I'm 2

Ocoee turned 2 in November and had a wonderful birthday. Her birthday is doubly special because she was born on her great-grandmother Carolyn Standridge's birthday. When we found out, we named her Ocoee Carolyn.

We got her a dollhouse that makes sounds, but for now her brothers play with it more than she does. Instead of playing alone, Ocoee is always happy to be right in the middle of the action. Where they go, she goes, and of course wants to do whatever they are doing. She doesn't appear too much of a tomboy, as she loves makeup and dolls :), but she also knows how to wrestle and ride on a skateboard. Drop by our home if you don't believe me!

Her birthday cake was pumpkin muffins topped with honey-cinammon butter frosting and pomegranate seeds. One more picture included here to show how much fun she was having at the water play park!

She's saying and trying to say lots of new words, and quickly catching up on her language. In a recent evaluation, she came up with a receptive language age of 15 months, and an expressive language age of 19 months. At this rate, in 4 or 5 more months, she will be testing on par with her peers! It's hard to believe that she may be a talkative toddler by her next birthday, but once she learns how to talk, she won't be keeping quiet!

Actvation #2!!!

Ocoee is finally hearing with two ears! In contrast to the first implant, getting this second one turned on did not phase her one bit. If you'll notice, she gives the eyebrow and a smile to the audiologist (behind the camera)-- a contrast to the stoic "what was that?" expressions at her first activation. NOTE that the loud cookie monster we can hear in the background cannot be heard by Ocoee in this video. She is only hearing a series of beeps through which the audiologist is stimulating the various channels on the implant.




Again, I cannot thank everyone enough who has supported us and continues to take an interest in this journey. Overall Ocoee is doing excellent, and is beginning to babble more, turn to her name consistently, and imitate simple sounds and words like "ah" (airplane) and "ba" (ball).

Coming Soon to a Theatre near you...

My daughter can hear AND eat with chopsticks! Need I say more ?

Also hope to post a photo gallery of the last month to include surgery and recovery, but just wanted to let everyone know how wonderful she is doing. Ocoee was healed up about a week after surgery, with no complication. Got back to her normal self very quickly.

We notice that she is consistently turning to her name. Yay! She is also consistently saying "Ba ba ba" when she plays with a ball, and "ahuh!" (up) when she wants to be picked up. She is also very vocal when it comes to asking for water, or otherwise making her opinion known. She hasn't come out and said, "it's because I'm 2!" but that's only because her birthday isn't until November :)

On a final note, she is very much enjoying saying the blessing before meals. She uses a very soft tone and babbles the most precious baby jargon you have ever heard.

Hugs~~~ Brinly and Ocoee

I hear you, Baby!

It's official-- Ocoee has said her first word.

Last night we were looking in the mirror as she was slung on my back. I was waving to her and smiling, saying, "Hi, Ocoee! Mommy sees Ocoee! Mommy sees a ba-by!" She smiled her usual cuteness at me, and then looked at herself in the mirror again. And then we heard it-- "be-be." Looking directly at herself, and jabbering nothing else, she very deliberately pronounced the syllables. [I beckon Noah immediately; You never know what you might be missing!] Then she looked at me and I replied, " Baby, I see a baby. " Then she said it again, looking at herself, "be-be." I could swear she said it a couple more times, but my excitement is blurring the memory :) I commented again, "You said baby! I heard you say "baby." Yay!"

We hoped to catch or recreate it on video, but were unable. She was too enamored by the camera and ready to go to bed.

AMAZING! What's also neat is that "baby" was the first sign she made, back in November. It was around the time we were first testing her hearing, and I watched my mom teach it to her in about 5 minutes. That was the point at which I realized, "if this kid could hear, she'd be talking." I guess grammy picked the right word!

A Visit to the Clarke School and Surgery News!

This past week, Ocoee visited the Clarke School in Jacksonville-- a special place for children who are hard of hearing. They hold school for ages 2-7, and Ocoee got to join in for several hours one day. All of the instruction was designed with listening in mind. It ws awesome to watch her, and we met some amazing families in the meantime. She participated beautifully, and we learned a lot.

Perhaps the best thing that happened was an evaluation with a certified auditory-verbal therapist. She was able to show/tell us that Ocoee is still in the "detection" phase of listening. She responds very consistently to environmental sounds but is not as tuned in to voice. We were able to outline a lesson plan for therapy sessions to do at home with her every day. Although we are headed in the right direction, we learned that we need to focus on helping her pay attenion to voices. We learned step-by-step how to teach her to make a conditioned response to voice (also very helpful to the audiologist), and how to encourage her to vocalize using the "Ling 6" sounds of "ah, ee, oo, sh, s, and m". There are many other ways to encourage vocalization as well, from playtime to reading books to narrating what is going on around her. We are also focusing on "power vocabulary"-- words like "I want, more, up/down, open/close, push/pull, etc."

