Happy One Month Hearing Ava!

One Month Post Activation

Ava continues to astound us. In addition to consistently turning to us calling her name, she is also able to localize and hear with a lot of background noise (and with six kids coming and going there is a ton of noise!). One example is her high chair is right beside the dishwasher. I had the dishwasher running and left the room and could spy on her without her seeing me. She was fiddling with her cheerios and I softly called her name with the dishwasher running right beside her and she sharply turned her head towards my voice. Without any visual cues she understands when I say "want up?". She also understands the words "banana" and "light" and "all gone". WOW. She sometimes understands "where's your toes?" but not quite consistently yet. When I sing the "happy and you know it" song, she claps her hands and stamps her feet (bangs her feet against the high chair as she's not walking yet) without me having to do the actions for her. AND she SAYS a word approximation for "HI" - she doesn't pronounce it like we would but she uses in the correct context and intonation almost like a two-syllable intonation-it is really hard to describe just what it sounds like but I plan to whip out the video camera tomorrow and try to capture all this stuff because I really don't think anyone is going to believe that she is saying hi (in her own way). If I close the door while she is on the other side of the door, then wait for a few seconds, then when I open the door she greets me with her version of "hi" - she does the same when she opens and closes a door - she does it almost every time. Or if someone just walks in the room that she is in she will look up and say hi. I'm not kidding!!!! She just seems so sharp and aware of all the sounds she is hearing I really believe she is soaking everything in. I am also positive that she has made the connection between having her processors on and being able to hear. Every morning when I put her processors on as soon as I turn the power on her face lights up like you wouldn't believe. I am so grateful for this technology - I am so freaking HAPPY. I never thought I would ever feel free - free from worry about her future, free from the pain from her deafness; that crushing hopeless frightened feeling we felt when learning of her diagnosis. But now, for today, I. really. feel. free.