Cochlear Implant Activation!!

Here we are again!
 

Kendall had her cochlear implant activation on February 27th, two weeks after her surgery .

We made it a family affair and brought her brother Kemper with us. He was so excited for Kendall to  "get her ears turned on."

   Her audiologist started the activation with the introduction of beeps and tones from the computer into her implants.  The initial sounds didn't phase her but as they continued she would stop playing with her toys and look up at me like "what the heck was that?" 

When her audiologist first transitioned over to speech sounds Kendall got a little nervous and began to fuss. The sounds were quickly turned off and she continued to play. The second time speech was introduced she didn't cry or fuss but she quickly turned to me for support. The third time she hardly took notice. She just took a quick pause from playing to look at me in wonder then she would start doing a little bounce in my lap each time she heard a noise.

We had a special guest follow along with us on activation day. Our local news channel had contacted us when Kendall was having her surgery and asked if they could do a story on her. They also wanted to do an update on Kemper. They had done a story (can't find video version) on him back in 2010 when he was implanted. It was fun but so nerve wrecking. They take so many shots and ask so many questions, so you never know what they will use. Plus trying to wrangle two kids while talking on camera is near impossible. Two versions of the interview were shown on the news that day, thankfully the one with me talking showed up late night. I thought the prime time version that I have linked below was much better. My husband did the talking!;)


North Texas Toddler Hears for the First Time « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Kemper and Kendall's audiologist takes a picture of  all her cochlear implant recipients on their activation day. K found his as well as the spot left open for his baby sister.

With our favorite audiologist Leslie.


It took Kendall a good two/three weeks before she was fully comfortable and understanding sounds. We had to make a several trips back to the audiologist to make some tweaks to her C.I.s during those first few weeks.  Her audiologist originally give us four programs, each one gradually increasing her access to sound. Every couple of days and we were supposed to go to the next program as tolerated. Only thing is we could never get to program 2 before she started blinking at sounds requiring us to keep her volumes and sensitivity settings really low. Each time we would adjust her programs she would be fine for a day or two but then she would start blinking to sounds, alerting us that her program was too loud. It was like as her brain adjusted to hearing sounds it was requiring less and less stimulus to get a reaction. This was quite the opposite for her brother.When he was activated we had to make multiple trips back to increase his settings.

Kendall has taken to hearing like a fish to water. She loves to hear. We thankfully haven had any issues with her taking  her C.I.'s off, except while in the car. Although everything tends to come off while shes in the car bows, shoes, socks...;)




Here are a few videos of Kendall in her first 2months of hearing.

March 17 (2wks 4 days hearing)
responding to her name and understanding "hi"

March 19 (3 weeks hearing)
A friend posted a video of her baby making raspberry noises with her mouth, Kendall didn't even need to see it in order to imitate it!

March 26 ( 1 mo hearing)
Kendall responding to her name and acknowledging that I am speaking to her.

April 21st (almost 2 mo hearing)
Trying to shake her egg but shakes her booty instead!
I did not give her any visual cues, she understands the word shake!

Hearing birthday #4

February 11th we celebrated Kemper's 4th hearing birthday!

We like to take this day every year to thank our family, friends, doctors, therapists, teachers, and all those that have been with us throughout this journey. It really does take a village. When K was first activated I would watch tons of YouTube videos of other children with cochlear implants and I was amazed to see them listening and speaking so well. It was so hard to imagine that K would be doing the same one day. I'm so proud of how far he has come.

 K's hearing birthday celebration started off at school where his awesome teacher made him a happy hearing birthday hat to wear at school. He just loved it and even wore it the rest of the day.

 At home I can't get this boy to be quiet. He's a talker. He has no problem telling us what he likes and doesn't like, but put a camera in from of him and ask him a few little questions and he turns into a silly ham that can't remember anything. Here's my attempt at an interview with him.

Later that night we did our annual family celebration over at my parents house. Kemper had the privilege once again of deciding on the menu:  pizza and cupcakes. Surprised?
 My older sister can never resist getting K a present. This year she bought him the soundtrack to the movie Frozen. If you don't know the movie Frozen A. You must not have small children. B. You live under a rock.
 We Kemper has now memorized every song on this album.

