Milestones, Mountain-ranges and views

Milestones....
They happen all the time, and like I have said on the blog.. sometimes they fly by, and sometimes they stand up in your face... (well, I said something to that effect..)

Last Thursday was the yearly checkup for Lotte. A great day out since we (actually, this was the first time I couldn't be there..) have to fly to Oslo, then take a train & tram to the hospital where the center for the check-up is located. One of Lotte's teachers joined Lotte and her mum.

This time, for the first time, it was Lotte who was in charge. She has grown so much lately, that my wife had no problem just sitting back and let Lotte do all the talking. And the specialists were excellent at directing everything to Lotte.
It must have been a wonderful day for Lotte because she was 100% focused the hole time. While adjusting the settings on the CI/BTE's, when finding the noises that she doesn't like (flushing the toilet) and trying to do something with that, she got it, and gave excellent feedback.. While doing speech tests in noisy environments and while doing comprehension tests. she did great. Her teacher was very impressed with Lotte..
But it's a great day out. She loves to go there and thrives on the attention, but this time, at the same time she realises the importance of the day.

In all, this day marks a beginning of Lotte taking over the "CI business" from us. She can accurately give feedback about how and what she hears. She understands the tests they are doing. She understands that there are different programs on her BTE she can use, because she was mentally there when they made them.
Of course life goes back to normal for her as soon as she was back at school, and she won't be playing with the different proframs, but she knows they are there.
Also, with one of her teachers being there, there is someone at school that will recognise difficult situations and can tell Lotte to switch to another program.. or, she might identify that Lotte forgot to switch back to the default setting.

Anyway.. It's a huge milestone. It didn't fly by. We didn't bump into it. It was like the mountain range in the distance that we finally reached.. We knew it was there, and were cruising along towards it. Now, having reached it, we can enjoy the view forward, and back...
It's a great view...

(btw.. Lotes mom promised to post an account of the day as well.... so stay tuned..)

Where to start..

Lotte has made a jump again... indicated by erratic behaviour, being tired like other times she grew mentally again.
Suddenly she is taking more control of her life. It's wonderful to see.
Her vocabulary is still improving. It's noticeable that with her growing mental capacities she get's jokes quicker. She is anticipating in the conversation.. making small, to the point remarks and replying in ways that were not there 3 months ago..Smart comebacks etc... Wonderful..

Socially she's busy with friends that she invites and/or visits. With any other child that would like to go to a friend and asks to call her friend, we would reply that she can just go there...
With Lotte we are happy for her to use the phone. She loves to use it, and has no problems with it.
Appointments are made to meet at different places, invitations are sent, and when she's out, she has her mobile phone with her to call us to ask when she needs to be home... She uses it well..

At school she is keeping up, despite the time she spends playing outside. It's a small dilemma... Homework or social activities... The social part often wins...
But she likes to do homework... probably because of the respect she has for the teacher... The teachers will is law..!.
She seems to have the brain for languages. Like her mother...
A week ago we had a long conversation in English. She now has enough vocabulary to make short sentences and loves to show her capabilities.
Math is a little problematic.. The tables 1-10 go in slowly, and probably by photographic memory.. But she's not the only one in her class... There are many other children that have the same problem... Guess she doesn't have the brain for math... yet... It will come...(Update here..)

Otherwise.. Lotte uses different languages for different activities as we discovered lately..
A good example is when she comes from school. When asked about her day (in Dutch) she will be brief. To the point. When our (Norwegian) neighbour asks, she starts chatting away and keeps on talking... Many stories..Obviously, school experiences need to be discussed in Norwegian...
Stories about the vacation in Holland will be in Dutch... Exciting to watch these kind of developments...

Time for X-mas with her grandmother from Holland staying with us.
Seeing her chat away with her is looking at the everyday wonder that CI provides.. Magic.

Happy New Year !!

During the X-mas time, grandmother was visiting us. Always great... Like she's coming home.. Also for her.. :-) It's a wonderful opportunity for Lotte to play even more games, talk more and read aloud to whoever wants to listen... and during these times, that's grandma.

But these relaxing times around christmas (e.g. breakfast here at about 10:00) make it easy for all of us to interact more.. A lot of time spent at breakfast, and dinner which is great for Lotte to listen, speak and be corrected when needed.
Because, in a way, all communication is therapy. Asking for things at the table will teach her to wait for her turn when she wants something, to pronounce it correctly. To say "please" and "thank you" etc. And - even more important, to listen to others... That when a question starts with "Lotte" that she starts focusing immediately...
And the longer the meal... the longer the "therapy"..






Grandma is a great help, and it's wonderful to have her with us. She even started to learn Norwegian (She is Dutch, like the rest of us..) because she doesn't want to miss out when her grandchildren and we speak Norwegian with our friends.
So, here Lotte is reading a Norwegian book to her. And explaining what it means....

So wonderful.. and one almost forgets that here's a deaf child teaching her grandmother another language..

WOW.!!