"Sean!"

Woo Hoo! Sean is turning to his name, which means he is not only hearing us, but his brain is recognizing that HE is Sean!

"Yes, I am Sean!!" 

Riddleberger Reunion Weekend

We traveled down to Greensboro, NC this past weekend to spend time with all the Riddleberger cousins!  It was great spending time together with everyone.  Thanks to Bret and Jodi for being such fabulous hosts.  Both Blake and Sean had so much fun visiting with all of the cousins!  It was non-stop nerf guns, legos, ping pong, and chasing after Sean!  Thankfully Sean did a great job of keeping his processors aka "ears" on.  It was during this weekend that Sean officially heard HIS name and would turn to his name when called.  We arrived to NC, with Sean on map #2.  Sean's processors are programed with 4 maps, at each mapping.  We decided Saturday afternoon to see if we could bump him up to map #3 to see if he might just hear a little bit more.  Well, sure enough he did!  Almost too much b/c as soon as I changed the map with the remote, Sean's head turned and eyes perked up, but then decided it was "too loud" and began to cling and cry.  :(  It was my fault that one, I tried "turning him up" while he was tired and two, while the processers were ON and on his head!  Live and learn.  The good news of it all is that these were the first couple of days where we felt that Sean was realizing that these things that he has to wear on his head and behind the ear are actually helping him to "hear!"

Brodi's Bon Bons = Delicious!

Jodi hosted a much needed and fabulous wine tasting!

A family reunion isn't complete without a "projector" and "slides!" 

Cousin Tracy came all the way from Utah!

Lachlan and Sean are on a mission.

Hundreds of slides!

Momma and Sean

 

Ling 6 responses!

Woo Hoo, Sean "turned to" and was able to discriminate 4 Ling 6 sounds Wednesday morning!!! This is a big deal and is important as Sean "learns to listen."

What are Ling 6?

The Ling 6 sound test allows a quick and easy way to check and see that a child detects these sounds that lie within the speech spectrum of hearing. Ling 6 sounds are used daily with D/HOH children, as they help detect malfunctions with devices and changes in hearing.
The Ling 6 sounds are: /m/, /oo/, /ah/, /ee/, /sh/, /s/

So which 4 sounds did Sean hear on Wednesday morning? /sh/, /s/, /oo/, /ee/!

Baby steps...

On a side note, this picture was taken by Sean's cousin, Addison! He is an amazingly talented young man.

Second "Mapping" and follow up on ear infections

Thankfully Sean's second mapping went better than the first (activation). "Mapping"(or MAPping) is the term for programming the cochlear implant to meet the needs of the user.
At each mapping, our Audiologist, Mike, sets Sean's CI's to different T-Levels and C-Levels (or Thresholds) for EACH electrode. Sean has a total of 44 electrodes implanted in his head, 22 on each side! T-Levels are the softest sounds that Sean can detect. C-Levels are the sounds that Sean is most comfortable hearing.
The brand of CI's we chose for Sean, Cochlear, has the capability to hold 4 maps. We have the flexibility of bumping Sean up or down a notch, depending on his response! Since Sean is a new CI user, his mappings are basically just slowly turning the CI's up. We will return to CHKD on Aug. 7th for 4 new maps!
Eventually, understanding mapping will become much more detailed and complex. So when I learn more, I'll be sure to share! Lol!

As for Sean's appointment with Dr. Moody, I'm happy to report his ears were both clear of infection! :). She was very pleased with how the incision sites looked, as well as the implants themselves. Although the implant is slightly raised from the head, it's not a big deal to us and will not be as pronounced as his head grows. And we all know how big the "Burke" domes can be...haha!

Water Wednesday at NBG

Sean, Blake, and Mikayla

Sean trying to feed the butterfly a leaf!!! LOL!

The Chrysalis Case

Butterfly garden

One of the MANY sunflowers in the sunflower maze

Fun in the World of Wonder Children's Garden

Today we headed back to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. We met up with Mikayla (who also has bilateral implants), and her mom. The kids were so cute together as they wondered through the Butterfly House, Enchanted Forest, Children's Garden, Sunflower maze, and finally the water play area! Sean did an awesome job of keeping his processors on, which I believe was partly because we were out and about (totally occupied), and partly due to the fact that Mikayla wears hers so well. ;)  We captured a ton of cute pictures!

First week since Activation...

What's it been like?...
VERY OVERWHELMING!

Imagine one of your most strong-willed TWO year olds. Then add, said two year old is deaf and can't hear a word you say to him, and if he could hear you he'd ignore you anyway! Then top it off with trying to get him to wear processors behind each ear (near already sensitive surgical spots), with magnets attached to his head...
Let's just say we go trough a lot of "putting new ears" back on before 9 a.m.!
We know and understand that this whole cochlear implant process takes time: months, years... I guess the stress of everything is catching up to us and is quiet overwhelming.

Patience is definitely a virtue! I can hear my mom saying this now. ;) Most people (at least my colleagues) would be surprised to know that I'm not the most patient person, so this period of time where Sean is adjusting to wearing his new ears, learning all about his new devices, and looking ahead at all of the work and effort that goes in to teaching a kid with CI's to learn to listen and "hear," makes it hard to be patient! I keep telling myself, "One day at a time." I often think back to how challenging it was when Sean first got his hearing aids and the initial stress of understanding the device, learning to care for the aids, putting them in Sean's ears, teaching him to detect and discriminate sounds, and then teaching Sean's teachers too! Then I remember how confident we felt months later with Sean's hearing aids, and I see the light at the end of the tunnel!
"Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance."
-Abigail Adams

Sleep!!!