Pretty much everyday after school K goes to his playroom upstairs and plays his CD's. We bought him a karaoke machine for Christmas so he loves to sing with the microphone. Its amazing how much he loves music. He's always asking for some type of instrument or CD. How ironic is that?!!
Like I said before Kemper is not a huge fan of being filmed so he would never agree to me video taping him singing. I had to get a little sneaky and hide the camera behind his toys to get this shot of him singing "Let it Go" from the movie Frozen. Keep watching and you can see him really get into it.

Thank you Cochlear Implants for our happy boy!!

Feliz Navidad!

K has really enjoyed this holiday season, so many things to see and do.  He's even added a few new words and phrases to his vocabulary:  snowman, ho ho ho, Santa, tree, choo choo train, and even "don't touch!" (  I guess he has heard it a few times) My favorite is when he sees something exciting like Christmas lights on a house he will say "oh wow!" I cringe to think how we will keep him entertained once all the lights and decorations get taken down and all the festivities come to an end.

 Here's a little recap of some of our 2010 Christmas activities:
 
Santa's Village

I was so excited to take Kemper to Santa's Village. It is the same little village that went to as a child and it was just as neat and exciting as I remembered. K loved all the little buildings that were just his size.

K writing his letter to Santa.

 Visit to Santa's Safety Station. He was fascinated with the Fire dog and Safety fox, as long as they didn't get too close! We also had a visit with the police officer to check out K's record to see if he has been naughty or nice this year ;)

Then we were off to the Polar Bear Bank, to get money from the ATM. K was very entertained with the ATM, he kept wanting to put his money in and take it out over and over. I was entertained by watching my 6"3 husband try to fit in the tiny little buildings.

Our final stops were at the ornament factory and the music shop. My little drummer boy had a blast.

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a visit to Santa. We were not wanting to deal with all the people and the line, so we went and saw Santa on a Wednesday as soon as the mall opened. It turned out great. There was no line, so no wait and K was a happy camper. We even had a little time to chat with Santa. He was curious about Kemper's cochlear implants, so we got to tell him all about them. Even Santa has a few things to learn!

 Finally, I leave you with an and adorable video of K dancing to his favorite ornament that plays the song "Feliz Navidad."

Merry Christmas!!!



Dear Terrible Two's:

You have arrived way to early at our home. We do not find hitting or throwing things entertaining. Your tantrums and fits are not impressive either. Please go away.

Sincerely,
Baby K's Toddler K's Mommy and Daddy

Here is a video of K's new words  " all done" and "open it " This was taken almost two weeks ago when he first started saying them, so they were not as clear. This video also shows a tame version of his "Stinker" side. 

Kissing Cousins

*pause music at bottom*

Nolan loves his new cousin, he thinks he's "cool" (his new word).He loves giving him kisses and petting him. I love seeing them together, it's going to be so much fun watching them grow up together.

Talking to Mommy

Lucky

My Nephew Nolan is now 11 months old and loves music and dancing, he even has a favorite song Lucky, by Jason Mraz. He gets totally mesmerized by this song when it is on and stops whatever he is doing. The other day I was watching him while my sister went to get her hair cut and he began to get fussy so I found the song on Demand TV and instantly his mood changed, it was so cute. In the end of the video he catches me video taping him and he starts saying "bebe", because that's what he calls himself and he wanted to see himself on the video.

* Pause music at bottom *

Say Hi !!

We just can't get enough of this little boy!

Break dancing 101

My sweet nephew Nolan is growing so fast, each day he shows us something new that he has learned. His latest thing is dancing, everytime he hears any music he gets movin'. I can't wait for his cousin to get here so they can do these silly things together. Baby Kemper and Nolan are going to be 1yr apart almost to the day. I'm due April 22 and Nolan was born April 18, so this time next year we should be seeing Kemper get his groove on too! Pause music at bottom to hear Nolan's groove music