Orthodontic Update

Well the boys survived our orthodontic adventure today. Elijah did let them look in his mouth, but he wasn't happy about it. I had to hold his hand. The doctor wants to wait until one or two of his teeth completely come in. They will reassess himin about six months.

When the woman asked me why I had brought Jacob in, my response was...."well his teeth are all jacked up", ha! Well, we got him started today. I won't even go into how much it will cost, because it aint cheap. Because I stayed with an in network orthodontist I did get 20% off on top of the $1000 that the dental insurance paid. Jacob had xrays, impressions and spacers done today. He goes back on July 14th to get his upper braces put on.

Jacob will be in braces for about two years, so at least he will be out of them before he is a senior. I am glad to get things started!

Going to the Orthodontist

Well, tomorrow is the day that I am taking both boys to the orthodontist. I just finally decided it had to be done. I have got to be the MOM and take care of this. Elijah will have two phases of braces most likely. His top pallatte is behind bottom pallette and pushing his bottom front teeth out. We have been able to put it off some due to his slow growth. His dentist had said we had time. He will most likely have to wear head gear to pull that top pallette forward. Later he will need a second set of braces to straighten his teeth. He has a small mouth considering all the teeth he has. I have put this off, due to his anxiety and behavior. I am hoping this goes well tomorrow.

I am not sure how things will go for Jacob. He is almost 14 so it is about the right age for braces. He will hopefully be like most kids and just need the "typical" braces.

I remember wearing braces and it is not a fun experience, especially in the beginning. Tomorrow is just a consultation. Wish me luck!!

Minions!

Last week as we were shopping at Walmart I heard Elijah use the word "minions". Now I have heard this word, but I was wondering where he had heard this word. He was repeating the sentence over and over again. I couldn't hear exactly what he was saying but it was something like, "....and his minions."

Well, today when we went to see Shrek and there was a preview for "Dispicable Me" and the announcer says..."...and leads his minions..." meaning the main character was leading his minions. The minions are the little wierd looking followers. So I came home and looked up minion and it is....

- assistant: a servile or slavish follower of somebody generally regarded as important
- servant: a servant or slave
- favorite: a favored person

Now, I don't really think Elijah understands this word, but he has heard it. If he reads it or comes across it later in life, hopefully he can use context to know the definition or he may have to look it up. Here is a Disney movie though using this, in my opinion, large vocabulary word. It amazes me the words that children are exposed to everyday, and yes I know, some of them are words we would like our kids to avoid.

This made me remember the time I was teaching at the high school and one of our vocabulary words was indignant. Just a few days later, as Jacob was watching Thomas the Tank Engine, I hear the narrator say..."Thomas was indignant that...." and again I was in amazaement that a kid's show was using such higher level vocabulary.

All of this makes me realize what a sign dependent child misses on a daily basis, especially if the parents are not fluent signers. There is just so much vocabulary out there. I feel fortuante that this technology was and still is available. It was and still is a lot of work, but so well worth it! I wonder what new word he will use next!!

Batteries!

Oh how my life revolves around batteries. I think we all have this issue to some extent. Anyone with a cell phone has to charge it at some time or another. I know my Iphone requires at least one charge a day if not two. It really depends on how much I use it during the day. My son has his cell phone that has to be charged. We have two laptops in the house and at some point during the day, if we use them, they need to be charged.

Elijah has his Nintendo DS that is charged at least every other day and he even has a car charger for it. Oh and I have a car charger for my Iphone! I even bought an adapter that has a typical plug that can be plugged into a cigarette lighter in the car. I have given breathing treatments with a neublizer using that before. However, its main use is for Jacob's laptop when we travel. Do yout think these kids could ever live without their electronics?

Our Wii uses alkaline batteries in the remotes and those are changed every few weeks. Our Wii sensor bar is a wireless one that uses four double AA batteries. We had to buy it because the one that came with the Wii that plugged straight into the Wii console disappeared one day. We think the cats got tangled in the wires and drug it off. We have never found it and this happened months ago. Who knows where those cats drug that thing off too.

