When your child finally wants to hear

This is the view I had from my bed early one morning. What's so special about that picture I see you asking? It's the fact that she is wearing her CI's. Ever since she was a 10wk old baby she has never wanted to wear her aids first thing in the morning, she would fuss or moan, even when she was first activated she would not tolerate them till about 9ish in the morning. But after a recent mapping where her programming was turn up louder she seems to have come on leaps and bounds.

It's always been drummed into us that we must put her hearing aids/CI's on as soon as she is awake till she goes to sleep at night. But she never liked her hearing aids and we now know that she wasn't getting anything from them so they were just an annoyance to her. At the start of her CI journey she would take them off as often as she could. I would persevere and put them back on but after the 50th time in an hour sometimes you think "sod it" & allow her some time without them. If she is ill she will refuse to wear them point blank. 

We were told that she must have them on for a minimum of 8hrs a day. That actually a lot harder than people think. She often removes them if they are annoying her while she plays or she just wants the silence. At first I would always insist she put them back on but I found she started to fight me more and more so I took a step back, told the team that I will get her wearing them for a minimum of 8hrs a day but that they had to remember she is just 2yrs old & still learning & I want to make it positive for her. At her last appointment a member of staff commented on how I wear mine for almost 14hrs a day and she was only wearing hers 5hrs a day & they questioned to why so little time. I had to remind them that she was still so young, still had naps on some days & often she will pull them off before she goes to sleep and holds them in her hands. If I try to put them on she gets upset. Sometimes she does fall asleep with them on & I leave them if thats the case. Her naps can last up to 2hrs depending on what kind of night she has had so if she isn't wearing her CI she is losing those 2hrs a day of hearing. Also in the car they often fall off (the magnets) & because she isn't at the stage where she can put them back on she gets so annoyed & ends up removing them. As I'm driving I can't exactly stop and put them back on.. We would never get anywhere if I did that. As she is in the car for school runs its another 1.5hrs less hearing time.. But as she gets older she won't need naps, she will be able to fix them herself so until that time comes she will have less time on CI's than one would like but I'm OK with that. 

By becoming more laid back I have found that she is actually starting to wear them more, to ask for them which is amazing.. She is learning & understanding that she needs them on if she wants to hear the world around her, if she wants to watch TV etc. If she removes them I wait 5mins then I will ask her "where are your ears?" & she immediately will look for them then come to me to put them back on. Before I would just put them back on as soon as she removed them but it actually made her want to take them off more and more.. So I allow those little breaks and she is much happier and willing to wear them.

Even more amazing is that she is trying so hard to talk.. She can say Mum which is her word for anyone that she wants attention from! She hasn't quite grasped that I am "Mum"! Daddy is another word she can say and knows exactly who he is!! Pepper & Shadow our pets are called "eppar" & "adow" "down & no" are another two that she says quite well.. Probably because I'm always telling her to get down from wherever she is climbing and saying no to every single mischievous thing she does!! Her signing is amazing too & it enables her to communicate exactly her needs & it's wonderful to be able to actually understand her & have a conversation with her even though she doesn't speak properly yet.