Mapping

Kevin just had his 3 month post activation mapping session today. He did fantastic!!! He heard down to 20 db and was consistent between 20 and 30 db across all frequencies. Some of hte soudns were so soft, I had a hard time hearing them! I can't believe how well he is hearing. What an incredible baby!!!

Everyone is so proud of how well he is doing. He was a very antsy little guy, but my Mom and a friend were there to distract him. At least he was in a good mood and not fussy. They didn't change the maps much, so that is a good sign that he was hearing pretty close to normal before this session.

Long day... I'm beat!

Realizing he is different

Kevin is starting to realize that he hears differently from other people. I knew this day would come, but I didn't realize he would start to understand at 14 months! Yesterday, he walked over to Ethan and touched his ear and pulled it back to check. Then he walked over to my ear, pulled it back and checked mine. Then he felt his and touched his processor. Seeing things like this is when it hits me with a ton of bricks that yes, he is deaf. I have a tendency to forget at times and then I see or hear something that brings me back to reality and it makes me sad. We had a big waterslide up this weekend and I put Kevin on it, but he doesn't like to be without his 'ears', so he didn't want to be on it. Then, I see other kids his age just crawl around on it having fun, and I think this isn't fair. But, that is life and we have to take what we have.

On a positive note, the technology still continues to amaze me and Kevin's progress does as well. He now points to his ear when he hears something and then points to the sound. That amazes me! I can't believe that he can do that already! As sad as I get at times, I am constantly encouraged at how well Kevin is doing and how close he is to his hearing peers in speech and language development.

The other day Ethan was walking around banging pot lids together. Kevin grabbed 2 and started joining him. There was so much racket in the house, but I loved it!!! You know why? It was great to see that Kevin wanted to join in because he could hear how much fun Ethan was having. Yea!!!

more words

I just had to update the list of words that Kevin now can say. In addition to the last post, he also says Ehtan, open and when he saw a banana, he said 'b'. It is so much fun seeing him learn language! I completely took for granted that Ethan would learn to talk and never really took time to watch him develop his language skills. Now that I know what a miracle it is for Kevin to even be able to talk, I am enjoying every minute of it!
We went to the Audi yesterday to get a re-map, but the computer system went down from a recent move, so we had to reschedule for next week. But, they did manage to get a booth test in and Kevin was hearing at 30db. We think he can hear better, but he had a terrible cold when they tested and he wasn't the most cooperative.

Kevin got a new replacement controller because there was a crack in the other one. I originally liked it better than the old one because the design made it a little easier to use, but now I think it might be too easy to push the buttons and Kevin might have turned it off during a diaper change by laying on the button. I'll have to keep my eye on that and see if it happens again.

3 Month Progress

It is amazing that only 3.5 months has passed since Kevin was activated! He is making such incredible progress. I am soooo proud of him! To date, he listens and understands much of what I say. He can follow simple tasks such as: stop and turn around, on your bottom, go get that, etc. He also says 5 words!!! He can say more, moon, up, ball, and bird. While they are not perfectly clear, he is defiinitely saying them! How can this be possible after only hearing for such a short time? Cochlear implants are truly miracle technology! Life is somewhat normal now with the exception of twice weekly therapy and constant talking on my part. Kevin is starting to let us know if one of the coils fall off, so that means he really likes sound more than quiet.

So far so good with everything. Keivn is a hard worker and he is proving to everyone that this disability will not be a set-back for him!
I'll try to update more frequently...