I now have a flip camcorder that takes two double AA batteries and I am sure to get those zin powered batteries just for cameras. I use those in my other camera too. They just eat typical alkaline batteries. I can buy a rechargeable battery for my flip camcorder, but haven't seen the need yet!


The batteries that matter most around here are the ones for Elijah's cochlear implant processors. We have two options, disposable and rechargeable batteries. Now during the school year he uses the disposable batteries. Dispsoable meaning you use them and when they run out of juice you throw them away. These are size 675 cochlear implant batteries. They have a lot more juice to them than the typical hearing aid battery and cannot be bought at your local drugstore. I purchase 300 of them at a time, and yes I did say 300. Each processor takes three batteries, so a total of six batteries for him to hear out of both ears. They last about three days, so you can see in one week he may go through about 12-18 batteries.

During the school year he wears the disposables, because once he gets to school he removes the battery rack(where the batteries go) and puts in his FM battery/boot. The school provides those batteries, so really during the school year his batteries are not used as much. At the end of the day he switches back. If his batteries in his battery rack go dead the school provides him the batteries to change the, so really they last about a week. Now on weekends we do use the disposables also. Now this means that I have to carry batteries with me all the time. I have them in my key ring zipper coin purse and in my purse. It never fails, that in the middle of soccer game I'll see his "ear" blinking red and know he needs a battery change. He can change his batteries, but I have to get them to him. As he gets older he will learn to carry batteries with him. We went to my mom's over spring break and about half way there I almost freaked remembering that I had forgotten to pack batteries. Thankfully I had three packages(six batteries to each) in several different spots. When we went to the beach recently I packed about six extra packs of batteries.

Now that we are home for the summer we use rechargeable batteries. I charge two batteries each night and then replace them in the morning. They last all day for him(about 14 hours) and I never have to worry about him needing a battery change in the middle of the day. Plus, it is nice for my pocketbook. If I don't have to use the disposable batteries for three months, then that is a lot less disposable batteries being used. HOORAY!

Oh I just remembered, my electric toothbrush is charged daily. Thinking back to my childhood the only batteries we ever used were alkaline batteries. I don't remember any toys have rechargeable batteries. Of course, I played outside more and spent less time on electronics. Was this just only 30-35 years ago. It seems just like yesterday. How things have changed!

New Tic

Tics are a funny thing. You just never know what new tic might appear and Elijah has a new one. The best way to describe it is a "piggy snort". Sometimes it is just one snort and sometimes there are several snorts. It doesn't seem to bother him and at least it doesn't offend anyone. He is also back to licking his hands and rubbing his face with his licked hands.

We went to the pscyh about a week ago and due to his weight gain we are trying to lessen the amount of one med he gets. I dropped it by 50 mg last week and will drop it by another 50 mg starting tomorrow. Tics really aren't his main issue, the OCD is really more of a problem in his bossiness and not wanting to follow directions, so we can live with a few tics! Plus with him being out of school, it is a good time to tweak meds and see what happens.

Raising a Deaf Child Who Hears

Elijah is a deaf child who hears with his cochlear implants. He functions very well with them, so much so, that at times you almost forget that he is deaf. This is great, of course, but then there are times when he cannot hear. This is all compounded by his tourette syndrome, OCD and ADHD also. When his "ears" are off he is even louder than his usual self and harder to discipline. It is like he knows he can't hear and so he acts up even more.

Many in my family forget Elijah is deaf when his "ears" are off. They continue to talk to him at the pool and then realize "DUH, he can't hear." Weclome to my world. When he bathes we communicate well, except for the constant, "mom, mom, MOOOOM, mom, mom, mom...." that comes from the bathroom at times. I may be in the middle of something and can't quite get to him and usually it is NOT an emergency just him wanting to tell me something. This same thing happens at bedtime. There are times when I am tired of hearing my name. I waited a LONG time for him to talk....A LONG TIME, and now sometimes I wish for silence...at least for a bit!

