Wow what was that....

These past coupls of weeks really Mary's speech has really come on. I am very impressed not so much with the sounds she is making but the fact she is now making the effort to produce sounds. She will make a good stab at most words I ask her to say. For example when she wants butter on her bread instead of cheese I will ask her to say butter. It comes out "uu-uuh". I can get her to say the "B" but she still struggles with blending sounds. Still as I said she is trying. Eveyday things become clearer. And now that she is tuned into words she will learn quickly and improve quickly.

Last Thursday she was being a bit of a pickle. What else?! She had been climbing in a den we had made and lost her ears. One of the other kids found "Flower" but even after tidying up all the blankets and cushions we could not find Bird. Mary by this point was sat at the table wearing Flower and so I asked her verbally where Bird was. She clear as day said "Don't know!" Was totally fabulous.

Tonight she was lying in bed, without ears, and we were having a bit of a play and a chat. Then she signals for me to put my ear near her mouth. She whispered into my ear. Was so funny. I whispered into her ear tickling it. She thought that was hilarious. She definitley got a sense of humour. She will also say words without her ears.

Words:
awa (like a cockney Water)- water
oth- cloth
eeeeese- please
oa (oh)- toast
dont know
mama- mummy
taata - Katy
at- cat
ater- grater
go- go
ee veeee- TV

Big Girl Turn 4

Should have done this a week ago but well....

Mary Turned 4 on the 15 June. We had a big party in the hosue with 15 children in total in attendance. Mostly just a disco type affair, musical bumps and statues, make a sword or a crown, pass the parcel, a little picnic and lots of noise. Mary had a fabulous time. There was one minor strop when midway throught the party she wanted the TV one. But well what is a party without the strop. Looking at all the children you would not have picked Mary out. She had 2 of her Deaf friends in attendance too. They all mixed in and the other children were al happy to play.

Washing Machines and Cars

Yesterday, One of the most important dates in the calendar for the Shaw family, namely the birthday of Big Sister Katy, we were getting ready to go to Daddy's house. I was putting washing in the machine and Mary was helping. Then I notice she is making the "pshhhttttt" sound exactly as the water sounds when it first enters the machine. Her copying sounds is really coming on.

Once the washing had been sorted I then proceeded to get the girls and all their things ready. Mary kept insisting we were going by bike. I have purchased her a tagalong for my bike which she thinks is absolutely fabulous. So we have to cycle everywhere. Alas though Daddy's house is about 2 miles away and I have not yet plucked up the courage to do more than the school run and to the local shop. Not to mention Katy would have a epileptic fit if i suggested cycling so far and where would we put all the stuff! So as I was putting Mary's shoes on, she is avidly signing "bicycle" I say to her "No we are going in the car. The car." Pleasee note My hands were busy and so I was talking. I was also talking down not looking at her face. She immediately signs "car". So she heard and understood and showed she understood. Well done Mary. Then when we get in the car particularly if she is in the front she makes all the actions as if switching on and driving the car and the "rmmmmmm" noise of the engine.

Another step forward is that now we say "Shoooos offfff" whenever we come in the house and I ask all the kids to take their shoes and coats off. Mary thinks it is sufficient to say this and stick her foot up at me. But we are making progress. She does take her "shooooos offf" when the mood takes her.

Words/Sounds

Pssssshhhhhhtttt - water noise going into washing machine
Rmmmmmmmm - car
Shhhoooos offff - Shoes off

Aeroplanes, Trains and Wool

Last Thursday after feeling Mary was more deaf than she needed to be we had a tuning appointment at teh Emmeline. She performed brilliantly for the hearing test. I think we are finally grasping the idea of it all. She heard very well at 30Db in the middle frequencies but you could see her struggling to hear 35-40Db in the higher and lower frequencies. She also did each ear seprately which we have been unable to do previously. Anyway they turned her up and she is much more responsive and seems to want the ears on even more. She also likes them on in the car now.

Over the weekend she listened intently to Twinkle Twinkle and even sang "up above". Just the once but it was very clear.

Today when we got back from school drop off, her sister had gone for a hospital appointment of her own and this upset Mary greatly. She knows all about hospitals. Anyway she signed her sister's sign name and said "aty". For Katy! I do believe she understood where Katy was and was concerned for her.

Over the weekend I instigated a game of aeroplanes and trains and boats using the sounds from her SALT game, to try and get her to eat her protein. Still struggling with that a little but it is getting there. Anyway tonight she initiated the game herself. Going "aaaaaa" for the plane and "chooo choooo" for the train. She is so clever. And coming along so quickly now. She is signing more and more and pointing out things. Like the dog walking past the park yesterday. Was a distraction to me as she was being told off at the time for pushing another little girl over. But hey she pointed to the dog and signed dog.

