Yesterday Elizabeth attended her friend Maria's 3rd birthday party which was held at a kid's version of "Nirvana"--Gymboree. As you can see from these videos, the kids had a blast--and if truth be told, I think the adults had just as good a time.
Maria is the beaming girl in the red panda shirt. You can also see Elizabeth with Kayla bouncing and dancing together. Her buddies Emma and Megan were also there and the girls were all thrilled to play together.
All in all it was a wonderful event made even more wonderful for us, as we got to witness Elizabeth having a great time with her ear buds on. And I think there were a few people at the party who probably didn't even know she was wearing them.
Oh, to be three years old again.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Lady at lunch
Here is the little Miss sipping tea and having lunch at Neiman Marcus about a month or so ago. I was so proud of her that day. As you may know, the cafe at Neiman's can be a little formal...but she was the perfect lady. When I think of how well she has done all along considering her hearing loss, I am amazed sometimes. Of course she did manage to make her goofy face just to be mischievous--as she often likes to be.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Dancing in the New Year
So here she is again, dancing to the music. I wonder if there has ever been a hard of hearing orchestra conductor? She loves music and she LOVES to direct EVERYTHING, so why not?
She is listening to a CD from a music class she took last year (who knew she wasn't really hearing the music well?) and she loves dancing to this song, which is quite appropriate for the Jewish New Year. And by the way, Happy New Year to all of our friends and family celebrating Rosh Hashanah!
P.S. If you notice Elizabeth wearing this dress in a lot of photos, it is because she is madly in love with it and often refuses to wear anything else. She calls it her "dancing dress" and only if you want to deal with a lot of screaming and tears can you get her to wear something else. She has a closet full of clothes but, as far as she is concerned, this dress rocks!
She is listening to a CD from a music class she took last year (who knew she wasn't really hearing the music well?) and she loves dancing to this song, which is quite appropriate for the Jewish New Year. And by the way, Happy New Year to all of our friends and family celebrating Rosh Hashanah!
P.S. If you notice Elizabeth wearing this dress in a lot of photos, it is because she is madly in love with it and often refuses to wear anything else. She calls it her "dancing dress" and only if you want to deal with a lot of screaming and tears can you get her to wear something else. She has a closet full of clothes but, as far as she is concerned, this dress rocks!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Dancing to the Music
Elizabeth has always liked music and now, not surprisingly, she likes it even more. Last night she asked us to turn on the music and she proceeded to dance away to it. She woke up this morning and did the same thing.
The last week or so has been long and at times quite difficult. We have all sorts of medical appointments and we have been on a steep learning curve regarding Elizabeth's hearing loss. And I would be lying if I said that I hadn't been awake many nights wondering about all of the implications for Elizabeth. But it does seem that as each day goes by we see Elizabeth blossom a little bit more...and it makes me think of that song, "Everything is gonna be alright."
The last week or so has been long and at times quite difficult. We have all sorts of medical appointments and we have been on a steep learning curve regarding Elizabeth's hearing loss. And I would be lying if I said that I hadn't been awake many nights wondering about all of the implications for Elizabeth. But it does seem that as each day goes by we see Elizabeth blossom a little bit more...and it makes me think of that song, "Everything is gonna be alright."
Friday, September 18, 2009
Ear Buds and Irish Eyes
Here is the video of Elizabeth getting her ear buds placed in her ears by Dr. Maria. The doc tested Elizabeth's reaction by playing "When Irish Eyes are Smiling". That was a song that my mom used to sing, and if you know me, you know that I a convinced she was there with us at that moment. When it comes to things like that, I don't believe in coincidences. Not to mention that Dr. Maria isn't even Irish.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Elizabeth's Ear Buds are In
Yep..they are in--well, sort of. Elizabeth did get her ear buds yesterday and the process went as well as we could have hoped. And she wore them for a few hours yesterday and today, but we are having some "compliance" issues. Part of that may stem from the fact that I didn't have the strength to coerce her into into wearing them owing to a bad migraine (what, me stressed?). Tonight however was much better and she wore them for a good part of the evening.
It is a joy to see her huge smile when she hears something she has never heard before. Tonight she was listening to her Wiggles videos and was mesmerized. How crazy was it that she watched those videos all the time before and seemed to be enjoying the music so much. It seems she heard a bit of the music and probably loved them so much because she could hear something, but was probably just as mesmerized by the images.