So anyone who knows us can tell you that we are very consistent with sleep habits for the boys! Let's face it, sleep is crucial for a number of reasons, most importantly, brain development and mood!!

Right around Memorial Day weekend, Sean scaled the crib, so we ended up converting the crib to the toddler bed.  The only problem, we couldn't keep Sean in the toddler bed.  Our strong-willed child, liked to make taking a nap or going to bed a "game" and would challenge us to no end. We felt like an episode of "Supernanny" walking him right back to his bed 40-50 times, usually taking close to 45 minutes until he would finally fall asleep.  This was at nap time AND bedtime!  Because this was SO exhausting, we ended up having to lay on the floor, until he would fall asleep.  With the floor being so uncomfortable, even with makeshift padding, we decided to just go right into a full size bed!  We have left the mattress on the ground, with bed rails, as Sean moves around a lot in his sleep.  So now we lay a little more comfortably with him until he falls asleep. 
The weeks following surgery were tough though.  Sean would wake at various times through the night crying hysterically, looking for us.  Looking back, it makes since why he was so hysterical, it was dark and ALL sound was gone, a bit of a different "hearing" prior to surgery where he might have had a different "feeling of sound."  We finally ended up taking turns sleeping with Sean in his bed the entire night.  Gradually we have been able to avoid sleeping in his bed, but still require the "lay down until Sean falls asleep" part.  The flip side though is Sean is waking between 5:30-6:30, sneaking into our room and causing a little mischief (i.e. taking my travel coffee mug, bringing it to his room and spilling it all over his bed!).  This week though, he has decided not to cause trouble and is climbing into bed with me.  I'll take that for the remainder of summer!!  We hope that in the next few months, as he learns to hear, we will be able to improve this sleep routine!!! 

Fun/Field Trip Friday

Since the boys go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have dedicated the summer to the following themes:

"Movie Monday with Mommy"- Instead of just being a day home with mommy, I spiced it up with a movie at home with popcorn an m&m's!

"Water Wednesday"- The water fun location varies from week to week, but but includes: backyard water fun, swimming at our dear friends/ wonderful neighbors, The Traxlers!

"Fun/Field Trip Friday"- We either head to the Virginia Zoo or Norfolk Botanical Gardens, since we have memberships!

Today's fun field trip we headed to the Botanical Gardens with Kim and Olivia Traxler. We had planned to picnic on the hill that overlooks the airport, this watching airplanes take off! We picked a great day to do so because guess who's plane was parked just over the hill?!!!...The Presidents! So we had lunch with Air Force One (the smaller one) and a ton of Secret Service guys!!
Despite warm and humid weather, we had such a great time and were glad to be a part of Kim and Olivia's first trip to NBG!

Activation Videos

Initial response to activation...     Any guys out there have playdoh cologne?!! Lol!

There are several other videos in between these two, but because of the video length, I'm having trouble getting them to load.  I think these two videos are great b/c they show the two different extremes of responses during our long activation!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this video!!!

Activation Day!

ENT Waiting Room (notice Cochlear Koala came with us!)

Right processor on for first time

Mike's stimulating electrodes via computer

Sean's not happy about the initial stimulations

Big brother, Blake, giving Sean B. some love!

Sean feeding Daddy snacks, while Mike goes over ALL of the additional parts and accessories

First family photo with Sean's new ears!  Can you say hot and tired?!

Thanks to the surgical work by Dr. Moody, activation/stimulation by Audiologist Mike, and of course, Cochlear, Sean is on his way to new sounds!

Blake helping to carry one of two suitcases!!

Now Sean warms up and begins to color!

Back home, Sean watching the activation appointment on the iPad, with MeMe!

Activation day wouldn't be complete without a visit from Spiderman!

"It's ON!"

WOW, now that's a lot of stuff!

Does Sean look like he aged a year in this pic or is it just me?!!

We survived the much anticipated "activation" day!  I was SO anxious and excited for this day that I didn't get the best sleep last night.  Today, my stomach was filled with butterflies as we headed to CHKD.  Prior to our activation appointment, we had Sean's ears rechecked from last Tuesday's double ear infection!  Thankfully his ears are clearing up, but will require at least 7 more days of antibiotics.  We will follow-up with Dr. Moody in 2 weeks.  Please pray that the infections clear up by then. 
So Sean's initial activation wasn't what we expected, but that's okay.  In fact, while Mike was testing the nerves response, stimulating one electrode in the cochlea, Sean started to sense something and began to cry.  Needless to say, the hour of activation was filled with lots of tears.  Sean's "new ears" are turned on at a very low conservative level and will gradually, over the next few days/weeks/months, be turned up.  Thankfully Sean "warmed up" and responded positively to wearing his new ears, as well as Mike's LOUD claps!  :)  We left CHKD with 2 large suitcases full of Cochlear gear and lots of manuals!  Baby steps...
Hope you enjoyed some of the pictures from today!  I've got to figure out how to upload the video clips from my iPhone to Blogger!  If anyone knows of an easy way, please let me know!!  Thanks!

Activation tomorrow!

We are super excited about tomorrow's "activation" appointment!   We see one of the doctors at 12:45 to check on Sean's ear infections and then meet with Mr. Mike, CI audiologist, at 1 p.m.  Parents of children with CI's are told not to expect "too much" response at activation time, but because Sean had "some" hearing with his hearing aids, we may just get lucky and have one of those "YouTube Activation" videos to share!  Some children react by looking surprised, pointing to ear, smiling, or laughing!  On the other hand, the sudden, unfamiliar noise, can be frightening.  Either way, we are anxious to have Sean get his "new ears" turned on, so we can begin to teach him to hear.  Below are some favorite photos of Sean with his hearing aids aka "old ears!"  Enjoy!