The most exciting news we have is that it is TIME FOR OCOEE'S SECOND SURGERY! The date is scheduled for Tuesday July 28th. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible and who continues to pour love, prayers, and support into our lives.

Lookin' Up

Things are Lookin' Up! The other day Ocoee heard me make a noise from behind her, and she imitated it! She is also humming when playing with toy cars or small animals, and babbling more. She vocalizes to get our attention or tell us about something. All of this is great! We try to use all the "Learning to Listen" techniques that we know.

If you are interested in sharing this journey, visit "The Listening Room," at http://www.hearingjourney.com/listening_room/index.cfm?langid=1

Two Months Post Activation

It has been two months since Ocoee's first implant was activated. Many people have been asking how she is. We were away for several weeks but are now back home and back in therapy.

It is becoming more and more apparent that Ocoee can hear since she is turning to sound. In therapy, she will sometimes attempt a voiced response or imitate a noise. This reflects an association between sounds and objects, and suggests that she is beginning to associate meaning with sound.

They may be baby steps, but they are forward steps nonetheless. This is a learning process for her, and also for us as we figure out how to incorporate auditory training into our life at home. Go Ocoee, Go! We love you!

So, How Did It Go?

Everyone has been dying to know how the yard sale went. First official post since to report that it was AWESOME, and with the help of many friends, family, acquaintances, and people we had never met before, we made over $2700!! There were also many people who saw her article in the Naples Daily News and wanted to send donations. We are overwhelmed, and an impact was made!

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who has thought good thoughts, prayed good prayers, donated, loved on, supported, encouraged, and worked very hard to help us make this endeavor a HUGE success!

Benefit Yard Sale: May 16th, 2009!

Happy Haircut

Humongous Yard Sale at 8am, Saturday May 16th, in the parking lot of Faith Bible Church, 6464 Immokalee Rd! We are so thankful for the use of this parking lot, and family and friends who are already offering their time, resources, and donations. If you would like to DONATE items or help in any way, just let us know! Thank you!!!

All proceeds help with the medical expenses for Ocoee's second cochlear implant.

email standridgefamily@gmail.com or call 777-7147

At Home

3 days at home. And 3 days without Daddy, which means there are no pictures to match. But necessity is the mother of invention (most of the time :), so you MAY find a gem or two. Maybe.

Highlights of the day include a lengthy serenade by a bird, baby Mozart, rustling a box of legos, and hearing the "pop" of a balloon. We also found a pretty simple, secure fix to hang the microphone on her ear, a relief! She seems to be getting used to the device a little more, not fussing so much when it comes off and on during play.

Grammy is here and helping out BIG TIME with keeping Ocoee stimulated and her brothers engaged. They undertook the sorting of a huge box of legos, which I categorize as an entirely educational activity. Perhaps we can add sound effects later :)

She did great!

We hope you enjoy the following videos as much as we do. It is so precious to see these responses and be able to watch the videos over and again, remembering how far we have come.

Activation went so well. It began with a series of beeps whereby the audiologists were attempting to determine what were the softest levels of stimulation to which she would respond. It turned out to be consistently more than the lowest setting, but that was fine. Her responses became very predictable according to what they have seen through many other children. We got a "great looking map" programmed into her device, with several settings that she can progress through during the week.

Everyone is back at home and doing well. We have had some problems with the implant falling off her ear, but a wide crocheted hair band has worked miracles! The important connection is pretty secure with a magnet. Grammy thinks that she is paying more attention to some things (which says a lot considering she is quite observant already), and we have enjoyed drawing her attention to sounds by saying "I hear it," and doing everything from honking car horns to ringing toy bells to playing the piano to reading books.

Hope to have many more exciting reports! Enjoy the videos and check back soon!

The First Beeps

Hearing Day One

Night Before CI Activation

Almost There

It seems ages ago that we discovered Ocoee was deaf, but really it has only been four months. And we are now on the brink of great excitement...for on April 24th, she is scheduled to have the cochlear implant in her right ear "activated." This means that she will begin to hear sounds for the first time! No one knows what to expect, as we might see anything from quiet observation to frightened screaming. But one thing is for certain: none of us will ever be the same!

After "activation," Ocoee will go through a series of "mappings" wherby the implant device is programmed with settings that will match what she is able to hear. After this, it will be our job to help her learn how to make sense of the world of sound. Since she'll be starting as a newborn baby, she has to learn what sounds are, where they are coming from...basically everything that has to do with creating meaning from what we hear. She will be able to hear environmental sounds, as well as speech, and should be caught up to her peers relatively quickly. She will need pretty intensive speech therapy for the next several years to aid speech comprehension and expression, but by school age will function largely as a hearing child with minimal assistance.

We are still raising money to reach the goal of $45K so that Ocoee can get a second implant (her left ear), and will keep everyone posted on the progress of the funding. Our next fundraiser is going to be a yard sale, penciled in for May 2nd, so if you would like to donate items, don't hesitate to let us know!