Tonight was the final straw. We went to my dad's house to swim. No one was home, so I needed to start the filter. I went in to the house to start it and can hear him just yelling for me over and over again. With his ears on I had told him I was going in to turn on the pool and he had taken his ears off after that. Here we go again with the constant, "MOM, mom, mom, mom...." over and over again. I get outside and he yells at me in a gruff voice to turn on the blowers in the hot tub. My stepmom was on the phone with me telling me how to do it and I was signing to him that I was going to turn them on, but he keeps yelling. I wasn't swimming and was just going to watch him swim. He did fine and played well in the hot tub area. He then yelled at me about losing something in the pool and not having his goggles. ARG. Almost every time we go swimming, even when we discuss behavior prior to him removing his ears, the same thing happens. He yells about something and just gets irrate. I know this is due to his other conditions but it is frustrating nevertheless.



We are planning a swim party with his friends in a few weeks and I just cannot have all of this at the pool. I have seen where others have waterproofed their child's CI processors to swim and I decided it was time. I ordered an Aloksak bag(waterproof) and a lycra swim cap. We will try it with one ear only and with his backup processors. I think if he could hear while swimming many of these behaviors would cease.

Dealing with Eiljah's hearing has not always been easy, but we have dealt with it and handled it. Dealing with his tourettes, OCD and ADHD on top of it has been the most difficult. Hoping to get these in the mail and hoping he will tolerate trying this. I asked him about swimming with is processors and he said NO, he knows they cannot get wet. Well, if he wants to swim he is going to have to try.

Put Your Ear on BOY!

"Put your ear on boy!" That is something I say at least ten times a day. We call Elijah's processors his "ears" because, well, technically they are his ears. He can't hear without them. He got his first "ear" on his right ear when he was 18 months old and had his left ear done when he was 4 1/2 years old. The coil is the round part that seems to just STICK to his head. It is held on by two magnets, one under his skin and one on the coil!

For whatever reason, if one of the coils falls off, he just lets it hang. ARGH! One of my pet peeves, dang it. I then say and sometimes yell, "put your ear on boy," and he slaps the coil back on. Sometimes he takes his left coil and just tucks it in behind his ear and I ARGH even louder, because this means he took it off on purpose. Again I say, "put your ear on boy!" Now he sort of laughs at me and says, "MOM put your ear on," which is cute and I'll act like I am putting my ears on, but dang it could he just PUT HIS EARS ON!

Elijah does love his ears and if I threaten to take them away he is horrified. I just think he gets busy and if one coil falls off, what's the big deal, he has the other one, right? Is that his thinking? Is the world just too loud sometimes and that is why he tucks the left one behind his ear sometimes. There sure are times when I wish I could turn my hearing off!

If you watch some of the videos I have put on facebook you will hear me telling(yelling) at him to "put your ear on boy!"

We went to see Karate Kid last week and I noticed the red light blinking on his LEFT processor, meaning the coil was off. I asked him to put it back on and that the red light blinking would bother people. Can you imagine looking out over the audience from behind us and seeing this random light blinking red? As a person with OCD, it would drive me crazy to see that red light blinking in a darkened movie theater. I had to remind him on several different occasions to "put his ear on" and threaten to take it away.

I have just worked too hard to get Elijah where he is now to let him not wear his processors. Others might disagree with me, but Elijah truly is a "hearing" child and uses speech to communicate. He would be lost without his "ears"!

Painting Project

Well, I have been home from vacation for a week and well, I am a little bored. I have read a few books, cleaned out some closets and enjoyed some movies. After seeing the state of Jacob's room, I decided that we would paint. Jacob got more excited about it after I drug him to the Home Depot to look for colors. He was very sweet and kept looking for the best deals on rollers and such. He was very serious about it! He chose Americana for his room. It is a darker blue, but not DARK blue.



Seen here it is the third one down.



Elijah chose Little Pond. Third one down, farthest left.










Elijah has a canary yellow on his walls now and Jacob has a light blue! That will all change soon.

Elijah was very excited, but drove us both a little crazy. He asked about everything we saw, and what they were used for. He enjoyed watching the man mix the colors with the machine!

We are going to start in his room, since it is the easier of the two rooms...in some ways. Jacob has some shelves to work around and two windows. Elijah only has one. The prepping to paint is what I hate, but painting is something I enjoy. The walls look so nice and clean! Of course, we may have to then tackle the doors, but I'll worry about those later!