Lots more to tell but will save that for later. Here are some photos and a video of the big day yesterday.
Here is a photo of Elizabeth with her ear buds in. As you can see from the photo the molds are barely visible. The hearing aid itself sits on the back of the ear and it about 3/4 of an inch. If she has her hair down you can't really see anything. The big question we have is whether to keep the dark grey color she has now or switch to a pink one which would match the band on her glasses. They don't make this hearing aid in black, which is what we wanted to match her hair. We'll try the grey for a week and then decide.
Here we are with Dr. Maria after Elizabeth had her buds in for a few minutes.
A little video of Elizabeth with Dr. Maria.
It is a joy to see her huge smile when she hears something she has never heard before. Tonight she was listening to her Wiggles videos and was mesmerized. How crazy was it that she watched those videos all the time before and seemed to be enjoying the music so much. It seems she heard a bit of the music and probably loved them so much because she could hear something, but was probably just as mesmerized by the images.
Lots more to tell but will save that for later. Here are some photos and a video of the big day yesterday.
Here is a photo of Elizabeth with her ear buds in. As you can see from the photo the molds are barely visible. The hearing aid itself sits on the back of the ear and it about 3/4 of an inch. If she has her hair down you can't really see anything. The big question we have is whether to keep the dark grey color she has now or switch to a pink one which would match the band on her glasses. They don't make this hearing aid in black, which is what we wanted to match her hair. We'll try the grey for a week and then decide.
Here we are with Dr. Maria after Elizabeth had her buds in for a few minutes.
A little video of Elizabeth with Dr. Maria.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Elizabeth's "Ear Buddies"
So yesterday we took Elizabeth to her audiologist Dr. Maria Abramson to have her fitted for hearing aids. We were a bit anxious about the thing, but all of our worrying was for naught.
Elizabeth had a great time. Dr. A is a kids dream doctor. She is full of life and super animated--and after 20 years of working with the hard of hearing she talks LOUD and uses lots of gestures. She also wears colorful clothing and generally seems to have a blast doing what she is doing. Luckily the material needed to get a mold of E's ears looked a lot like silly putty--so E thought it was just hysterical when Dr. A used a large syringe to push "silly putty" in her ear.
Elizabeth and Dr. A spent most of the appointment making one another laugh. It was actually a fun time. And she got a great impression of E's ear to boot.
And we went through the list of all of the possible options for a hearing aid--which we have to decided to call Elizabeth's "ear buds" or "ear buddies" when we are talking to Elizabeth about them--it just sounds a lot more fun that way. And what a world of this world of "ear buds" is. They are truly amazing pieces of technology--and not cheap--but now I know why.
Here is a link to the super duper model that we got for Elizabeth. I understand about a tenth of what these things can do, but plan to try and figure it out. In the meantime we hope that are as amazing as they sound.
Here is the link:
http://www.exelia.phonak.com/en/home/
She got the "micro behind the ear" model, as that is the only one recommended for children. And yes, there are all sorts of accessories that can go along with it. As my brother said today, "when she asks for a BMW on her 16th birthday, we'll have to tell her she has been wearing one on her ears for 14 years now!"
And they also seem pretty discrete. We got her a pair in black so that they blend in with her hair. She will also have a flesh colored mold in her ears that attaches by a tiny clear wire to the aid.
We put a rush rush rush on the order so she should be fitted with them by next Wednesday. The audiologist will start her out slowly so as not to overwhelm her.
There's more to the story--I'll fill you in later.
Elizabeth had a great time. Dr. A is a kids dream doctor. She is full of life and super animated--and after 20 years of working with the hard of hearing she talks LOUD and uses lots of gestures. She also wears colorful clothing and generally seems to have a blast doing what she is doing. Luckily the material needed to get a mold of E's ears looked a lot like silly putty--so E thought it was just hysterical when Dr. A used a large syringe to push "silly putty" in her ear.
Elizabeth and Dr. A spent most of the appointment making one another laugh. It was actually a fun time. And she got a great impression of E's ear to boot.
And we went through the list of all of the possible options for a hearing aid--which we have to decided to call Elizabeth's "ear buds" or "ear buddies" when we are talking to Elizabeth about them--it just sounds a lot more fun that way. And what a world of this world of "ear buds" is. They are truly amazing pieces of technology--and not cheap--but now I know why.
