One Year Later

I've been thinking a lot lately about it already being a year since Traxton was implanted. It seems so crazy to think how fast the time has gone by. It also is incredible to think of how much progress he has made in the last year. I am purely amazed when I think of where we are now compared to where we were one year ago. I can remember the anxiety I felt with wondering if implantation was the right decision. Now there is no doubt in my mind that it was the right thing to do. With his processors on, Traxton can hear perfectly! I never thought I would ever be able to say that sentence.

We still do hours and hours of therapy to help with his speech articulation and language comprehension, but he progresses everyday with saying words more clearly. He talks in sentences and I love having conversations with him. My favorite lately is hearing him tattle on his brother and sister. Yesterday, Traxton hollered into the other room to me, "Mom, Treyson hit me". I loved it!!!

Traxton goes to Preschool four days a week and he seems to really enjoy it. I went with him a couple of days ago to observe and I was afraid he would cling to me and not do what he was suppose to do. I couldn't have been more wrong. He went with the other kids right away and jumped right in with the activities. He actually looked back at me a few times and said, "mom, go out". He knew it was his thing and wanted me to leave. I was excited to see him comfortable with his teachers and other kids.

When Traxton had surgery he lost all of his balance. That was an unexpected challenge, but it has also gotten better in the last year. Until recently, we took him to a physical therapist to help him slow down and get control of his balance. Things are much better now. I only notice his balance when he gets up fast and starts running or around obstacles. He does much better when he slows down. At night in the dark still affects his balance. The surgeon told us that your eyes help control balance, so he might struggle in the dark. This is definitely the case. He wobbles a lot when he gets up to got potty in the night. I think in time, this will also become easier.

Traxton is such an amazing little boy. He tries so hard to say things correctly. Most times I can get him to try to say words with the correct articulation 3-4 times before he starts to get frustrated. At that point I will tell him "good try" and move on. He has always done wonderfully with having his processors on. I am so grateful that he has never fought wearing them. I think it comes from the hundreds of hours we spent fighting him to keep his hearing aids on. Our Audiologist also says that he is making such fast progress because of the consistency he had with hearing aids before implantation. It's so nice to know my efforts have paid off.

I am so thankful for Traxton and his fun personality and the learning experiences he has brought to our family. I am also thankful for the technology we are blessed with that has made his hearing possible. I still feel that there is nothing sweeter than hearing him tell me that he can hear something. About a month ago we were walking out of the speech therapy building and he nonchalantly told me, "hear that". I had to stop and listen to see what it was that he was talking about. I discovered that it was the air conditioning unit. He could hear the air conditioning unit humming. This tender moment brought me to tears. The fact that our little boy can hear something as simple as the hum of an air conditioning unit is amazing. We have come so far in the last year and I am so excited to see how he continues to progress in the future.