The Louisville Zoo and More

Brody has continued to do little things to surprise us all week. He said "oh-oh" for JoJo (my grandmother and Brody's favorite person). He has also "ah-ah" for Papa. Still no mama or dada but I know it's coming. :)

 

We have had a zoo membership since Brody's has been alive. He hasn't really been interested in the animals until this past weekend. He love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listening on the train...where's that voice coming from?

 

Top was last year at the zoo. Bottom is this year.

 

Brody enjoyed Aqua Therapy with Ms. Melody again this week. It's amazing how much being able to hear changes things! The lighting is really bad in the pool area so the videos aren't the best quality again.

 

 

 

The state of Kentucky has been crazy over the last week. For those of you not following March Madness, Kentucky and Lousiville played. Since neither Jordan not I had a team in the fight, Brody went with Aunt Sara and Uncle Dany's team (they both graduated Louisville) with a little blue for Kentucky (go SEC)!

 

 

And because I didn't have any Kentucky attire, I found this this weekend at the Shelbyville Consignment Sale.

 

 

Grandma and Papa Brown gave Brody a shaving kit for Christmas. He has become very interested in the shaving cream this week.

 

 

Saturday, Brody hung out with Grandma and Papa Brown while Jordan and I attended a friend/coworkers wedding. Such a pretty bride!

 

 

And of course the highlight of Brody's day...IT'S OPENING DAY! Basketball will be over soon (thank goodness). I am ready for some STL Cardinals! And as usual, Brody is a house divided kiddo.

 

 

 

 

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Walking and talking

Are we done with snow???

 

 

We have a walker! He still not a great walker and has a black eye, busted lip, and bruised forehead to prove it. However, he walked from the living room through the kitchen and hallway to the stairs last night without stopping! Go Brody! His physical therapist and occupational therapist were both very pleased with his progress over the last two weeks. They said his core is getting stronger and his balance is improving. Brody is starting to be able to catch himself so he won't faceplant as much.

 

We met with his audiologist, speech therapist, and listening and spoken language specialist (LSLS) two weeks ago. Brody performed around 20-25 decibels on his audiogram...that's in the normal hearing range people! Go little man! He did so well in the booth too. Dr. Scott reprogrammed his processor maps and adjusted one ear a little louder than the other since he did a little bit worse on that ear. Brody could hear the beeps and thought that it was a doorbell each time. He kept looking at the door to see who was there. He sat in Dr. Scott's lap for a little bit and watched the graphs change on the computer as it was programming and measuring.

 

 

He got to spend the rest of that week in Cincinnati with Grammy and Papa Tom. Grandma and Papa Brown went to Panama to visit Aunt Sara and Uncle Dany. Brody also got a big boy hair cut while he was there...no boy southern boy hair :(

 

We went to the Louisville Family Fun Fair. I wasn't too impressed with it. Maybe it would be better if Brody was older. He enjoyed a few of the activities. The policemen running the safety course were pretty impressed with his knowledge of green light mean go and red light means stop. Brody refused to move when the light was red so they had to switch it for me to get him out of the course. Smart kiddo.

 

 

 

 

We also took Brody to his first St. Patrick's Day parade on Bardstown Road. It was fun other than all of the rude parents not watching their children. The teacher in me couldn't handle it! Brody was happy being sugared up on all the free candy!

 

 

 

 

Brody has become very vocal lately. He is using sounds along with his signs, but is still relying on signs more than speech. I think he is getting a little frustrated because he can't put the sounds together. We still have a lot of vowel sounds and not many other sounds. We are working on mama, dada, and those repetitive sounds. Supposedly he says Papa, but I haven't heard it yet! He listening skills amaze me everyday! He is discriminating between three objects and can find things in pictures of a book. He is starting to follow directions like go get your shoe, pick it up, etc.