Here is a link to the super duper model that we got for Elizabeth. I understand about a tenth of what these things can do, but plan to try and figure it out. In the meantime we hope that are as amazing as they sound.
Here is the link:
http://www.exelia.phonak.com/en/home/
She got the "micro behind the ear" model, as that is the only one recommended for children. And yes, there are all sorts of accessories that can go along with it. As my brother said today, "when she asks for a BMW on her 16th birthday, we'll have to tell her she has been wearing one on her ears for 14 years now!"
And they also seem pretty discrete. We got her a pair in black so that they blend in with her hair. She will also have a flesh colored mold in her ears that attaches by a tiny clear wire to the aid.
We put a rush rush rush on the order so she should be fitted with them by next Wednesday. The audiologist will start her out slowly so as not to overwhelm her.
There's more to the story--I'll fill you in later.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
After the last post I figured I would let you know that Elizabeth is doing well and we are headed to get her hearing aids fitted.
And here are some photos of her doing three of her very favorite things:
Playing in the water
Eating Ice pops
Playing with her friends
And here she is in her FAVORITE swimsuit--sent by G'ma Barbara. Every time I give her a choice, this is the suit she picks!
She always insists on paying for everything. No joke. She will PUSH me out of the way and demand that SHE pays for everything. And she is a big tipper, by the way. Did I tell you about when she put a $5.00 bill into the tip jar for a $2.00 ice pop (or should I say a $7.00 ice pop?).
And here are some photos of her doing three of her very favorite things:
Playing in the water
Eating Ice pops
Playing with her friends
And here she is in her FAVORITE swimsuit--sent by G'ma Barbara. Every time I give her a choice, this is the suit she picks!
She always insists on paying for everything. No joke. She will PUSH me out of the way and demand that SHE pays for everything. And she is a big tipper, by the way. Did I tell you about when she put a $5.00 bill into the tip jar for a $2.00 ice pop (or should I say a $7.00 ice pop?).
Sunday, September 6, 2009
No Words
Here is Elizabeth with her speech therapist, Jan. Elizabeth is thrilled with her--and with the bag of toys she brings with her. I liked Jan the minute I saw her.
Well I did manage to post a few photos last week...but those posts seemed to belie all of the drama unfolding around here.
As I mentioned in a prior post, we have been concerned about Elizabeth's language acquisition . She started speech and language therapy about a month ago and it was sheer luck that we got the speech therapist that we did.
I have always wondered if her hearing was part of the speech problem and we had her hearing evaluated by specialists earlier this year. She passed their tests and they said her hearing was,quote, "great".
I still had my serious doubts but heck ,when everyone including the doctors are telling you that your daughter can hear and that you should stop being a 'Jewish mother" , you really want to believe them. So I did.
Stupidly.
But I knew something wasn't right. Elizabeth learned certain things like the colors and she could count to ten, and various things that showed she was functioning well cognitively.
But she just wasn't picking up things as she should have been. And as Marty would tell everyone, "she just doesn't understand a lot of things that other kids her age understand.
Jan the speech therapist, then said to me, "Mary I don't usually go into my personal life, but I can tell you that my daughter is hearing impaired and she was misdiagnosed for over a year...and you are telling me so many things that I told people when she was Elizabeth's age."
She told us that her daughter had passed THREE hearing tests, because at this young age they test hearing with visual cues and if the child is clever they can pretty much pick up what they are supposed to do. She then gave us some small hearing tests to do with Elizabeth at home. She failed every one of them.
We also learned that the only way to truly test a toddler's hearing is to do an ABR (auditory brainstem response ) test while they are sleeping. This test allows for the testing of the child's hearing as well as differentiates between brain related hearing loss and ear related hearing loss.
Needless to say we did everything humanly possible to get Elizabeth this test ASAP. We had the test done on last Thursday and to make a long story much shorter, the good news is that Elizabeth does not have an auditory processing disorder--but the bad news is that she does have a significant hearing loss.
It is not good news. But we are also aware that the news could be much worse...and for that we are grateful.
I think since the day we had the diagnosis confirmed I have been wavering in and out of various stages of grief to some degree. At first I think there was some shock and denial (even though I had been thinking she had a hearing loss for some time) and then there has been a lot of guilt.
