A glimpse of self-advocacy

While playing at the park today, Sophie met a new friend who was quite interested in her implants. Sophie and the little girl were jumping around on the playhouse and the girl would occasionally stop and point to or touch Sophie's processors. I stayed back for a little bit to see how this would play out and eventually, the girl asked, "What's on your head?" I left my spot on the bench and edged closer just in time to hear Sophie loudly and clearly state, "Those are my implants! I wear them on my ears." And the jumping and giggling resumed.

I stood there for a minute as my eyes got teary behind my sunglasses, then I went back to join my husband and told him about the conversation I witnessed. He smiled and said, "She's going to be fine." While such a small, brief moment, those few seconds of conversation were important and hopefully telling of the future. Although only two and not yet able to explain WHY she wears implants, Sophie is able to describe what they are - and did so proudly. This is something that has weighed heavily on my heart since the beginning of our journey and today she has given me a glimpse of how she will advocate for herself. My heart is a little lighter and I am one proud momma.  :)

Dog days of summer

I really seem to have neglected my goal to blog weekly, but who's counting?! There isn't much to update, we are just trying to survive the sweltering Midwest heat. :) Here are a few of my favorite summer pics so far:

Yum!

Cheese!

Who doesn't love peanut butter?

Splashing around

Kitties at Grandma's!

Fresh-picked blackberries

Swimming in the lake

Pretty sunflower

Daredevil

Poolside

Daddy's little musician

Summer school is over for Sophie and she will not return to Moog until after Labor Day. We get a little break from juggling schedules, but I'm also sad to be away for so long.  She recently started at a daycare and I'm hoping that the structure there will help her language continue to grow during the break. She absolutely loves her class and all of the kiddos, so we are pretty happy so far. She is the only hearing-impaired child there, but they have cared for a CI kid in the past (one of the reasons we chose them). The director is really impressed with Sophie's language abilities and keeps telling us that she has the best speech of all the two-year-olds in the school. I think any mom would like to hear that, so you can only imagine how proud we are. We'll see what the rest of the summer brings, but I have a good feeling that she won't show much regression. Hopefully the opposite! ;)

In other toddler news, I think it's safe to say Sophie is potty-trained! I'm not really sure when you consider a kid officially potty-trained, but she wears only underwear and has been accident-free for over a week now. Outings can still be a little nerve-wracking because she dislikes public toilets (and really, who can blame her there?), but she just holds it until we get home. So I think it's safe to cancel my automatic subscription to pull-ups on Amazon. Woohoo!!!

Other than that, we are just soaking up the summer and trying to stay cool! Jared is turning the big 3-0 in a couple of weeks and we are planning a long weekend trip in Chicago to celebrate with a few friends. I'm really looking forward to a fun, adults-only weekend in the city!

I hope everyone out there is enjoying the summer!

ABCs and a little jokester

Here is a cute clip of Sophie practicing her ABCs and goofing around with her Daddy. I swear, she definitely inherited his sense of humor. ;)

I haven't updated in quite awhile, but we are just enjoying the summer and trying to make the best of this crazy heat wave here in the Midwest (we've had over a week of wonderful, humid, triple-digit weather in STL). Sophie is enjoying all things summer and her language continues to grow. The complex sentences and questions that come out of her mouth continue to amaze me. And we are full-on potty training! She is doing pretty well and only wears underwear at home - even at night. For a few weeks now she has been dry every morning - yahoo! She can even make the one hour trip in the car to Grandma's house without an accident! :) However, she still wears a pull-up to school and daycare and seems to only go on the potty part-time there. She's getting there, I guess. Maybe we just need to completely ditch the pull-up and see what happens...?


Anyway, I hope everyone out there had a great Independence Day!

Too young for rock and roll?

Not this toddler! Here is Sophie singing along to one of her new favorites. (And my apologies in advance to my hubby for displaying your indredible singing talent to the world, especially considering you slightly flubbed the lyrics to this obvious classic!)

Music has always been important to both of us, which is another reason that learning our baby is deaf was such a heartbreaker. While researching CIs, this was something that we were concerned about - how music would sound and if Sophie would enjoy it. I think it's safe to say that she is developing an appreciation for music, though, and we could not be happier. She can even carry somewhat of a tune!

Too darn fast

This is how I feel about my life right now. I never really understood it until I became a parent. Now, as weeks and months whiz by in the blink of an eye, I totally get it. Precious time, that is.

In the car on our way home today, I asked Sophie how her day was. Her response? "I don't want to talk to you, Mommy." Huh?! So I ask, "Why?" "Because I'm too tired," she says.

So we rode home in silence and I sadly realized that my baby is no more. She has a mind of her own and already choosing to ignore me. I thought I had several years until that happened, but I guess it is what it is. ;)

As she grows taller and taller and all of her babyish qualities melt away, I'm going to try my hardest to slow down and cherish this.sweet.time.

Splish, splash!

That's right - bring it on, summer! No anxiety this year. :)  Two years in, I think I'm really getting the hang of being a CI mom!  We had a very successful day of swimming over the weekend and Sophie had a blast. I think these pics say it all:

Sophie was able to swim, splash around with her cousins, and even go underwater while HEARING all of the sounds around her because we "waterproofed" her implant. We put one of her back-up CIs in a plastic bag and had her wear a swim cap on top to keep it secure and provide protection. Of course, my husband is in the process of brainstorming, fine-tuning, and perfecting this method (as he does with everything), but it worked wonders!

The itsy bitsy spider

and ode to Tusa (Sophie's favorite baby doll) :

My favorite part is at the end - "Oh, Tusa... I love your arms!" Such a crazy kiddo at times. I shot this video about a month ago and since then Sophie's imagination has really developed. I often listen to her singing nonsense songs about animals or someone she knows while laying in her bed at night, after her implants are off. Sometimes it breaks my heart knowing she cannot hear herself during this time; other times it makes me smile just being able to make out the silly verses of her songs.