Oh, hello SPRING!

Actually, it almost feels like we have skipped straight into summer lately! In St. Louis, it the temp has reached into the 80s for the last week or so. Needless to say, we have been spending a TON of time outdoors. It is the only thing Sophie wants to do anymore and the only thing she talks about. I was barely home today for two minutes before she started pulling at my arms:

Not sure where the obsession with worms comes from, but I guess it balances out her super-girly baby doll addiction. ;) I hope everyone is having a great first day of spring!

The playground battle

I'm sure you other CI moms know what I am referring to. Plastic slides, tunnels, tubes. Cringe. I honestly had no idea how much anxiety a plastic slide could bring into my life. You see, static electricity has the capacity to potentially damage Sophie's processors or even her internal implant in rare cases. We generally try to avoid plastic altogether or remove Sophie's "ears" before she goes down a slide or through  a tunnel. This is getting increasingly difficult for a couple of reasons - it's hard to tell an almost two-year-old she cannot go down a slide, and the other option is also risky because it is dangerous for her to be playing on playground equipment at this age without any sound, even if we are right there.

Well, today I did not have to battle the plastic slides. There is a non-profit organization in the St. Louis area called Unlimited Play and they have designed and built three all-accessible playgrounds throughout the area. There are many great features to these playgrounds for children with various disabilities, including metal slides for kids with CIs!

We visited Brendan's Playground on this afternoon and as we pulled into the parking lot, Sophie said, "Playground? Swings? Slide? Take the ears off!"

Nope, not this time, sweetheart. How refreshing, right?! She was able to HEAR and PLAY until her little heart was content:

Guess what else? Construction has started on the fourth Unlimited Play playground in the area- right down the street from us! :)

"I need to hold the blanket!"

This was Sophie's reponse tonight when I asked if she was "all better" after I kissed her knee that she hurt by falling down. My comfort isn't good enough, though - she needs her blanket:

Understandable, I guess - but I was more concerned with counting the words in that sentence while smiling and shaking my head. This is something that I tend to do a lot of lately, as Sophie's language is blossoming and she is mostly speaking in four word sentences (or more!). And I know I have mentioned it before, but I will say it again - I wish I could have had a glimpse of our life today to ease my mind when Sophie was a baby. No words can possibly describe the pride and appreciation I have for her and her "ears".

Bound to happen?

Tonight, one of my biggest fears came true - I dropped a CI in the bathtub. :(

I usually let Sophie wear them for the first few minutes of her bath so she can hear the water running and have fun splashing. She always does a pretty good job at keeping her head dry - this one was totally my fault. As I was slipping her headband and CIs off tonight, I dropped one straight into the water. Kerplunnnkkkk. Nice.

I dried it off and literally sprinted to put it in the dry-store container, so I'm sure it will be fine. The N5s are water-resistant, at least. Here's to hoping for a functional ear tomorrow!

Snow Day!

A fun-filled day at my parents' house earlier this week when the St. Louis area was graced with a dusting of snow:



Got to love days like this where you can slow down, forget about everything that needs to get done, and just have some fun. :)

I hope everyone out there is having a great February!

A smart little diva

Sophie now officially loves to sing. She makes up babbling songs of her own, throwing in real words, people, and phrases every now and then. Along with this new talent comes an aversion to me singing to her. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that she is approaching two in a couple of months and everything is becoming difficult, but she absolutely hates when I sing. Miss independent, I guess. ;) It can be quite comical:

I don't mind the fussing one bit. I love that she hears my voice, even though she despises it at times. I love that she can carry a tune and is memorizing lyrics to songs. Oh - and the part that she sang at the end - it was seven words in a row. I love that, too! ;)

One for my husband

When we discovered that Sophie is deaf, we were crushed. It was a very rough time for us, but we made it through and I like to think that we have prevailed. Those early days were very hard on my husband, maybe even harder than on me. He could not talk about it, as if saying the words out loud would make it real. With tears in his eyes, I remember him saying to me over and over again that he just wanted to hear her sweet little voice one day say, "I love you , Daddy." My heart ached for him, as this is something most dads just expect to naturally happen as time goes on. And there he was, scared that this simple wish may never come true.

Even as we researched CIs, made it through surgery, activation, and Sophie began to speak her first words, Jared continued to dream about that day he would hear those words. Our days were spent focusing on language opportunities, tracking receptive and expressive vocabulary, and just generally doing everything in our power to help Sophie progress. Even during the exciting times where Sophie was saying several new words each day, I knew exactly what Jared was patiently waiting for Sophie to say. Unlike phrases such as "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Birthday", what he was waiting to hear was never rehearsed or practiced, as he wanted her to say it naturally, on her own terms.

And now that time has come (or probably came a month or so ago, as I have been behind on my blogging!). It is the first thing we hear in the morning and the last thing we hear at night. Sophie regularly tears through the house, stopping to grab one of our legs and give it a quick kiss while saying, "Hi, Mommy/Daddy! I WUV you, Mommy/Daddy!" And I'm not sure which brings me more joy - hearing those words said to me or seeing Jared's face light up as she says it to him. Either way, I believe those four words will always be the sweetest thing that we ever hear our deaf daughter speak. :)