For a year I sensed her hearing wasn't quite right--and think deep inside I knew there was a problem--regardless of what everyone else told me. And then when the hearing test which confirmed her hearing was fine. And, even though I still doubted it--I accepted the test results. Of course I wanted to believe they were correct.
Friends and family have been kind to say that Elizabeth is lucky to have us as parents because we love her so much and take such good care of her. But the truth is I feel as if I have failed her in this case. I truly am angry with myself for not pushing through and demanding that she get more tests. I assume you will tell me that I should stop beating myself up--but the audiologist who confirmed her hearing loss had it right when she said, "I can tell you not to feel guilty but I am a mother too and I know whatever I say, you are still going to feel as if you could have done more." She is right and that is something I will just have to live with.
In the meantime as you can imagine, we are doing everything we can to make sure Elizabeth gets the best care and intervention possible... She has a long road ahead of her to catch up. Most of our brain development as it relates to language occurs before three years of age--and she has missed out on a very significant portion of that.
I have more information on the details of her hearing loss but I will do that another time. And the truth is that there is still a lot we have to learn about all of this. One thing I can tell you is that her hearing loss is estimated to be "moderate" and I am thinking and hoping that it is on the low end of moderate.
Elizabeth has an appt. with the ENT doctor on Tuesday and then likely sometime next week she will be fitted with hearing aids. All of the doctors have said that she will "catch up". It may take her a year or two but we will do all we can.
Interestingly, it was a week ago Friday that we determined Elizabeth had a hearing loss, and on Saturday I found myself watching Ted Kennedy's funeral--which you would think had no relation to Elizabeth's hearing loss. But for me it did. I heard Kennedy's son Teddy Jr. speak about losing his leg to cancer in the winter of his 12th year. During the first snowstorm that year his dad took out the snow sled and said to Teddy Jr, "let's go sledding". Teddy Jr. was hesitant but went ahead--he fell badly after the first try and cried that he couldn't do it and would never be able to do it because of his leg. His dad said, "you CAN do it and I don't care if we have to stay on this hill all day--you are going to sled down this hill. Teddy Jr. cried as he recounted " I did sled down that hill that day" and for him that was a powerful lesson that colored the rest of his life.
And...that was a powerful lesson for me and one that even further strengthened my resolve to help Elizabeth not feel hindered by her hearing impairment.
And on a lighter note...we are going to have large posters made up that say, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade".
In the end we are so blessed and so lucky and we know that. And as my brother said, "she doesn't realize that she has these issues". and if you look at her, it is true-- she is as happy as a lark. (knock on wood).
And on a yet lighter note...I think we are in for quite a ride when Elizabeth really gets going with her speech. Right now she has a large vocabulary of single words--although not too many that she puts together. And she is fascinated with a few words which she repeats quite often. One of those words is "animal".
So, today while we were in line at a local cafe, there was a VERY and I mean VERY large man in front of us. She decided she was going to practice her words and starting pointing at him yelling, "Animal, Animal.". Did I want to hide under a rock? Oh yeah. I simply said, "oh she calls everyone Animal". But that didn't seem to help the problem and only caused her to go into the mantra, "animal, animal, animal.'
"Kids say the darn'dst things"
And yes we are looking forward to all of those things.
Well I did manage to post a few photos last week...but those posts seemed to belie all of the drama unfolding around here.
As I mentioned in a prior post, we have been concerned about Elizabeth's language acquisition . She started speech and language therapy about a month ago and it was sheer luck that we got the speech therapist that we did.
I have always wondered if her hearing was part of the speech problem and we had her hearing evaluated by specialists earlier this year. She passed their tests and they said her hearing was,quote, "great".
I still had my serious doubts but heck ,when everyone including the doctors are telling you that your daughter can hear and that you should stop being a 'Jewish mother" , you really want to believe them. So I did.
Stupidly.
But I knew something wasn't right. Elizabeth learned certain things like the colors and she could count to ten, and various things that showed she was functioning well cognitively.
But she just wasn't picking up things as she should have been. And as Marty would tell everyone, "she just doesn't understand a lot of things that other kids her age understand.
Jan the speech therapist, then said to me, "Mary I don't usually go into my personal life, but I can tell you that my daughter is hearing impaired and she was misdiagnosed for over a year...and you are telling me so many things that I told people when she was Elizabeth's age."