Now to the wool you cry... Well she unravelled my ball of wool all over the lounge floor. I started to try and find the end so I can wind it up again and she started to "help". The last thing I needed. Anyway I signed "No" and said "No" both very firmly. After the 3rd time I really showed my anger. She did not like this at all so took herself upstairs for a time. Even these moments are good, showing she is understanding that she cannot do everything she wants to do. We did make up when she came back down because well, Tom and Jerry were on the telly.

What a wonderful day with Mary. She is even enjoying her homework these days.

She listens to music...

Here I am tidying up after dinner and Mary is fiddling with my computer. She wants the media player on. We liked "We Built this City", I had to stop and dance to it. She was not too keen on the Blues Brothers. Now we like the drum beat of Africa, Toto.

She is making more vocalisations and I swear she said Helllo Mum this morning, while lying in her bed. Not repeated so cannot be sure.

We have probably sorted out her schooling. Hopefully she will be dual placed. Who knows will let you all know in time. She will hopefully start January 2011. OOO my girl is growing up.

Banana

I must record this cos it is so fab. I have been working on the first letter sounds of words of things Mary is really interested in. She had been watching and trying to copy. Well one thing she lilked was "B" so Banana got the full treatment and now she says "Bababa" or somtimes the "n" comes in and she says "Banaba". So fab.

New spoken word
Banana _ "Babana"

Other words
Up
Mum
Byebye
Round

Booo (k) Please!

Last Wednesday evening 24 February 2010, I was rushing out to sign class and my good friend was babysitting the two girls. For ease of my friend's life I thought to put Mary in bed for her. She can be a monkey at bedtime. I laid mary on her bed covered her up. gave her some milk. When she finished her milk I waved bye and made to go. She signed to me "book" and said "Booo plea". What could I do? My clever girl had asked for using voice and sign for a book. So I read her a story. Made me late for sign but well Mary is so clever and needs her rewards when she asks for things so nicely.

New Words:
Booo - Book.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

This really should have been two posts but I forgot!
A few nights ago I was signing Mary's favourite lullaby "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" she joined in with both the signs and vocalisations and we had a lovely time.

Then last night she went to bed with her processors still on. After her milk she turned over and faced her wall. I thought while she could hear I would sing Twinkle Twinkle to her which I did. No signing and Mary was facing the wrong way in the dark. After the first couple of lines Mary turned to me and did the "Twinkle Twinkle" signs for the start of the song. I was so proud. Not only did she hear me but she understood the sound and showed me that she had understood. She then turned back. I finished the song and left her to go to sleep. Wow!

Alphabet Ice Cream

Mary's new favourite book is Alphabet Ice cream. This is a very simple and easy to see alphabet book. The inside of the fron cover has the two characters Sue and Nick waving, Mary likes to wave back. We have then gone through the alphabet signing the letters and the pictures and saying the words and sounds. She has really enjoyed it. Has been her half term book. And I have ordered the other books in the series from the library as mary has been pointing at their pictures on the back cover. The last word in the book is a big ZOOM!! and I have to use my hand th hold Mary's finger and trace over the letters including the !! at the end. I get in trouble if we dont trace the !! at the end. So nice she is enjoying her books.

Its working!!

Tis half term week so Mary is not attending her usual schooling sessions.
I think she is getting a little bored.
After lunch today she was sat on my knee and I thought to try some of her speech and language games.
I had not had much luck previously but tried.
She did all her games very well concentrating hard and making some of the sounds.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa for aeroplane
Putting her finger to her lips for the SHShshshsh
Weeeeeeeee for the slide
Trying mooo for the cow

Then for the match the syllable sounds Baaaaa Vs woof woof and Mooo vs Quack Quack she matched the pictures
To my vocalisations and tried copyint them.
We even gave her matching pairs game a go and talked about the pictures. The socks go with the feet, hands with gloves, knife with fork and of course hiar and brush.
She is so clever and brilliant. Still not wearing her ears all the time and still a monkey but beautiful.

She said "..arry"

Monday morning and I got Mary dressed in her room. Seh was messing about a bit and standing on her bed and not being at all helpful. Anyway after a bit of a struggle we were done and I was readdy to go downstairs. I am trying to encourage her to take herrself up and down the stairs. But as some of you know Mary and energetic ventures are not always compatible so in the interests of speed in teh mornings I usually carry her down the stairs. This MOnday as I turned and signed downstairs, Mary lifted her arms up and said " 'arry" Clear as that. In fact she said it a couple of times. What else could I do. My clever girl. So of course that morning she got her wish and mummy 'arried her downstairs.