While we were there a woman walked up and pointed to Elijah asking if he was my son. I said YES, wondering what he had done. She then said, "How old was he when he got his implants?" I told her he was 18 months old for the first one and 4 1/2 for his second. She then said she just found out today that her one month old nephew is deaf. Her mom and sister are also deaf, but got their implants late in life, so they did not get as much benefit as a younger person implanted. She was amazed at how well Elijah spoke. I told her about CIcircle and other support groups online. I also told her about my blog and how to find my videos on youtube! She went on her way shopping and we got our things togehter.

It didn't cost too much to get all of the materials, although I am sure we will have to buy something else! When we were driving home, Jacob said, "I called Cris, he said he would help paint. I think this will be a fun project!" Anything to get him off of that computer for a while!

Cat in a Box

I ordered some Vera Bradley items recenlty and when they arrived they were in this nice green box. I left the box on the floor and soon all three of my cats took turns checking it out. The box has been sitting in our den for several days and has made for some great entertainment for us. This picture is of Oreo sitting in the box. Perky got behind the box, under the lid. Oreo then started batting at Perky's head and of course, Perky jumped out and batted at him.

Sometimes one of them will hide under the lid(it makes like a triangle with the ground when the box is open) and waits for another cat to walk by, then attacks. I will keep it in the den until it just finally is too worn out to be used, or people are coming over!

Boxes are funny things! Whenever we have had something arrive in a big box, we'll keep it in the house for several days for Jacob and Elijah. Jacob is too big for that now, he says, but Elijah loves to play with boxes. He will draw on them and ask me to cut out windows. The best box we had was when we got our refrigerator! That one lasted for about 2 weeks, before I finally got rid of it. Elijah made it a boat, a house, a tree house....all using his imagination! Isn't it funny how the cats like boxes too. I wonder what they are imaganing!

ARGHHHHH

Elijah and I went out to lunch at Chick-fil-a today to meet a former teacher of his. Elijah had gone into the play area and after a few minutes I noticed him doing one of his tics. He was making faces at a boy and moving his head from side to side and back and forth. It looks intentional, but it really is a tic. I walked in and the mom of the boy was in there, eating a salad, and I told her about the tics. She said, "Oh ok, good to know he is just not making faces." I also mentioned he had impulsivity issues.

The friend had arrived by then and we had both gotten our food. I was just getting ready to get Eiljah when I notice this same mom now chastising Elijah about something. I walk in to her yelling at him for pushing her son. Now, I am not excusing Elijah for pushing, in no way, but she knew I was his mom and could have come to get me. Most of the time, in my experience, parents usually come and talk to another parent and don't handle things on their own. Yelling at Elijah just doesn't work, it makes him even more defiant. I calmly said, "Elijah you should not have pushed the boy. Now come with me and we will go and eat. You can't play if you are going to act this way." Before I could walk towards him he yells, "NO" and then proceeds to quickly turn his head and do a raspberry in my direction. Well becasue this other mom was standing so close to him AND had food in her hand, this spit went in her direction and landed in her salad. She then starts yelling, "HE SPIT IN MY SALAD." Of course, I am dying a thousand deaths and I went towards Eiljah to just get him out of there. I really didn't know what to do. This woman is yelling at the top of her lungs and her yelling is what had agitated him in the first place. AGAIN, not excusing Elijah's behavior, but this mom was very aware of who I was and could have come to get me. She yells again, "HE spit in my salad, are you going to buy me a new one?" Well, I was trying not to get pissed. I wanted to yell at her, "why didn't you come get me? why did you try to handle this yourself? most parents DON'T bring food into the play area." Instead I just said, "Well you shouldn't have brought food in here."

I get Elijah and we leave to go and eat. She comes out and again yells, "HE spit in my food." I just sit down and ignore her. I explain to the person with us what happend. I really didn't know what to do and thankfully this other mom just stayed away from us. I kept Elijah out of the play area even after he had finished eating. I also told him he had lost the computer for the rest of the day for his behavior...pushing the boy and the raspberry. The mom and her kids left and after a little bit I let him go back in and play. He had no other issues with any kids and did fine in there.

