Halle and Landri: Landri's Right Ear Activation and Summer Fun!

Landri's Cochlear Implant in her right ear was activated last week and she now has bilateral hearing! It was a long day of appointments (scheduled for 6 hours) but we made it thru it! Landri had little reaction to the sound in her right ear. Just like the left side they start out with a very soft program to let her brain adjust to the new sound gradually. Also just like we did with her left side the sound that Landri received will be random noise at first until her brain starts to interpret what it is hearing so gradually turning up the program will allow the right ear time to catch up without completely distorting the sound she is hearing from the left side. Clear as mud? :-) When Landri first got her equipment for the right side she was pulling it off every second.....I was so freaking that we were going to have to go thru the same process we did on the left side of putting the processor back on every second that she took it off. BUT...thankfully that only lasted about 3 hours and she now loves her new processor and is leaving it on alllll the time! I am thrilled! Her Audiologist sent us home with 8 programs to work thru (each one gradually louder) and we are on the 4th one. We go back in 2 weeks to get another set of 8 to work thru. We also have really gotten into a fabulous groove with her speech services. Landri's TOD has really helped advocate for Landri and always comes with fun new games. And we found a fabulous AVT about an hour and a half away that is the best fit for our family ever! Couldn't be more thrilled with the team (family) that we are building around Landri. Of course, I always leave every speech session feeling like we are not doing enough. Since we chose an AVT communication method for Landri the whole program is parent focused......teaching and educating us to carry out the methods and lessons daily in our home. Having weekly speech visits is similar to having a personal trainer to workout.....they keep you focused and honest. :-) Landri is understanding many more words...she has learned "hands", is localizing sound much better, and has added the word "up" to her vocabulary. Her babbling has increased so much.....she talks to herself, reads herself stories....and my all time fave.....tells the dogs "mo, mo, mo"! :-) Lovin it! She also understands some simple commands like.....take the ball to Mommy.....where are your shoes?.....etc. It is IFSP goal time for Landri. We will have those set next week when we meet with her team to hammer them out. I will post them once we have them finalized and then track her progress towards the goals on the blog.

And.....a little update on what else we have been up to! We put a pool in the backyard so now our yard is trampoline and pool. Already we have gotten so much use out of it. Halle has a "No more school.....see ya at Halle's pool" party planned for the last day of school.......which gets me a bit teary eyed....4th grade already????? No way! We also went to South Dakota over Memorial weekend to celebrate Greg's parent's 40th wedding anniversary and had a great time! Here's pics of the kids enjoying the 6 hour car ride!

Halle has been busy with softball (first game tonight!), dance (recital in 2 weeks), and cheer (3 days a week). She is ready for summer to start, but already starting to miss her 3rd grade teacher. We love her. Greg also stained our deck! Here's a pic of Landri eating chips and dip while watching Daddy work hard thru the window.