She told us that her daughter had passed THREE hearing tests, because at this young age they test hearing with visual cues and if the child is clever they can pretty much pick up what they are supposed to do. She then gave us some small hearing tests to do with Elizabeth at home. She failed every one of them.
We also learned that the only way to truly test a toddler's hearing is to do an ABR (auditory brainstem response ) test while they are sleeping. This test allows for the testing of the child's hearing as well as differentiates between brain related hearing loss and ear related hearing loss.
Needless to say we did everything humanly possible to get Elizabeth this test ASAP. We had the test done on last Thursday and to make a long story much shorter, the good news is that Elizabeth does not have an auditory processing disorder--but the bad news is that she does have a significant hearing loss.
It is not good news. But we are also aware that the news could be much worse...and for that we are grateful.
I think since the day we had the diagnosis confirmed I have been wavering in and out of various stages of grief to some degree. At first I think there was some shock and denial (even though I had been thinking she had a hearing loss for some time) and then there has been a lot of guilt.
For a year I sensed her hearing wasn't quite right--and think deep inside I knew there was a problem--regardless of what everyone else told me. And then when the hearing test which confirmed her hearing was fine. And, even though I still doubted it--I accepted the test results. Of course I wanted to believe they were correct.
Friends and family have been kind to say that Elizabeth is lucky to have us as parents because we love her so much and take such good care of her. But the truth is I feel as if I have failed her in this case. I truly am angry with myself for not pushing through and demanding that she get more tests. I assume you will tell me that I should stop beating myself up--but the audiologist who confirmed her hearing loss had it right when she said, "I can tell you not to feel guilty but I am a mother too and I know whatever I say, you are still going to feel as if you could have done more." She is right and that is something I will just have to live with.
In the meantime as you can imagine, we are doing everything we can to make sure Elizabeth gets the best care and intervention possible... She has a long road ahead of her to catch up. Most of our brain development as it relates to language occurs before three years of age--and she has missed out on a very significant portion of that.
I have more information on the details of her hearing loss but I will do that another time. And the truth is that there is still a lot we have to learn about all of this. One thing I can tell you is that her hearing loss is estimated to be "moderate" and I am thinking and hoping that it is on the low end of moderate.
Elizabeth has an appt. with the ENT doctor on Tuesday and then likely sometime next week she will be fitted with hearing aids. All of the doctors have said that she will "catch up". It may take her a year or two but we will do all we can.
Interestingly, it was a week ago Friday that we determined Elizabeth had a hearing loss, and on Saturday I found myself watching Ted Kennedy's funeral--which you would think had no relation to Elizabeth's hearing loss. But for me it did. I heard Kennedy's son Teddy Jr. speak about losing his leg to cancer in the winter of his 12th year. During the first snowstorm that year his dad took out the snow sled and said to Teddy Jr, "let's go sledding". Teddy Jr. was hesitant but went ahead--he fell badly after the first try and cried that he couldn't do it and would never be able to do it because of his leg. His dad said, "you CAN do it and I don't care if we have to stay on this hill all day--you are going to sled down this hill. Teddy Jr. cried as he recounted " I did sled down that hill that day" and for him that was a powerful lesson that colored the rest of his life.
And...that was a powerful lesson for me and one that even further strengthened my resolve to help Elizabeth not feel hindered by her hearing impairment.
And on a lighter note...we are going to have large posters made up that say, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade".
In the end we are so blessed and so lucky and we know that. And as my brother said, "she doesn't realize that she has these issues". and if you look at her, it is true-- she is as happy as a lark. (knock on wood).
And on a yet lighter note...I think we are in for quite a ride when Elizabeth really gets going with her speech. Right now she has a large vocabulary of single words--although not too many that she puts together. And she is fascinated with a few words which she repeats quite often. One of those words is "animal".
So, today while we were in line at a local cafe, there was a VERY and I mean VERY large man in front of us. She decided she was going to practice her words and starting pointing at him yelling, "Animal, Animal.". Did I want to hide under a rock? Oh yeah. I simply said, "oh she calls everyone Animal". But that didn't seem to help the problem and only caused her to go into the mantra, "animal, animal, animal.'
"Kids say the darn'dst things"
And yes we are looking forward to all of those things.
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