 

 

We also had a breakthrough this week at aqua therapy! We finally got the rechargeable batteries we have been waiting for. We were able to use the aqua bags and Nammu hat and swim with the processors on! The aqua bags are just plastic bags that you put the processor in and can seal it up so the water doesn't get in. The Nammu hat is made from bathing suit material and just hels hold the processors on since the bags are a little bulky. Now we are thinking that he threw so many fits because he couldn't hear for an hour in the water...duh mom! The videos are super blurry, but you might be able to see a little sorry!

 

 

Brody has been pretty good keeping his processors on lately. He usually only takes them off when he is really mad, tired, or in the car. He is starting to put the magnet back on himself when it falls off. If he can get it the first few tries anyway, if he can't get it he gets frustrated and throws it! Today he had taken them off in the car, so I rolled the window down for him (we don't roll the windows down...open window = thousand dollar processors flying out the window). Brody had the best time with the wind. He had his tongue out like a dog and arm on the window. The pictures don't do it justice!

 

 

 

And just some cuteness...

 

JoJo (my grandma) and Brody had so much fun!

 

 

 

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Walk for Hearing-Dayton/Cincinnati

Last year we did the Walk for Hearing for the first time. We weren't really sure what to expect, but were very impressed with the turn out when we got there. You can read my post from then here. We are gearing up to have another successful walk! This year the walk is back in Kettering, OH on May 10th. It starts at 9 am.

We need your help for two different parts of the walk. First off, we would love to have friends and family in the area join us. It truly is just a walk and not a 5k, but it is for a great cause! Second, we raised almost $1,000.00 last year, and this year would like to see $1,500.00. This can be accomplished through large or small gifts. We will be donating our funds towards the Hearing Loss Association of America's (HLAA) national chapter. HLAA not to be mixed up with my school HHLA (Heuser Hearing & Language Academy). You can read more about the walk here.

If you would like to donate towards the walk or walk with us, please go to the Walk4Hearing Homepage and click donate at the top.  Then, click find a team. Enter "The Brody Monsters" and click find. To donate only, click on Brody's name. Then, follow the steps to donate. To walk, click "Join Team."

Thank you for your help in supporting this great organization. Without programs, resources,  and trainings put on by HLAA, Brody would not be as far along as he is right now! Thank you for your support! 81 more days until the walk!

Is it spring yet?

We have had a busy few weeks of being cooped up because of the snow. Our school district is on #9 for snow days. I hope we get out before our awesomely fun Disney World trip we have planned for this summer! The Alexander Graham Bell Association (AGBell) is a great organization for families and professionals who are involved with hearing loss. There are tons of resources that you can learn about through them. They are focused on the oral approach (talking/speech vs. signing), which is what we are hoping Brody will be able to achieve. Their biannual conference is this summer at Disney World. Jordan figured while we were already going to be there for the conference, we would extend our visit to take Brody on his first trip to Disney. I don't know who is going to have more fun...him or us!

Brody's made a lot of big leaps in the past few weeks in development all around. He showed us his upper body strength and flexibility by climbing head first out if his crib. :) Jordan just happened to look over at the video monitor (which we highly recommend for all new parents) and saw Brody hanging (or more like clinging on for dear life) head down, and about to fall over the side of the crib. After this happened a time or two, we decided it was time to get a bed rail and make his crib into a toddler bed. We gave him a pillow and he thinks he is big stuff! This week he has decided to explore his room during nap times (aka boycotting naps), but if we put him in bed when he is really tired, he goes right to sleep.

Brody's listening is coming along fast and great! He is able to differentiate between songs without us doing the motions. The list of song a keeps growing too! He is also able to point out pictures in a book and different body parts. Grandma was finally able to capture some of it on video. She says to ignore her singing. Y'all listened to mine though, so I know you can power through it :)

Okay ignore the fact that the voice and mouth aren't matching up. We have been fighting with it and aren't sure why it is doing this. It works fine on facebook, but when it's uploaded to YouTube, it messes up. Also, after much deliberation, Grandma is in the minority about the Eensy Weensy Spider vs. the Itsy Bitsy Spider. :)

Brody is "talking" more too! We have "bye-bye" and "ball" almost perfected. He has a few other words that we know what he is saying but no one else would. One of his goals with speech is to start making sounds like "mamamama," "dadadada," babababa," etc. We have heard the mama a few times (sorry Jordan)!