I later thought, maybe I should have bought her a new salad. I don't know. Did I handle this correctly? I could have gone the other way too and just yelled right back at her. I don't know if y'all remember the blog that I posted a while back about the boy that Elijah threw a shoe at when we had visited another Chikc-fil-a. Elijah apologized and the boy had said, "No harm done." He even said, "He is a good boy" pointing to Elijah. He even asked me about Elijah's implants and how they worked. This little boy, who was maybe seven or eight years old, handled things with Elijah a whole lot better than this mom did. Another time, I had seen a mom looking out into the dining area with my niece. I went in and said, "Is my boy behaving?" The mom said, "Well, he is just being a little aggressive." I got Elijah down and took him out. I explained to the woman about his Tourettes and told her thank you for bringing it to my attention. Elijah did a time out, then ate, and then went back to play. I have never chastised another person's child in a restaurant. I have said things like, "OH be careful when you run, you might fall," or "lets slow down a little." Even if I saw a child being mean, I would start looking for their parent to mention it to them. I think that is what bothered me the most. This mom knew who I was. I had already been in and talked to her about Elijah. Obviously she knew I was watching, because I saw him doing tics and went in to explain. All she had to do was come and get me. Elijah does "spit" as a tic at times, but usually with no saliva. this was the first time he had done an all out raspberry.

I still question if I did the right thing. Probably not, and maybe I'll handle it differently next time. I am not going to stay home and avoid the public though. Elijah doesn't deserve to be "kept home" because of his condition. He does need to learn to control himself and learn how to handle himself. He is only ten though and this is a lot for any person, nevertheless a child, to handle.

The Dirty Truth from Dirty Jobs

I watched Dirty Jobs the other night on the Discovery Channel. It was an episode where the host, Mike Rowe, reminisces about the 250 dirty jobs he has undertaken. What I write here are some things he stated in the show that really seemed profound to me about working a job.

1. Work smart AND hard. You need both of these to keep a job and/or find a job.

2. Don't follow your passion, bring it with you. Don't make happiness or passion a condition of your employment. Passion should be something you bring with you.

3. Stay in school, but not too long.

4. Make a date to imitate. Meaning you can learn a lot from watching others. He showed a lot of manual jobs where people watched others and learned from watching them.

5. Efficieny is for robots, be effective. I really like this one also.

6. Beware of experts. Just because an expert says it is the best way to do something, doesn't mean it always is.

I went to the Dirty Jobs website and found some clips from the show. I tried putting them in here, but I can never make it work as a link. You can cut and paste them if you like!

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/dirty-jobs-the-passion-of-mike.html

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/dirty-jobs

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/dirty-jobs/

Summer!

Today was really our first full week day home for the summer. We left right away for our vacation to the beach on my last day at work on June 4th. Elijah and I slept in to about 9:00 which was nice. He had pancakes for breakfast and I ate my bagel! He played on the computer and later the Wii while I read a book and did a few things around the house.

We later went to the post office and picked up a weeks worth of mail. Not much in there, except a few bills...ugh! Jacob slept to about 11:00 and then I got him up. We have to go to two doctor's appointments on Thursday and he has to go with me, because one of them is for him, so I need him to start trying to wake up at a semi-decent hour. Of course, he says he is a teen and teens are supposed to sleep! ha! On Thursday I plan on going to one appointment, then taking the boys to a movie and then going to our second appointment. Both are in the same area and about 40 min away, so we are not driving home!

Elijah and I went to the library today. He picked out five books. I had gone to the fiction section and found four books by two authors I have just discovered. It was nice to walk into the children's section and find him sitting at a table flipping through a book. He had several picked out already.

We had a lazy afternoon at home and a nice dinner. I just came back from blockbuster with some ice cream from Sonic to surprise the boys. We all enjoyed it.

Tiger, our black tabby, is sleeping next to me and I am sure Perky is back in Jacob's room with him. Oreo could be anywhere! All three cats have been quite loving the last few days since we came home. I think they really missed us.