New word

'arry - carry

Mary Said Owwwwww

On Thursday 7th January 2010 we were at another friends house and Mary was messing about climbing all over me and throwing herself off the sofa. Both my friend and I tried to warn her about the nearby coffee table but woudl she look, nope. Anyway as predicted she fell off the sofa and stood up shaking her hand signing "oww" while saying "owww" perfectly at the same time. My friend and I jsut looked at each other and confirmed that we were hearing right. We cheered and praised her then thoguht we better check if she was ok but she seemed fine. Spontaneous vocalisation in context. Yay.

She signed Sorry!!

On Wednesday 6 January 2010 we were at our friends house. She has a 13 month old delectable daughter. Anyway MAry was being a bit of a bully towards this girl and ended up pushing her over and making her cry. She was ok but went to mummy for a cuddle after the shock. I told Mary off and had a my very best cross face on, she actually signed "sorry" and "crying". And she looked sorry! Yay my girl said "sorry".

New signs

Sorry
Crying

Extending Mary's Sign vocabulary

In addition to helping Mary focus on speech sounds we are also trying to extend her sign vocabulary. Mary has all her needs well and truly met so does not feel the need to sign more. She uses a lot of gesture and showing people what she wants or just does it herself. She got herself in trouble with Grandpa for shoving a DVD into the video player at Christmas, oops. Still it all turned out alright in the end!

So before Christmas she asked for her Tom and Jerry DVD, she signs "cat". I spent a few minutes with her getting her to sign " cat DVD please". She did this after a fashion.

Today she came to me and asked for "cat mouse". I was so pleased. I have referred to Tom and Jerry as "cat mouse" but she never took that up. Or so I thought. She is such a minx. Wonder what this next year is going to bring!

New Sign
"cat mouse" Tom and Jerry

Mary's cool Uncle Sean

He has made a big effort to learn some signs, like his brother Uncle Justin, but one does not need signs to get these crazzy uncles to hang one upside down!

This is what Santa Got me Alright!

She loves her big pink pony. Clever Father Christmas even managed to deliver it to Granpa and Granny's house.

Snow - So that is what waving your fingers in the air means!

Mary for the first time this winter, 18 December 2009, Friday. Saw and understood snow. She loved it.

Christmas Party at the Deaf Centre

Thanks now I am off. Give her her due she did wait until it was her turn before grabbing the present and running.

Speech and Language Therapy

Mary had a visit from her S&L therapist on the 22 December 2009. Was quite amusing because she chose that day to experiment with the potty and was starkers when the lady arrived. Fortunately we have coem to know her quite well and Mary was soon placed in a nappy. Althoguht hte rest of the clothes stayed off.

Our lovely S&L Therapist is retiring in July and hopes, although given the state of the NHS may not happen, that there will be a person in place as soon as she has gone. We shall wait and see. She hopes that Mary will be saying 10 words fairly clearly by July. This obviously depends on the cooperation of the young child. Hmmm. In an attempt to get Mary interested in sounds, our lady has suggested we emphasise the first letters of words. So Ball, we repeat the word ball a few times when she playing with one and then do " b b b b".

On Christmas Eve 2009, for breakfast I too her a banana. I thought it not a ball but I got her to sign the banana and ask please. Then thought I could do "b b b b" which I did. She copied and OK it came out "p p p" but it is a start and she really enjoyed trying. That is the main thing. Getting her motivated. She is now paying a bit more attention when I do the sounds with her. We will have to see how she goes this next term.

She knows her place! And Mummy's and Daddy's!

Apologies for being so slack. Things have been a little hectic here. Mary's Dad and I separated at the beginning of December. Was rather complicated for a while so these things got left to their own devices.

I was really concerned as to how Mary woudl take it all Daddy living in a separate house. We could explain things to our 5 year old and she had a few questions. But how do we explain such a complex issue to Mary when we still at the basic level of communication.

But never fear Mary is so clever. I dropped her at Daddy's after about two weeks of separation. She had stayed at his on the Wednesday night but he had picked her up from here. Anyway the Saturday morning when I put her inside Daddy's house she took her coat and shoes off and then turned to me... She pointed at me with a determined look on her face and signed "go". I asked her for a kiss and she repeated her signs and turned away and went inside. Of course I was haertbroken, at not getting my kiss. But that told me! The next week when Daddy dropped them off here. She asked to go up into my arms and then turned to Daddy and waved.

Ho she has worked out that Daddy and Mummy live in different houses amazes me. SHe is so intuitive. She is brilliant.

New signs
"Go"
DVD
Cat DVD please
Come
No - and she takes great delight in telling other children "no"
Eat
Downstairs