Happy 2nd Hearing Birthday, Sienna!

It has now been 2 years post-activation and I have to say she has come along way. If you would have told me that in 2 years , since she was first activated, Sienna would be where she’s at today, I would have had trouble believing you. Here are some stories about how awesome our little girl is doing!

1. She was eating her plate of supper…I told her in French “Quand tu as fini souper, tu peux aller jouer au parc”, so she turns to her English speaking cousin and says, “When I’m all done supper, I can go play.” WOW!
2. Just last month, she sang “Frere Jacques” a French lullaby to her great-grandma while her uncle was playing the guitar…she didn’t have all the words or the tune but it was so cute that she did it!
3. While in the other room, I told Rylee, her older sister, to go upstairs and get dressed. Sibling competition, drove Sienna out of that room and upstairs beating her older sister. (She listens and understands even if she isn’t face to face with the person!)
4. She sat down for the first time ever through a story about a girl and a boy on a canoe ride. Then a few days later while everyone else is telling stories by the fire, she turns to me and says I would like to talk and tell a story. So we got everyone’s attention and she told the story of the girl and boy on their canoe ride. She was missing parts but everyone got the main idea of the story.
5. She’ll pick up a book and will make up a story while looking at the pictures.
6. She had her very first phone conversation which made sense! With my mom! In English!
7. Many, many more!!!

There are many more moments that I am very proud of…these are just a few!

We just returned from our 2nd year post-activation at the Glenrose in Edmonton and they are just as proud of her as we are. She is still hearing at a 15-20db and all 22 electrodes are working on both sides. We also did a language assessment. First part was in French. She repeated words which I said on the other side of the booth while covering my mouth so she wouldn’t lip read. A French SLP wrote them down as she would pronounce them. There were 3 lists, one list for the right CI, one for the left and then one for both. She did amazing and better when she had her 2 CI’s on, just goes to show how important bilateral is! Then she followed French orders with Mr. Potato Head and missed a few but did well. The last part of our long morning was an English recorded comprehension test. Our audiologist asked if we wanted to try an English test and I said we can just not sure how much English she really understands. Well, she blew us away! Example, the recording would say something like, “Help me with my shoes please!” and there would be a picture of a boy eating, a boy washing his hands and a boy putting his shoes on and Sienna would have to pick out the one that made sense. I can’t wait to get the report back and share it with you. Stay tuned!

Now I’m off to prepare for Sienna’s 4th birthday party! The ladybug celebration is Sunday, August 28th. It’s so exciting to see her face and excitement as we talk about it. She is 4 and NOW understands that her birthday is in 3 sleeps!

Sienna's Activation video, at last!

Video is from August 11th, her CI activation. What a great reaction!! The big frown, the look around, the arms out and of course the turn to mom, it was just too much for her.

UPDATE:

We have begun seeing our SLP, Lindsay, in Peace River. We go once a week and we have a schedule of activities that we do. Right now it's all about receptive language for Sienna. She is taking it all in. You can tell that she is hearing everything, I just love it when she turns her head to me immediately after I start talking to her. We read to her everyday, we sing songs and we repeat everything...and by the way we have chosen to do all of this in french. We are a bilingual family, we are French Canadians. My husband only began speaking english when he was 6 years old and as for myself, my mother is english and my father is french. I went to school in french and received my Bachelors of Education in french. Rylee is bilingual, she speaks both french and english and sometimes frenglish. We cannot close that bilingual door just yet for Sienna. Our bilingualism is a part of our culture, our identity, our pride. I am a teacher, I believe that with Sienna being immersed in the two languages she will do well. However, I am open to the fact that at the end of the day, if two languages is too much for her, we will drop the french, and english will be her only language. Our SLP researched CI and bilingualism and found out that as long as the CI child is immersed in both languages, it is possible.

Hope you enjoyed the video!

2nd mapping accomplished, one more to go

I returned from Edmonton yesterday, this time my mother came with me. Thank-you for the company and helping me with my girls.

We went for our 2nd mapping appointment, it went very well. Sienna has worn her CI's without a fight for over a week now. I put them on every morning and she wears them all day except for when she naps and when we travel. She is very cooperative, she actually attempts to push it in when her ear mold falls out. Our audiologist gave us 4 more programs to work through. We do return on September 9th for the last of the 3 initial mapping appointments.

From the beginning, even before we knew she was deaf, I always said she was my little social butterfly. She is very interested in communicating, she reads people very well and she is always smiling. This is why I am so very excited about what she will be able to accomplish now that she has her CI's. I am wanting to begin a routine with her... my own speech therapy at home. The teacher in me is coming out. We are from a small town and our resources are limited. Her SLP is about 45 minutes away and has limited experience with hearing impaired children. She is very interested in learning and keeps in contact with the SLP at the Glenrose Hospital. However I feel like alot of the work will fall in my hands. That is why I am interested in taking webinars, online sessions, correspondence courses ... I just need a few more hours in a day!!

I find I am focusing too much energy in "looking" for those hearing moments, reactions to a sound, her head turning to my voice or any kind of "Aha" moments. Instead, I need to just relax and play with her, let her be a 2 year old. Sound to her right now has no meaning. My voice is just another sound. I can't wait to move her up through to program 4... so we can put her in her optimal hearing range... so she can look at me when I say Sienna. I've been waiting a long time for this.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SIENNA!

She is standing on her own for a couple of seconds.

She is taking a few steps.

She can go to a standing position from a squatting position.

Keep it up, we are almost walking.