Sophie Sounds Off

Sophie's ears are 1 and 2 months old today and she's already making lots of progress.

We've been focusing on basic sounds and pairing them with various toys. We got this from
our SLP who found this on AuditoryVerbalTherapy.com.  There is a handout by Ellen Rhoades
called "Sound-Object Associations" that covers this and more.

Here's some video of Sophie's progress:

The Car gets a "BRRRR" sound

The Fire Truck gets an "Oooooo" sound

The Bus gets a "BUH-BUH-BUH" sound

Sophie also does Ahhhh for Airplane but I cant seem to get that one on
video.  

What is exciting is that the minute we put Sophie's ears on, she starts to chatter away.  She'll also still signing up a storm and learning new words each week in ASL.

And just for fun, here's Sophie trying to get a rise out of mommy by pretending to eat dog food...

Lots of Babbling

Sophie's weekly mapping sessions have increased sound to both of her ears very slowly over the past few months.  Progress is slow going but we have noticed that she is vocalizing a lot more than before.  Here's a clip of Sophie watching her sisters through a window.  I think she's trying to tell us that she wants to be out there with them instead of stuck in the house with Mom and Dad:

http://youtu.be/ydUAjkiG96U

I've got 2 ears!

We're behind on our updates.  So here the recap:



Ear number two was a much easier recovery than the first one.  The incision was a lot less red and healed super fast.

So as not to deprive Sophie of her beloved baths, we used a shower cap while she recovered this time



Sophie got her left ear activated today, so she got 2 ears going! That means the pilot cap is back on until she adjusts to having two spots on her head. Nothing different this time around, but it is exciting to see how she develops with both ears going.

Sophie also decided today would be a good day to learn to ride her lion bike forward instead of backwards.  Rawr!

Oh, and we got a cat for Sophie to celebrate her new ears.  Whoopie!

Sophie's ASL Lesson with Daddy

Sophie's signing has really taken off this month.  I know, I've been saying that every months for the last 6 months, but she really is signing up a storm.

Here's some video of sign language lessons with Daddy today:


     MORE CRACKER:  http://youtu.be/qX2uZDWggDk

     DOG BATH:   http://youtu.be/kWUZ6yFgAxI

100%

I'm keeping the SOPHIE SIGNS up to date, but I thought these were too fancy not to share in a post as well :)

Surgery #2 Complete!

Another big day for Sophie!   Today we took Sophie in for her second cochlear implant.  Left ear this time.  Doc said it took a bit longer but everything went perfectly.  Two very nice Cochlear reps and our favorite audiologist were all in the operating room and were wonderful support.  We had a lovely nurse from Kona who cared for Sophie in post-anesthesia care.   I'm glad she only has two ears as I really couldn't take another one of these.

This kid is really something special.  After all of this medical stuff, hardly a fuss. Here are some pics:

Taking my vitals

Sticking close to Mom

Playing in the toy room

Waving hi to new friends

Mom needs to get me one of these!

Dad in his marshmallow suit just before surgery.

All done! Heading home :)

I love the remote!

I have to eat my words. After a week, I'm hooked on this remote. It beeps to tells me when coils fall off and batteries are low and I can watch the mic activity without seeing the processor. I also feel more interactive. We were given 4 programs to work through and got through 3 of them. It's nice to be able to set our own pace with Sophie's CIs.

So after a 9 month battle with hearing aids, keeping these things on Sophie's head is super hard as well.  We have a 4 component solution:

• Long coil cable (2 day shipping via fedex)
• Cochlear Litewear...just the clip
• Bebopshop (the cupcake clip on the pink tether from etsy) CI holder to ensure the processor stays on if gets pulled out of the litewear clip (happens a lot)
• Pilot's cap

Tomorrow is a huge day for us...Second mapping appointment, pre-op pediatrician visit, and Cochlear America is in town and doing a parent seminar on the Nucleus 5.  Second Surgery is Thursday so we have a very exciting week ahead!

Sophie's Activation Day!

What a big day for us.  We waited 3 weeks after Sophie's surgery to get her activated and start her mapping.  It felt like forever but it was worth the wait.

The mapping process was pretty quick.  The audiologist started with tones from a computer program and later turned on her microphones so we could talk to Sophie while she adjusted the maps.
Our CI comes with a remote so we were sent home with 4 programs to run through over the next couple of weeks.  Each program gets progressively louder and we can up the volume at will.  Pretty nifty!

We spent most of our time getting oriented to the new technology.  We'll get that wired over the next week or so.  Our big issue now is getting Sophie to keep her coil (round headpiece) on.  We've been experimenting with hats and headbands already and we may even try some toupee tape.

So much to learn and just one more week until Sophie's second surgery!

Here's the activation video.