A video to melt your heart...

OK, so I am a slack blogger. I should work out how to do it from my phone, and then I would be far more frequent. Matilda came out with this line today, so I had to get her to repeat it so I could capture it on video. As a bit of background, it has been raining where we live for almost two months straight. I think we've had 2 or 3 days without rain in December, and I heard on the radio today that it is the wettest since 1850. That should explain how she came up with this phrase all by herself.

The first time she said it, she looked outside, held up her hand to signal stop, and yelled "stop raining". Hmm, wonder if she's got the hint that Daddy wants to get outside and do some yardwork!

Almost one year

Next week will mark one year since Matilda's cochlear implant activation. The last year seems to have flown by, although it has still been such a long road. I am so grateful for the technology that has allowed my little girl to hear, and for the professionals who have supported us throughout the past 18 months or so.

For those of you who have done this already, did you do anything special for the people who helped you? I am considering sending a card to Matilda's surgeon, audiologist, and therapist. I don't really know what else I could do. I'd love to send a DVD of her talking to the surgeon (because we don't see him often) but Matilda's new 'trick' when she sees a camera is to instantly freeze in a 'cute girl' pose, so I doubt I'd get any language on tape.

Matilda will have her one year assessments over the next few weeks. It is both scary and exciting. I know that she is doing really well - she has about 40 words, and her listening skills are great, but I also know that there are gaps and I'm a little concerned about how I'll cope if the results aren't what I'd like.

Fortunately, after the assessments we'll be travelling to Tasmania (an island at the bottom of Australia, for those of you overseas) for 4 weeks. I think I really need the time away from therapy just to spend some fun time with the kids.

As always, a cute pic of my princess to end.

Size does matter!

I'm back. Its been a while between posts but I really haven't been coping well with life so I haven't had anything constructive to say. I'm finding it hard to balance the needs of all 3 kids, as well as other things, but I know that its just a matter of getting through each day.

My bonus for today is that we got Matilda's speech processor upgrades. Because she is so small, she was able to get the upgrades funded - the first time that her size has been an advantage. We've hit a few hiccups (missing items and magnets that are WAY too strong) but I still love the possibilities that the N5s bring. They are much smaller, lighter and have better programming, so hopefully that will help in the long run. Here are some pics of the old and new processors, and some of the princess running around the house.

PLS scores are in

Today Matilda had her 6 month post-implant communication assessment. Her therapist used the PLS (Preschool Language Scale). She is 13 months old and her score for auditory comprehension and expressive communication was .... 13 months! I was honestly surprised because there are SO many things that she isn't doing yet, but she still scored the same as an average 13 month old who has been hearing their whole life. It still doesn't make me feel 100% happy with how therapy is progressing, but I am so proud of my little princess.

Happy 6 months hearing Miss M

Today marks 6 months of hearing for Matilda's right ear (the activation was done over two days). In many ways I have been dreading this day. When I think back to 6 months ago, this is not how I thought things would look. I thought that my very bright, intelligent little girl would be babbling, talking alot of the time, and have a few words in her vocabulary. I think that I have high expectations, but I didn't think that they were unrealistic. The past few months particularly have been frustrating. Matilda's therapist and audiologist think that she is doing fine, but I don't think fine is good enough. My mummy instinct tells me that there's a reason that she isn't talking, but I just haven't worked out what it is. We're still in the process of getting a 2nd opinion (we access the only AVT service in our state, and the next closest service is 11 hours away, but it will be happening soon.

I have decided though, that even though it is important for me to advocate for my little girl, I also need to be mindful of just how far she has come. 6 months ago my little girl wouldn't turn her head when someone was clapping. Now she will smirk and laugh when I whisper her name. 6 months ago Matilda had no real way of communicating. Now she will crawl to the door and yell ee-ah to indicate to me that she wants to go on the swing.

So my little princess, what a huge 6 months it has been. You have come so far in your short little life and I know that the next 6 months will bring many new and wonderful experiences for you.

Happy 1st birthday my princess.

Wow, I can't believe that today, my little princess is 1. It seems like such a long time ago that we calmly drove to the hospital and had a wonderful waterbirth and first met our beautiful Matilda. We had two days of newborn baby bliss before being thrown into the world of hearing loss. I could never imagine what we have been through over the last 12 months, but it has definitely been worth it.

At 12 months, my little girl has been hearing for just under 5 months. Receptive language appears to be fantastic. She understands countless words and phrases, including up, down, outside, swing, park, ducks, Daddy, Mummy, the boys, car, walk, baby, eat, drink, food, Anzac slice, milk and so many more. Expressively, we're getting there. We've heard (on at least a few occasions)

- 'ahh' (aeroplane)

- 'ee-ee' (monkey)

- 'eeow' (cat)

- 'eeee' (food/hungry)

- 'mm' and 'or' (more)

- 'ee-ah' (swing)

- 'eee' (slide)

- 'oo' (train)

- 'bbrr brr beep (car)

- 'wah' (baby crying)

- 'heyo' (hello)

Her favourite sound at the moment is 'ee-ah'. We are still really lacking in consonant sounds, but I'm trying to be patient.

Most of all, Matilda is a happy, cheeky, funny little girl who loves people, but particularly her little family.

We love you little girl.

Getting the food in...

In anticipation of Matilda's weigh-in tomorrow, we've been trying to tempt her with lots of food. While I was out, someone decided to let her loose on a bowl of yoghurt and this was the result (and yes, she's in the bathroom - my husband was cutting the boys' hair).

We try to give her fruit every day, but she won't have a bar of it. See what happened to the poor banana.

Therapists

I'm trying to work out whether I'm just being impatient with Matilda's progress, or whether I should be investigating other options for her. We see a lovely AVT who is very dedicated and I know she cares about Matilda. BUT, I feel like I need more guidance as to what else I could do to guide Matilda's language development. She says alot of 'mmm' and squealy noises, but still not a lot of consonants. So, I've put in an application to receive therapy from an interstate service (as we currently attend the only AVT service in our state). This service would be delivered via video-conference, which is a pain in itself, but I figure that it is worth trying.

I'm not sure how it will work (seeing two different therapists) particularly when they won't be able to liaise with eachother, but I guess we'll give it a try. The only other option is moving states, which we've considered, but the place that we'd go to has no ENT services so we'd have to fly to a specialist in a different state. Crazy huh? Think I might consider doing my AVT training...

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year :)

Its been a crazy few weeks, but we've got through. The kids all had a great Christmas and got way too many toys. I've made a new year's resolution not to buy anymore :).

Matilda is being stubborn with her words at the moment. There are sounds that I know she can make, but she chooses not to. She is understanding so much though, so I'm hoping that consistency in speech will come soon.