We ran out of diapers on one of the snow days! Oops! Brody was excited when we made it to the store!

We went to the circus with tickets from VIPS. Brody loved it and hated it all at the same time. He's favorite parts were the dogs and the motorcycles. 

We celebrated Grandma's 54th birthday on the 9th. We went to Queen of Sheeba, an Ethiopian restaurant in Louisville. It was really good. Brody loved it too! When the waitress tried to take away the plate, he threw a fit because he was apparently not finished yet. I hope he keeps this non-picky lifestyle up with food!

Brody got a cookie while we had some pie back at Grandma and Papa's house. Then he went on a sugar high!!

I took Brody to the Shelby County Public Library on Friday (since I was out of school AGAIN). You would be surprised how hard it is to keep a deaf child quiet! He was talking up a storm...and loud! He loved all of the books though! 

And this is how Brody felt about being "Mommy's little sweetheart!" Love you too son!

Yesterday was JoJo's (aka Brody's great-grandmother and favorite person in the entire world) 85th birthday! My Aunt Dee, Uncle Phil, and Aunt Bobbie came in town to celebrate. Brody went about 9 hours strong without a nap because he wanted to party all day!

His walking is coming along. Slowly, but he is making progress. He is able to stand up without holding on to anything now. Brody made it all the way down the hallway and outside of church with just holding one of my fingers today. He thought he was such a big boy! We have a new OT who is going to be working on his balance more. Hopefully we will see some more progress in the next few weeks!

 

We got a call Sunday night that Brody's new cousin, Mary, was coming early! Of course I haven't been sick since college, and decided the week my first niece was born to get the stomach bug! I'm so bummed! Jordan went after work on Monday to meet her and check in on Jake and Sarah. Everyone seems to be doing good! Can't wait to meet her!

 She's sooo little and adorable!

Language, language, language!

We have Brody's IFSP meeting this coming week. He has come so far in these last 6 months! We haven't really been too worried about his fine motor skills (the small motor movement usually with your fingers). One of his goals was feeding with utensils. He still struggles with this and we are hoping to continue working I that goal on his new plan. He is able to do simple puzzles now!

 

Another one of Brody's goals was working on core strength. We did a lot of stair work. He can go up and down now. He wants to hold on to the rail so bad and be a big kid, but he is still a little short for the one at our house.

 

My mom and I wrote down all of his words. I didn't realize how many he had now! We are still adding to the list as we see Brody use new words. Right now he has about 10 words he is actually using his voice only for. He says "all" for ball, "ooo" for open, "eee" for eat, "mmmm-rr" for more, "ana" for banana, "meow," "moo," and a few more that I can't think of right now. He has about 30 more words that he uses signs for. Brody is starting to remember signs that we had taught him awhile ago. His memory amazes me! He has over 75 words that he understands when we say them. He is starting to make choices between two objects.

 

We went to Dayton this past weekend to celebrate baby girl Fromholt! She will be here in March!

 

Thanks Mitchell for the big cousin shirt!

 

Brody (note the face), Aunt Sarah Fromholt, and her other nephew Mitchell

Brody had a lot of fun after the shower with Papa Tom and Grammy. He thought he was big stuff for being able to climb in Papa Tom's chair all by himself!

 

We went to the Cincinatti Boat Show while we were there. Brody liked the people watching. They had a big tank where they were showing off a new radar fish thing (technical terms here). Brody loved the big fish inside. He kept saying "hi" and then signing fish.

 

Jordan's birthday was on Tuesday. We went out and got sushi. Brody loved the chopsticks and even succeeded to get some food in him mouth with them!