I may go into work for a few hours tomorrow, but nothing major. I have a three day conference to attend in July and a two day workshop in August. Other than that the summer is MINE, and the boys too, of course. We have my dad's pool we can visit. Oh and we are going to have Elijah's kid birthday party in July(birthday was in April, but he wanted a swim party so we pushed the party to the summer) and Jacob's actual bithday is in July! It will be a busy month when it comes to birthdays!

Hope everyone else is having a great summer break so far!

Traveling with Tourettes

Our trip to Orange Beach for five days went very well. Elijah did a great job playing with other kids in the pool and had a great time riding the waves. My mom, Jacob, Elijah and I started for home around 9:30 yesterday morning. We stopped in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to eat lunch at the Cracker Barrel.

Elijah had had very few tics while on our trip, but boy was he having tics on the way home and in the restaurant. I think he was stressed some about leaving the beach and wanting to get home to see our kitties. He was snorting, clearing his throat, and banging the table. I just rubbed his back and told him it was OK. It doesn't bother me and I wanted him to know it was OK to have his tics.

We had a nice waitress who did a great job waiting on us. She happened to walk up when Elijah had a series of tics. He was quite loud. My mom mentioned that he had tourettes and those were his tics. I usually don't bother to say anything unless someone asks. Well the waitress says, "Well he is just a special boy and y'all are special for taking him out like this to eat." I held my tongue. I wanted to say...."well are we supposed to keep him locked up at home and never take him out." I didn't though. I don't think she meant anything by it. I think she just didn't know what to say and said that. Elijah also has his cochlear implants that he wears and those are hard to miss, so most people know he is "special" for some reason or another.

I have though of making up a business card and explaining his cochlear implants on one card and on a different card his tourtte syndrome. When people look, I can just have him hand them a card depending on why they are looking/staring at him....because of the cochlear implant processors or because of the tics.

Our Vacation at Orange Beach June 2010

Jacob, Elijah and I left for my mother's house on Friday afternoon. She lives in Marshall, TX. We stayed the night and then left for Mobile on Saturday morning. We arrived in Mobile and got checked into our hotel. We then went to my grandma Ruby's house. I have not seen her in two years and was looking forward to seeing her. She had hip replacement surgery about six weeks ago and was still recovering. Several of my aunts, uncles and cousins came over that evening. Grandma Ruby surprised all of her great grandsons with a joint birthday cake and cards!



This is a video from that evening.

A little bit of chaos, but fun! We crashed hard that night at a hotel and got up the next morning to Krispy Kreme donuts! We then went for another short visit with my grandmother and then headed to Orange Beach!

We have had a great time so far and got two and half days of NO oil and were able to swim. Elijah has NO fear at all went way out into the water with his boogey board. He loved riding the waves in. If he flipped off of the board he just got right back on it and tried again. I have learned to let go a bit and let him have his freedom but also keeping an eye on him. I don't want him drifting too far down the beach with the current pulling him down. He did well though and kept an eye on me too. Now Jacob only made two short vists to the beach. It really isn't his thing. He did spend a lot of time at the pool. My nephew Trent was quite brave and went out in the water quite a few times. He and Elijah have had a good time together!!

There is a video of a sand castle that Elijah and I built today at the end of this blog entry. He is wearing his backup "ears". Oh I have really liked having two sets of ears for him. He wears his new gray "ears" most of the time, but when we go to the beach he wears his back up beige "ears" that have the earmolds. We didn't go in the water today due to the arrival of the oil so he kept them on while we built the sandcastle. The other night we took him and Trent down at night. It was so nice to see him playing at the edge of the water with his ears on. He was able to communicate with his cousin quite well and enjoyed hearing the sounds of the waves! Elijah has still had his tics, but they haven't been that awful. His cousin Trent tried to tell us one of his mad faces was a tic. It was sort of cute. Overall, he has done well. A few spats with his cousin, but typical BOY stuff!

