Ordering Cochlear Implant Headbands

I have had a lot of comments about the cochlear headbands we order for Natalie. I put my email address on the side of the blog. Please email me and I can let you know how to go about ordering them. We have loved them and honestly I can't imagine not using them.

I also love these cute flower clips we have gotten from some kid hair salons but you can also order here. They are from Katelyn and Co.

Feedback

Natalie recently figured out how to use a whistle. She loves it. She loves the feedback she gets from blowing into it and making a sound. It was interesting to watch how when her "ears" were on how much she was enjoying playing with it. At one point in the afternoon I found her headband off and she must have accidentally taken them off and she had the whistle, but it wasn't that much fun anymore.

The joy of sound! You can see her whistling below:

Look who turned 2

Miss Natalie turned 2 the middle of March. Such a sweetie! When we ask her how old she is now, she has finally caught on and says "TWO" and tried to point 2 fingers in the air. (it is a bit tricky but she can do it.)

We kept her busy for her birthday. We went to a mall, had lunch, played on a carousel, went to a children's museum, had dinner and cake and played in the sprinklers. She isn't much a sweets person, but she did try out the cake some.

She was exhausted by the end of her birthday. We are excited to see what this next year brings her!

the cake

picture with daddy

a very warm birthday here in NC

thank you cochlear for waterproof processors!

"Ears"

When Natalie gets really tired or isn't feeling 100%, (or if she isn't getting quite the attention she wants) she occasionally takes off her "ears". She mainly leaves them alone, but I always notice when she has been teething, or has a cold or is extremely tired she doesn't want them on. If I feel like on one particular day she is consistently doing this, and after many attempts of them being on and off, I will put her in her crib with some books and give her 15 minutes to chill.

Usually she calms down and wants to listen again. I don't really want to punish her for not wearing them, but she needs to understand that she needs to wear them in order to hear and listen. And I generally think when she takes them off, she really is just trying to be naughty most of the time. And a good part of her success of how well she is doing is because she does wear them so much.

Here is one particular sequence of events. She got mad at something and ripped off her headband that has her processors in place. (And look at that beautiful head of hair she has.) So, this is just one of those daily things us parents of kids with hearing loss get to deal with. Sometimes on multiple times each day. And we get to teach any caretaker how to put them on and explain how they work.

Just one of the struggles we get to tackle...

Old Posts

I recently transferred a bunch of old blog posts from our family blog to this one. I started this blog once Natalie had her cochlear implant surgery, but I think for record keeping, it is best to know her whole story from birth and so on. Those posts are under the year 2010 if you want to check them out. This was during the diagnoses phase, hearing aid trial and all that fun stuff leading up to her CI surgery.

Squeaky Shoes

I picked up a cute pair of squeaky shoes (our first ever) at a local consignment sale last week. They are adorable and Natalies LOVES them! It is so much fun watching her walk around and I love the fact she can hear how cute they are too!

          ** And as I type this blog up and Natalie is nearby playing, she can hear the video I am uploading and runs to look. Good ears Nat!**

She is doing amazing with her speech and language. She can count to 10, sings the ABC's, knows her colors and just seems so observant and smart these days. She will turn 2 in 10 days. Another year to celebrate her wonderful life!

Check out her squeaky video ~

Dancing Diva

Natalie's new favorite song is Stronger by Kelly Clarkson. She is starting to really like a lot of songs (ABC, clean-up song, Twinkle Twinkle and asks us to sing them to her.)

She loves to dance to music!