And she's so darn cute

Photos

For some reason I couldn't get these on the last post, but here they are.

My munchkin playing the piano

Trying to fly a fighter jet (she had to be pulled out kicking and screaming)

An update

So, maybe I should just resign myself to the fact that I don't blog well. I've been thinking of doing a post, but it hasn't actually eventuated.

Anyway, here's what's been happening:

• Matilda is now 2 years, 5 months. She weighs in at 9kg (20 pounds) and 77cm. Still nowhere near the charts but I don't really care anymore.
• Matilda has more words than I can count, and is coming up with great sentences like "that's enough talking Mummy, get off the phone", and engaging in long conversations with her baby doll.
• She can sing all the words to a bunch of songs, including Twinkle Twinkle, Open shut them, Row Row, this hallelujah song, and Happy Birthday.
• we STILL can't seem to hold a MAP well. Matilda has always had issues with her low frequencies (m/oo) so we've been mapping every 3 months or more frequently. One month ago she suddenly started jumping whenever anyone spoke. It came completely out of the blue, and went away just as quickly, but recurred every few days. Thankfully a new MAP fixed this, but her low frequencies have gone haywire again, and she's also confusing 't' and 'k'. We'll probably get a new MAP this week, but I don't have the physical or emotional energy to get a MAP every couple of weeks.
• Matilda started daycare a few weeks back, and at the end of her first day, her carer queried her date of birth. She said that she thought that maybe it was written incorrectly because her language was so good for her age. It was the best things she could have told me. Matilda held her own with the other kids, told the carer everything she needed, and enjoyed the day, so it is all going well.
• She is the most delightful little girl, albeit ridiculously stubborn (I can't imagine where she gets that from). She melts the heart of everyone she meets and really makes it worth getting out of bed in the morning (which has been a challenge for me of late).

That's about it from us. If anyone has any grand ideas about how to fix a fluctuating MAP, I'd love to hear from you, although the audiologist says that it is just the (un) luck of the draw.

18 month post implant

OK, so I am a terrible blogger. I think that it is because I don't feel that I have anything interesting to say. I am also generally unmotivated at the moment. I'm doing a photo-a-day project, and that maxes out my energy most days.

Anyhow, today we had Matilda's 18 month post implant assessment. Her speech therapist uses the PLS4. Matilda got really sick of it, so she didn't get ceilings on any of the subtests (which means that she would likely score higher) but the test showed that she is at 2 years 5 months for receptive language and 2 years 4 months for expressive language (chronological age is 2 years 1 month). I'm pretty happy with that, but happy to shoot for the stars next time.

I will try and come back in the next few days a write a few things that we've been doing.

I think she'll be OK...

When Matilda was born, and we found out that she was deaf, I didn't want to think about her future. I was too scared about the things that she'd miss out on, and wondered what kind of life she (and we) would have. A conversation that I had with a friend the other day changed that though.

The friend and I were cleaning up at a mutual friend's business that was ruined in the floods that we had here (75% of our state was affected by floods - currently the death toll is about 20 but rises daily). I was telling her that Matilda has just started telling me to "go away" when she is doing something that she doesn't want help with (flushing the toilet is a big one). The friend told me that when her son (who has autism) started lying to her, she knew that he was going to be OK, because he was doing "normal", albeit naughty, kid things. Matilda is doing so many normal things - she fights with her brothers, she tells me to go away, she says "no" when she doesn't want to do something. With my two boys, these things would have upset me, but with Matilda it helps me to realise that she's going to be fine. Yes, she'll always have struggles and there will be a few things that she can't do (like join the army, which doesn't upset me at all), but for the most part, she'll be a regular kid with a bit of extra equipment.

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.