18 Month Update

I don't know how it happened so quickly, but it did! Today, I have an 18 month old baby who seems more like a toddler every day!

Marlee's latest stats:

She is 25 lbs., 31 inches.
Wears 18-24 month clothes and size 5 shoes.
Began walking at 17 months and has not looked back!
Recently decided to feed herself cheerios in the morning all by herself with a spoon!

Has some sweet curls :)

Marlee's favorites:

Sesame Street

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Reading books! Especially, "Mr. Brown Can Moo...Can you?"

Dancing every time she hears music!

Flipping through her mommy's magazines :).

"Coloring" and perusing coloring books!

Carrying around any type of bag like it is a purse...often while pushing her shopping cart. 

Going on wagon rides with her cousin Hunt.

Playing with her alphabet blocks - examines them, hides them, stacks them, and pretty much plays with them all day!

Laughing at her daddy! She LOVES her daddy!

Oh and playing peakaboo!!!

When Marlee is not doing these things, you will likely find her waving and saying "bye-bye", pointing at things excitedly while saying something that sounds like "that", and "mooing" when she sees a cow! 

You may not see her smiling in a stroller when she would rather be walking, while getting her diaper changed, or when we leave her in the church nursery. You also will not find her sleeping all night :).

We are amazed at all Marlee is learning and doing. Recently, her "listening" age jumped four months in just one. Her occupational therapist told us that she has never seen a child make so many improvements in such a short amount of time. In fact, that therapist will start coming monthly instead of weekly just to check up on Marlee. We cannot say enough wonderful things about cochlear implants and the way they have changed Marlee's life in every way - not just hearing- in only 5 months! 

Marlee, you are our joy!

We love watching you grow and learn! 

Thank you for being our happy little girl!

Fun with Playdough

Yesterday, during therapy at MOSD, Marlee helped make play dough. They made all sorts of shapes using cookie cutters. Marlee mimicked an airplane flying and a bunny hopping. She even made noises like Mrs. Nathalie was making with the airplane and the bunny. 

She was engaged and had so much fun! She sat and played for half an hour and was not happy when play time was over.  

Why is it, though, that when we play with play dough at home all she wants to do is eat it?

Maybe it was being buckled into the cute little just-her-size chair. We need one of these at home and the table too! They use these chairs in the two year old class at MOSD. You should see them all buckled in at the table listening to their teacher. It's precious!

Well, whatever the reason for the excellent behavior, I'm onto her now! Next time we play at home,  I will expect nothing less than playing with, not eating, the play dough :).

Ling Sounds

Over the last year, Marlee has had speech therapy in our home once a week. During each session the therapist conducts what is called the Ling Six Sound test.  It is a quick listening test created by Daniel Ling who was a hearing loss "guru".

"The Ling-6 sounds represent various different speech sounds from low to high pitch (frequency). They help to test your child’s hearing and to check they have access to the full range of speech sounds necessary for learning language." This quote came from Cochlear's website.

                                          Here are the ling six sounds: 

These sounds are a good, quick way to test hearing because they are all found within the speech spectrum and span from low to high frequencies.  It is often used as a way to make sure hearing aids or cochlear implants are working correctly. In our case, we first began using the test to see if hearing aids were providing Marlee with any speech sounds. The goal in the Ling 6 test is, of course, to turn to the sound when it is made. Marlee was tested weekly but never turned to any of these sounds consistently with her hearing aids. She turned to "ah" a couple of times, but nothing to indicate she was always hearing that sound. 

After Marlee's implants were activated, we continued the test each week during therapy. Slowly but surely she began turning to some of the sounds. It was SO exciting to see her turn after months of seeing her continue to look strait ahead, not hearing a sound. On January 16th, Marlee turned to ALL of the Ling sounds!!! That's a big deal! Four months earlier she was not hearing any sounds, and now she is hearing even the soft sound of "s". 

The next week during therapy, I videoed the Ling 6 test. We owe a big thank you to our sweet therapist, Miss Elizabeth, for all of her hard work with Marlee!! We love when she comes to see us each week! 

Here are the six, short videos:

                      

So, now that Marlee is turning to these sounds does that mean she's good to go? The answer to that is not at all! Hearing the Ling six sounds is big step that suggests the implants are giving her full access to sound, and now we can start concentrating on all of the complexities that go along with learning to listen and to speak. Listening will never be normal or come naturally to Marlee, but that is why we will continue therapy and she will soon begin going to school five days a week. Turning to these six sounds is one of the first of many miracles we will experience as Marlee progresses through her hearing journey!