I think Elijah has enjoyed the beach the most. I have really enjoyed it myself. There is something about making a sandcastle and having NO other worries while you are building it. Listening to the waves with the wind off the water keeping you cool. It is so theraputic. I also rode the waves with Elijah and felt like a KID again! My legs let me know the next morning that I wasn't still a kid, but I did it again that day anyway! We have had crab claws for three nights. My mom cooked for two of those nights. OH they were so GOOD! She is such a good cook. We went souvenier shopping today and I got t-shirts for the boys and myself. Tomorrow we are going to go and see my Aunt Peggy! It should be a nice visit. We will swim some more and probably make one more walk down to the beach. We leave for Marshall on Friday morning. We will spend the night with my mom and be home on Saturday. It has been a great trip so far, but there is no place like home. Elijah is missing his kitties and I think Jacob is too!

Elijah's and the Sinking Titanic

Elijah surprises me more and more each day with what he knows. Before I tell this story I have to explaing the game we play on the way to school. My mother was spending the night one night with us and teased Elijah saying he would have to sleep in the attic. He then came back with,"grandma has to sleep in the fireplace." They went on and on for a while coming up with strange places to sleep. Elijah loves this game and I use it as a tool to teach vocabulary and also to ask WHY a place may not be a good place to sleep.

About a week ago, he started this game with me in the car on the way to school. We went back and forth a few times and then he told me, "MOM you will sleep in the sinking Titanic." I was impressed he knew what the Titanic was. He then said, "You will sleep in the bow." Ok now I am really impressed and said, "THE bow, really?" He came back with, "No you sleep in the stern." Well I knew one of these was the front of the boat and the other the back, not sure which was which(I looked it up later), but I was impressed he just new the terms. I emailed his teacher later and she wrote back taht he loved to read a book about the Titanic that she had and that he loved looking at a picture of the ship with the different parts labeled.

So today, he starts with the game again and tells me again I will sleep in the sinking Titanic. He then tells me I will sleep in the cabin in the birge. I said, "The birge, don't you mean the bilge(his /l/ is not always the greatest." He argued with me about how to say it and I just said whatever, because I wasn't sure I was even right. I did look it up later though, and it is the bilge! Again, quite impressed. He then said, "Mom, the first class has a lot of money. The second class has a little money and the third class is at the bottom." I am sure he meant at the bottom of the ship, where the third class cabins were. WOW! All of this from reading a book.

He is a smart little guy, who isn't so little anymore. Today was his last day as a third grader! He is now officially a fourth grader and summer has begun!

New Ears!!!

Today Elijah and I drove down to the audiologist's office and pick up his new silver Freedom Cochlear Implant processors. It was like gettin an early Christmas! The secretary handed me two brown boxes full of equipment. We got everything that you get with a new kit. Each processor came with an extra controller(we didn't get that when we upgraded in 2006), two coils,two rechargeable batteries and charger, as well as a case for each processor and some other odds and ends.



I let Elijah choose his color this time and he chose the silver. The other choices were black, beige, brown, pink and blue. I was really surprised he didn't get the blue ones! I decided I would keep the eargear on his beige processors, that are now his backup processors, to use for soccer and also for when we go down to the beach for our vacation. I'll take all four processors and use the beige ones for the beach and pool, but he still won't wear them in the water. I need to order two snugfits and might even get him some different colored mic covers and also stickers to decorate them with.

He was very cute when we were in the office. I put one of them on and he liked it. I then assembled the second one. The audiologist had programmed them for, but had not put the whole processor together. I didn't make an appointment to pick them up because she just loaded the MAPs and let me pick them up. She knew we didn't want to wait to get them. I put the second processor on him and he looked at me and said, "Mom, we going to take these home, right?" I told him, "OH yes!"

We got home around 4:15 and I went through everything. I basically cleaned out one box and loaded up his body worn processors in them. I found the return paperwork and I decided to run them to the local office supply place which fedex picks up from so I could get them on their way! I came home and went through all of the body worn processor cords and such to get rid of them. I then organized all of the new equipment and put the beige processor equipment in one area. I am OCD that way!

Tomorrow is the last day of school and Elijah will get to wear his new EARS! I like the sliver, it goes good with his red hair!