watched a toddler play in the waiting room.

I pictured Aiden at this little boy's age

(who was about 12 to 18 mths)

and all I could picture was all this equipment.

I tried to shut my mind off, but it wouldn't.

I wondered if he'd be as outgoing as the little boy

toddling around, babbling to his mom as happy as can be.

I thought about the possibility of Aiden not babbling,

and my heart skipped a beat, as if I couldn't breathe,

I was scared ... very scared.

I will NEVER forget that day.

That day I hated that my baby was deaf. Hated it.

I left the office feeling very sick to my stomach, tears rolling down.

Aiden at 2 months

Fast forward to yesterday. and my experience,
as the mom in the waiting room with an 18 month old,
with "that equipment" we now can't imagine him without.

We walk in and Aiden immediately starts squiggling

and says, "owwwn" for me to let him down.

I sit down, and Aiden hovers by my legs

playing shy in front of another mom and her daughter.

My monkey then climbs up on the seat,

saying "maaaaam" as he lays his head

on my shoulder still playing shy,

then decides he needs to show off instead

and gives me a nice whack on the head

as he yells "ow!" laughing out loud.

Continues to show off as he does a nose dive over me

to get a magazine with Halloween pictures on the cover.

As I try to talk to him about the pumpkin and the ghost

and the spiders, he yells,"ah da" (all done),

rips it from my hand and throws it on the floor.

then proceeds to try and climb up the seat

and onto the window sill ...

that's when the nurse came to call us back

thank God.

The nurse brings us back to the room, and

when she's done, says, "bye-bye Aiden!"

So Aiden waves and then blows a kiss

with a big ol "mmmmua"!

And I was worried.

Aiden at 18 months

and just for the record, his stats:

• 27 pounds 4 oz vs. 12 pounds at 2 mths


• 33 inches vs. 23 inches at 2 mths
  
• 50 cm head circumference ... and I only put this here because I had to laugh at the fact that his head size is in the 95th percentile!! Oh my boys and there noggins!

Last Week's Discoveries

1. Hear Always (Cochlear's customer service) is very helpful in troubleshooting any problem. The Listening Center at Johns Hopkins suggested I call them to help figure out why Aiden was pulling his CIs off so much ... and Ben was VERY helpful. Thank you Ben.


2. I need to check Aiden's CIs everyday with the listening headphones. In my attempts with Cochlear to figure out why he would be pulling off his CIs, I found they sounded a little muffled (probably from moisture) and one of his backup processors wasn't getting any sound what-so-ever!


3. CIs really need to go in the dry&store every.single.night, especially in the summer months (the dry & store is an electronic dryer that dehumidifies CIs/hearing aids). I missed one night .... and see number 2 above.


4. CI mic covers should be changed at least once a month in the summer ... every few months during dryer parts of the year.


5. Note to self ... I cannot stay up hanging with friends until 4am anymore and expect to function the next day with a one year old. Nope. Doesn't work.


6. Aiden says "yum, yum" ... or more like "umm, umm" when he's eating. Love it.


7. Don't react when Aiden pulls off and dissects his CIs every.other.minute. He likes reaction. He laughs at it. Instead, put them back on or just take them off for a 10 minute break then try, try, try again.


8. Lucky Charms marshmallows are a great bribery tool for getting responses to the Lings and to point out pictures on these Meal Mats found at The Listening Room.


9. Aiden looks darn cute in a baseball hat. I'm his mom ... I can say these things ;)



10. Aiden is signing no. Next comes saying "no". While I am so thankful my baby is babbling/talking, I'm not looking forward to the "no-no mommy" stage, (okay, secretly I truly am because anything he says is music to my ears ... I say that now anyway!)


11. Aiden would rather play with a laundry basket (especially when the cat's in it) than his toys anyday.


12. One cat is very patient with this boy, the other just runs.

13. Aiden is FINALLY getting more teeth ... two more on the bottom which will now give him a total of 8 teeth at 16 months.

14. My little monkey climbs on everything - his latest, the toilet. But he's not trying to climb onto the toilet, he's trying to climb into the toilet ... the one item in the house I haven't put a safety lock on ... yet.

All in a Haircut

I started my day with some crazy, unruly hair.

Some would say it looked like I had a curly mullett going on in the back, but my mom really loved my curls. My dad said it was time for them to go.
I sat pretty still in the chair for the lady cutting my hair, well for a one year old anyway.Oh, dad please, not the slicked back comb over look ... I'm only one!

Bye-bye baby curls and hello big boy look! Mom almost cried. AND I had my first sucker too! I actually liked chewing on the stick better ... then I could get my hands all nice and sticky and rub them all over my face!and before we went home I rode on my first merry-go-round!

I loved it so much I got to ride those horses two times!

Enough Already ... Really

I am about to pull every. last. hair. out of my head. In my last post, I talked about Aiden dissecting his cochlear implants on car rides. Well, it has gone from dissecting them on car rides, to dissecting them at home, to just plain pulling them off ALL THE TIME!

I try VERY hard not to react, and to simply put them back on his head/ears and keep on going ... only to turn around and have them BOTH off his head and usually in his mouth (I so thought we were over the mouthing everything stage). So then, I take them both off for about 10 to 15 minutes, and try again ... only to have them pulled off once again by Mr. Destructo (our new nickname for our "precious" little man) within minutes. When they are on ...

He still responds to the lings (on and off anyway)

He localizes noise better and better (yesterday as the mowers were outside, he pointed to his ear then pointed to the window AND later that day found me as I hid in a dark bathroom calling for him!)

He consistently turns to his name,

He has started to vocalize more in the last week ... like da-da and bye-bye (buh-buh) and a bunch of babble combinations (nabada type stuff)

He has started inflecting his voice like no get out ... from very high squealed screeches to low "da-da" whispers (I think this is hilarious) ... maybe it's the sounds from his screams he's become so accustomed to are scaring him enough to pull off the CIs ... although they truly are music to my ears!

So why, if he seems that he likes to listen and that he is responding, does he constantly pull off his CIs and dissect every.little.part?

Saturday night we all went out to dinner, then Aiden's sister and I went to a late movie to see G-Force 3D (which we both enjoyed). I came home to this on the counter.

Aiden's dad told me the next day that these were the pieces he collected from the car once they got home. What I didn't notice until the next day, as I put the pieces back together, is that a mic cover was still missing. Like I said ... every.little.part. No more CIs in the car ... just too dangerous.

Later the same day, as I was cleaning up the living room, Mr. Destructo was in the kitchen playing in "his" drawers. After a couple minutes of just seeing him playing so nicely with the Tupperware, I went in to check on him again, and low and behold, no CI. At all. So I looked around and found all of it BUT the coil. Thank goodness for back up parts because for the life of me I could not find that coil.

I finally found it later that day here ...

Oh for the love. All I can continue to hope and pray for is that this is a short phase and that it doesn't give me gray hair because the boy's about to wear me out. I feel like I did about a year ago, when Aiden learned to take his hearing aids out. Only difference being he didn't know what he was doing then, but he sure does now. Little stinker. As Nolan's mommy would say, "Don't make me bust out the pilot caps again!"

Oh... and even though we're not set for an audiology appointment for another two months, I have a call into The Listening Center to schedule the next possible appointment. Maybe a mapping adjustment will cure all.