Anti-Cochlear implant man...

The other day, I took the boys and Ali to get their haircut. While waiting there a gentleman comes up to me and says "huh, he has two cochlear implants" I said "wow, im surprised you know what they are" He went on to tell me he majored in sign language and has done a lot of work in the deaf community and stuff,  I told him that was great and I plan on teaching Michael sign later on, since we cant right now with the AVT therapy. He then asked me, "well, why did you do that? You know, get him  the implants?" I told him I felt it was the best desicion i had ever made and that I did not regret it at all. He then told me how he knew all these kids that had implants and as soon as they were old enough they took them off and decided to live deaf and only sign. I was getting irritated by this point and just told him that I really did not see my son doing that since he really enjoys hearing and i believe will also think we made the right choice for him. Really never thought I would meet one of those people but, oh well.

To each their own I guess....

Milestones

Says approx. 50 words clearly
Can speak a 3 word sentence
Requests "mabee or daddy"
Identifies himself and others by name
Will say "hi" and "bye" when prompted
Yells "no" or "stop" when frustrated
Will ask for object (if he knows word) ***
Will point to object and say "what is it?" and wait for you to tell him***
Can follow 1 step directions with no problem
Can follow 2 step directions with guidence***
Will often copy parents and siblings Example: dinnertime, Michael goes to the stairs and yells "GIRLS!!!"
Identifies most toys and things around the house by name
Will do wheels on the bus
Will do ring around the rosies
Will do clean up song
Does drop it in the box game with the ling sounds
Responds to changes in voice (if you whisper he will whisper, if you yell, he will yell)
Answers to name when called from a distance

Names and the phone...

Michael is talking much more these days and he is even saying peoples names! Kinda funny though he started saying the animals names before he said anyone else's names...

Lucy (onrys dog)
Meeshi (our cat)
D.D. (for lil danny)
Ma D (for uncle D)
Ali
Sissy
Beeben (Stephen)
Anna (Hannah)
Annie (Anthony)
Beth (his speech therapist)]

the only time he really says anyones name is when he is yelling at them though or telling them to stop lol!

He likes to talk on the phone, he puts it on speaker and then just stares at the phone when he calls someone and they are talking to him. He will say hi and bye and then wave to the phone, it is one of his favorite things to do...

Ahhh! Mikey is 2!!!!

Yep, he is 2 today. I sat up last night with him, (yes he stayed up until 1:30am! Its like he knew it was a special day or something) anyways, i was thinking about all the stuff my little guy has been through in his 2 years of life, 3 surgeries and countless Dr.s appts but, I know there are far worst situations out there and we are very lucky to have a healthy little boy. He is so cute, when he smiles he lights up a room. Mikey is so outgoing and fun to be around. He is showing that he does have quite the little attitude (not sure where that comes from) And he is ALWAYS into something! I think he spends a good part of his day seeing how much he can get on his brothers and sisters nerves getting into all their stuff lol. Its crazy how fast they grow up and even though he was never really small :) I wish he would stay this way forever...
Birthday party at his Onry's tomorrow and his Maw Maws next weekend so pictures to come :)

Mike's words as of 6/22/2010

We have so far....

thank you
good job
bye bye
daddy
mommy (maa bee)
up
hot
help
eyes
nice
nose
out
in
stop (bop)
round & round
kitty
dog
mikey
bubbles
mine
more
uhhh ohhh
ouch
and he imitates a bunch of animal sounds...
"neigh neigh" for a horse
"baa baa" for a sheep
"rawr" for a dinosaur
"peep peep" for a chick
"oof ooof" for a dog
"moo moo" for a cow and duck haha!
 He is doing great his speech is getting much clearer and easy to understand!!! 

Bedtime (now that he can talk) :)

So, bedtime has become interesting. Michael takes a little longer to go to bed these days because he stands up in his crib yelling "daddddyyyyy" "mommmyyyy" and "up up up up". At least it lets us know that he is progressing, since he is saying a few words even when his "ears" aren't in.

Michael can say many words ( i will post a list) but doesn't use them as much as we would like. We are working on teaching him to "use his words" rather than scream or take us to whatever it is he wants. He will talk and talk if you sit one on one with him and play but doesn't say much around everyone else. Maybe that just comes later :) He is doing great in therapy still, and we went to see our new audiologist today. He turned down a few frequencies that were up a little too loud for Mikey. There is only 1 more program he can be turned up too and then it will probably be the loudest it will be for a while. Then its just a matter of adjusting here and there as he does booth testing. He did not cooperate with his booth testing today at all! Everyone has their days I guess. He normally does great. Oh well.... he is still amazing and doing great! Hes just....almost a 2 year old and its getting a little scary lol!

Mikey put his first 2 words together....

aww... Mikey said "bye bye daddy". So, to add to Mikey's list of words we now have "daddy" "mine" and "uh ohhh" (he says it right now it was "uhh uhh") He is really trying to say "more" when he wants a drink but he still needs some work lol!  Still cant believe he is really talking!!! :)

Speech Therapy 3/17/2010

Mikey had his best therapy session ever! Mikey was doing the hand motions to "wheels on the bus" he said "bye bye" clearer then ever. He picked out the animals and toys that Beth was naming such as fish, car, snake, cow, sheep (and says "baa" for sheep) :) He is doing great with his "ling" sounds (which is the most important of the sounds for a deaf child to learn) He was doing the "ssss" sound, he was going "whooo" when they were doing bubbles and everything! He is continuing to do wonderfully with following directions and listening. I don't think it really amazes me as much as it should because I have seen my little boy accomplish things that should have been months down the road. I was sitting there watching him doing his therapy with Beth and I was almost in tears, my little boy is talking! and making sounds! Who would have ever thought just 3 months later he would be almost caught up with other hearing children his age. It is days like these that make you feel great as a parent and help you to know you made the right choice. :)

Mikey is talking

Mikey is saying "mama", "up", "bubbles" and "bye bye". He can follow one step directions such as, "put it in the trash". He will point to your eyes and nose when you ask him where they are. He does get "eyes" and "nice" confused sometimes :) He does the sign for nice when you tell him to "be nice". He does very well wearing his implants for the most part, but will not wear them when he gets sleepy or in the car.His progress is amazing considering he has only been "turned on" for 2 months.