Mapping Today

DadtoToes took Toes to her mapping appointment today. Everything is looking really good.

Toes has been having some rough patches at daycare lately that we are attributing to being overwhelmed by all the sounds around her.

The audiologist set up the P1 spot on Erin's processor to be used for times when she seems overwhelmed. The sounds will be softer and the autosensitivity feature is included to shut sound down when there are sudden, loud noises.

We think this will help her tremendously.

We have also started seeing the fatigue a lot of people talk about when getting used to CIs. Toes's already very early bedtime has shifted 30 minutes earlier. She is napping longer and becoming more combative and surly when she is tired. It is an adjustment, but one we are working through.

Besides... nothing is cuter than a 16 month old signing "bath" and "sleep" when she is ready for bed. :D

Oooooooo!

Erin tried to say her first word today.

Her teacher was busy putting on another child's shoes, and said "shoes" to Erin.

Erin said "ooooo!" She said "shoes" again and Erin said "oooooooooo!!!!"

Very fitting for a girl named Toes.

Learning to Listen

We had speech therapy today. I got the impression from the therapist that Toes is not listening as well as she should be. :( She is not very consistent in responding to sound - particularly voices.

The last two days when I went to pick her up at daycare, she did not turn to look for me when I came in and called her name repeatedly. So, it is obvious we have some work to do.

She hears - she just doesn't listen.

So that will be our focus over the next week.

I plan to stage sound opportunities - phones ringing, alarms going off, doorbell ringing, etc. I think one issue is that our house is quiet for the most part. We don't have the TV on very often, the dog doesn't bark frequently, the phone doesn't ring much.

On the upside, she is working very hard to learn to imitate speech. She has good intonation going on... and often moves her mouth as though she is speaking. She just needs to connect the two concepts.

Socializing and Sympathizing

There hasn't been much to add lately. Every day Toes is vocalizing more and more. She fairly consistently turns when we call her name when we are one on one. She still isn't very consistent in noisy settings or when she is focused on another task, but it gets better everyday.

I checked her Language Notebook at daycare today. They had made an entry last week saying that Erin showed sympathy for one of her friends that was crying. She walked by her friend, heard that she was crying, gave a little sad cry herself, pointed to her friend and looked for her teachers. :)

This week she is busy transitioning from the infant room to the pre-toddler room. They older kids are much more vocal, obviously, so we are very interested to see how she progresses in the new environment.