Saturday, January 9, 2010

Happy 1st Birthday to Lucas's ear!


Dear Lucas,

One year ago today we turned on your ear. You loved and embraced your bionic ear starting on that very first day. Now you get very upset when you don't have it. You will never remember that day, but Mommy and Daddy sure will, and we have some video for you to watch too.

This past year has been nothing short of miraculous. You began that first day just hearing beeps and buzzes. A few weeks later you started turning to your name, then to "meow". Shortly thereafter you started babbling and even said "mama". You were stuck on the same 10 words for a few months, although you seemed to understand everything we said. Then, when your hearing age was about 9 months, your expressive language just took off. You now consistently put 2 words together, have at least a 150 word spoken vocabulary and there's little we say that you don't seem to hear or understand, as far as a 2-year-old goes! You have caught up to your hearing peers in terms of age appropriate language milestones. The challenging part of the coming years will be keeping it that way.

We never fathomed that you'd hear this well. Never ever ever. Sometimes, when Mommy's trying to put you to bed, a truck drives by and you yell "uck". You're always the first to hear airplanes in the sky too. Today you heard someone say the word "baby" across a restaurant and you repeated it (because you have a slight obsession with babies). We definitely have to be careful about what we say, and we often spell things around you too, or just speak Spanish. Yeah, your bionic ear works REALLY well.

Today we really wanted to celebrate, so we took you to see Sesame Street Live. What joy it brought to us to watch you listen and DANCE to Elmo, as you clapped your hands excitedly and yelled "elmo". Everyone around us commented on how precious a site it was to see your excitement. And they had no idea how exciting a day it really was either. Mommy cried way too much during the show, but she was just happy for you and couldn't help herself.


Tonight we sang to you and got you a first hearing birthday cake. You will probably now ask to eat cake every day for the next month, like you have since your birthday. I promise, we don't always have cake in our house, contrary to popular belief.


Although you are technically bimodal, you have no interest in wearing your hearing aid. You made that very clear a few weeks ago, when you threw it in the trash can. Maybe we will explore getting you a second cochlear implant this year. Mommy can't make you any promises, but maybe the surgeons have changed their minds. That new N5 looks pretty exciting.

We can't wait to see what the next year of your hearing journey will bring. We are certain that it will be filled with many memorable experiences. We continue to have so much hope and many high aspirations for you! We are so incredibly proud of you!

Love, Mommy & Daddy

p.s. What do you want to do next year for your hearing birthday? You will be able to milk this one for many years to come.

11 comments:

Julia said...

Oh, geez, I started crying, too! It all becomes so normal that sometimes I go for awhile without really thinking about just how miraculous it all is, and then it will suddenly hit me and the water works start. Happy 1st Hearing Birthday, Lucas! I can't wait to hear what the next year brings.

Kel said...

That is just so, so, so awesome. I will admit to being a tad jealous (or maybe more than a tad), but I am just SO happy for you and Lucas, absolutely thrilled.

Landry said...

Happy hearing Day, Lucas! You (and your Mommy) are AWESOME!!!

leah said...

What a totally awesome day. Happy 1st hearing birthday! At the rate Lucas is going, you won't be able to spell things for long without him figuring it out!

Shelley said...

Happy 1st hearing birthday Lucas! I'm so happy for you and your whole family!

Melanie said...

I often wish that my husband spoke Spanish so we could talk in disguise... :)

Happy 1st and many happy more, Lucas.

tammy said...

Happy First Hearing Birthday sweet boy! Aiden and I are SO happy for you and all you have accomplished this past year. You and your mommy and daddy have worked so hard to be where you are at and you are showing the world all the hard work has paid off! Rock the world little man! xoxoxo

Anonymous said...

Happy CI day!!

But I have a stupid question...I read the phrase that you say on a lot of other parents blogs, and I just don't get it. You say "he understands everything we say", but that doesn't seem possible. If he has 150 expressive words, than he would have, say, double that receptively, that is only 300 words. That isn't close to everything.

My child has greater than 600 expressive words, and used 4-7 word phrases, but she is FAR from understanding everything we say. We have to stop and explain things all day everyday.

I just don't understand....

Susannah said...

happy hearing birthday!!! what a miracle- and i love reading about all of the ways he is learning! such a special day- here is to a new year of hearing!!!

ps i FINALLY remembered to update your blog address on my blog page and not just on the blogs i am following- took me awhile!

Drew's Mom said...

That is awesome! Happy Hearing Day Lucas!

Jenny- Sienna's mom said...

Happy 1st hearing birthday Lucas! What a great post, you brought tears to my eyes. I really enjoyed how you took us through his achievements in his first year. It reminds me of how far Sienna has come (5 months post) and how she is stuck in the same 15spoken words. With your experience, the spoken language will come. Thanks for sharing!