 

Med-el (one of the cochlear implant manufacturers) has some great resources on their website. Cochlear and Advanced bionics do too. I strongly encourage parents to check them out! The Med-el site isn't as user friendly as the other two, but if you can find the information, it is very useful! One thing inperticular is a developmental timeline. (Okay below is the link for the Cochlear one because, like I said, the med-el site is hard to find things on and I couldn't find it again!) One thing to remember with kids who have cochlear implants is that their ears are like a newborn baby's ears at activation. So Brody's "hearing age" is about 4 1/2 months right now. He is right at about 8 months on the checklist! You do have to account for some maturity because cognitively he is older than 4 months, but still he is moving right along! We would like to see more babbling next. He uses a lot of vowels with only one syllable. We would like to see some p, b, d, and m sounds. Here's the link...http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/a7a47900-c232-4810-8bdc-d53e7b48a25f/product_cochlearimplant_rehabilitationresources_earlyintervention_integratedscalesofdevelopmentfromlistenlearnandtalk_en_612kb.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=a7a47900-c232-4810-8bdc-d53e7b48a25f.

 

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Snow Day (again)

We've had some crazy weather here in Kentucky...looks like pretty much every where else in the US too. We had some bad snow and ice Friday morning during rush hour. We still had school, but it was a horrible drive in! Brody had a runny nose and couldn't go outside to play in the snow, so Grandma brought a bowl of snow in to play with. He loved it!

Saturday, Brody attended a Hawaiin themed 1st birthday party. Hawaii sounds nice right about now! He had a lot of fun once he let go of Jordan. I told Jordan afterwards that it is weird for me to see kids with out hearing aids or implants. I guess it's because those we the kids I work with everyday, and my firstborn wears them too. Little ears look naked without anything on them! Brody played with one of the little boys but could have cared less about the birthday girl or other girls. :)

Sunday, we had a slight breakthrough in the church nursery! Brody at first loved it, then hated it, then tolerated it, then hated it again. I was for sure this week would be no different. He was in a weird mood all morning. We saw that he was teething too, but they said he had a great time. Crazy! Prove mama wrong!

I was off work yesterday and Brody had three different therapies. He worked great with Ms. Paula. He is turning to he entire box of toys now. We started working on conditioned play. This is when an adult would raise their hand when they hear a beep for a hearing test. Kids will put a toy to their ear then put it in a box, or on a board, etc. when they hear the sound. We were working with ringing a bell and having Brody put one of the rings on the stacking toy. He is starting to get the game of putting it to him ear and then on to the stacker, but I'm not sure he is really getting the point of doing it when he hears the bell. It's a work in progress!

Then, we are a quick lunch and headed to see Ms. Melody for Aqua therapy. Brody has been doing really good the past few sessions. He screamed and could not calm himself down. Ms. Melody gave him about 20 minutes and then decided to stop. Poor Brody. He wouldn't even look at her when they got out of the pool. Oh well, we'll try again next week!

After aqua therapy, we went to grandma and Papa Brown's house for Ms. Arlene to come do OT. Brody worked better for her than he did for Melody. He would only do things on his terms though. She showed us how to use the rocking chair as part of therapy. Anything to rock or spin helps with the vestibular system.

Brody is becoming very stubborn. He is throwing tantrums and throwing off his processors. Where is my easy going, quiet kid? I mean, he is still an easy, go with the flow kid, but he is starting to have more independence and opinions. This week, he has started refusing food...even foods we know he likes. I gave him turkey and cheese like I usually do for lunch. He looked at me and threw it on the ground. My mom informed me that he only likes it on bread now with mayo and mustard. My bad! I gave him a sandwich today, and he ate the whole thing!

I had a snow day today...another one. I'm all for being safe, but we are going to be in school all summer! Today was actually a correct call though. We got a little over 4 inches and it continued to snow most of the day. Jordan worked from home until it was light out and the snow had stopped a little. Brody was a big fan of daddy being here, but not a fan of him leaving us.

He was a little spitfire all day! Even stole my drink at one point and thought he was hilarious!

After his nap, I bundled him up and took him out to play in the snow. While Bear loved it, Brody was not a fan. He was trying to walk and kept falling over. :(

 

 

 

 

Grandma got Brody a shaving kit for the bathtub for Christmas. He loves it! I guess he doesn't really have a model to watch having for since Daddy has a big beard going on. He got the hang of it though!

 

 

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A big brag post!

Brody has had a busy and very productive week! We were out of school Monday and Tuesday because of the cold weather, so I was able to have an extended winter break to cuddle with my little man some more. I was also able to go to a few appointments and therapy sessions with him.

 

Monday, we saw Dr. John Franklin, the ophthalmologist. Brody did great other than letting them put the drops in to dilate his eyes. He quickly recovered when he saw the play room had a kitchen (his favorite)!

 

 

Dr. Franklin took a lot of time to talk to us and look at Brody's retinas. He said if he didn't know Brody had a diagnosis, he wouldn't see anything abnormal with his eyes. He was trying to convince himself he was seeing a waxy layer on the retina that is seen with RP (the vision loss that is associated with Ushers). However, he couldn't see anything yet. Dr. Franklin said everything looks great still and from what we were reporting to him, he is pretty certain that Brody's vision is still wonderful!

 

 

We were going every 6 months for a check up. Dr. Franklin felt that we could start coming every 9 months now unless we see a problem. So overall, a great report!

 

Monday afternoon, Brody had a joint therapy session with Ms. Paula (his deaf education teacher) and Ms. Mary (his Vision Impaired teacher). Brody was showing off for them! He was talking and pointing to his ear when he heard things. He doesn't get to see Ms. Mary much since vision isn't a big concern right now. He really enjoys her though!

 

On Tuesday, I got to take Brody to his listening therapy with Ms. Shelby in Lexington. He did much better than he did last time I tagged along. Last time, he whined the whole time. This time, he did everything Ms. Shelby wanted him to do. She wants us to start singing more songs and rhymes with him. Brody is starting to like music. He will dance when he hears it now (which means he IS hearing it)!

 

Wednesday, Brody saw Ms. Arlene, his OT. She was very pleased with his progress. She hasn't seen him for a few weeks. Apparently he worked well for her, but refused to do some things. He is starting to become very stubborn! I hope this isn't the beginning of those dreaded "terrible twos!"

 

 

Thursday, he saw Ms. Pat, his PT. She was also pleased with Brody's walking. He is still only walking back and forth between people. He is starting to go between us and his car, kitchen, or couch. I bet it will just be a few more weeks until we are chasing him around!

 

Ms. Pat was not happy with the shoes we got for his braces. She said that whoever had fitted the shoes didn't do a good job and they were big which is probably why he was walking funny when he was wearing them. Grandma took them back today and the store didn't give her any problems with exchanging them. Now they fit much better!

 

Ms. Kristie came in the afternoon. You can see some of her session below.

 

 

 

Today, Brody went to his VIPS playgroup. My mom said he was playing with some of the kids. Usually he sits back and watches them, but he was engaging with them and playing along side.

 

Brody has become super vocal over the last week. He has 5 words now (hi, bye, hot, uh oh, go). None of his words, other the hi, have all of the sounds, but in context you know what he is saying. He has also started praying now. :)

He is starting to do the motions to some children's songs. I got some of them on video. He started being silly in them, so they are a little long. I tried doing them without doing the motions...and Brody started doing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and the baby part in "The Wheels On the Bus." That means he's connecting speech and the song tunes!! Woohoo!! But of course I didn't get that part on video!

 

 

 

Grammy and Papa Tom are coming to visit tomorrow! Brody is excited!

 

And I liked this and wanted to share!

 

 

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