Wordless Wednesday

Drums

Santa was very good to Drew and his sister this year. Not so good for Mommy and Daddy, but defiantly good for the kids. When the lovely Toys R Us catalog came out in November, the spotted drums and began asking for them immediately. I told them that they must be crazy if they thought I would buy them drums, but they got the best of me by asking Santa for the drums. So, at 6 AM on Christmas morning, you could hear, probably throughout the neighborhood, the sound of this little guy, and his sister, banging away on their new drums.

The drums are actually awesome. Not-so-much the morning wake up calls with the drums, but watching the two of them create music is really fun. They bang the drum sticks together and scream "a one, a two, a one, two, three, four" and then bang, ahem, I mean, drum away.

Drew loves it. He can hear it. And we're all enjoying what Santa dropped off at our home.

The Fishy Song

Each week at school, Drew's class has a specific focus. It could be shapes (he made the cutest little book!) or colors or, like this week, counting. And each week the class has a special song they work on that goes along with the weeks theme.

Throughout the year I've known about the songs, and Drew's Dad and I have worked with him at home, singing the class song. Well, this week, Drew learned his song at school all by himself! (And I really like how he finishes his consonant sounds - a big piece on our IEP!)

Enjoy "The Fishy Song".




Lyrics:

One, two, three, four, five
Once I caught a fish alive!
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten
Then I let him go again!
Why did you let him go?
'Cause he bit my finger so.
Which finger did he bite?
This little finger on the right!

Drew Sings "Carmen Ohio"

It's a big day in Buckeye Country, as our beloved Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Trojans of USC. Of course, our family is ready for the game, decked out in our scarlet and gray. And, this season, we're teaching the kids many of our favorite game day songs, including our Alma Mater, Carmen Ohio. Enjoy Drew's singing!




Lyrics can be found here. Drew actually knows the song much better than the video, but something about bringing out the video camera makes my kids go crazy!

Drew Singing On Christmas Day

Our Christmas day was filled with everything wonderful, as we truly enjoyed Drew and his sister as they experienced the magic of the season. This is the first year that they have both really enjoyed waiting on Santa's arrival, and they truly enjoyed opening their presents. (Although Drew felt that he needed to open, put together and play with each toy before opening another.)

The highlight of the day came in the form of a song, sung by Drew, while playing his new piano. It is a moment that will be forever etched in my memory, as time stood still. Everyone paused, a few of us cried, and we all gave thanks for the gift of Drew's hearing.



Two Christmas' ago, I thought this might never be possible. Hearing my little boy sing. I received many, many wonderful gifts today, but none greater than this.

We hope this finds you winding down a wonderful holiday. Merry Christmas from our family!

Music For New Ears - Creating Music For Cochlear Implant Users

Mike from Music For New Ears contacted me through Drew's Facebook page today to tell us about their amazing non-profit collaboration which aims to create music especially designed for cochlear implant users.

We all know how big of a deal music appreciation is to many CI users. Imagine a group of speech and language professionals collaborating with musicians to design music created just for those with CI's!

Please take a moment of your time to visit the Music For New Ears page on Ideablob.com and click on the green VOTE button on the right. If they get the most votes, they'll win a $10,000 grant to help develop this music.

Not decided whether you want to spend 2 minutes on this? Here is the description of their idea - in their own words.

Cochlear implants are surgically implanted electronic devices that provide a sense of sound to people with profound deafness. However, many aspects of sound, including pitch and timbre, are almost entirely lost in the process, making it difficult for cochlear implant users to enjoy music.

Music For New Ears is a non-profit collaboration between composers, hearing scientists, and cochlear implant users. We identify sounds that C.I. users can hear with the most clarity and use these sounds to compose new music.

Our mission is to help cochlear implant users better enjoy music by creating music specifically for them and the unique way in which they hear.
What will you do if you win $10,000 for this idea?

1) Pay our primary composer to create full-length music compositions for cochlear implant users.

2) Recruit C.I. users to provide us with valuable input during the composition process.

3) Arrange live performances for audiences of C.I. users in Boston, MA and surrounding areas.

4) Organize a national contest for composers unaffiliated with our organization to create their own pieces of music for C.I. users, with a grand prize of $1,000.

We have everything in place and we are eager to begin working. We simply need the funds to get started.

Sound good? Now go vote - I can't wait for them to get started!

Have a question for Mike? Email him directly at michaelpeterevans@gmail.com, or post your question as a comment so we can all see the response (Mike, let us know if this is ok).

Music

While Drew has been sick over the last several days, one thing we have found quite interesting and exciting is that music, specifically our singing, has been instrumental in calming him down.

Once we were at the emergency room on Sunday night, Drew woke from his post-seizure sleep very cranky and was crying very hard. I started to sing, "Rock-a-bye Baby" and he immediately calmed. Each time a doctor came into our room and would examine him, Drew would cry and I would sing. He would stop crying until the cycle repeated itself again. He enjoyed my singing. (I know, can you believe it?) My parents and I all noticed this and thought it was quite amazing that a deaf baby enjoyed singing so much.

Drew can certainly tell the difference between speech and music. When I would try to comfort him with, "It's OK, Drew," or something like that, he would continue to cry. But as soon as I would sing, he was fine. This pattern has continued all week. If Drew is really upset, the sure-fire way to calm him is with song.

Amazing, don't you think? A deaf baby calmed by his mothers singing. I couldn't write a more perfect story.

Music Appreciation?

Drew continues to amaze us.


We decided to take the kids to the Zoo on Sunday. It wasn't a planned trip, but we woke up and had eaten breakfast by 7:30 am, and decided that we needed to come up with a fun activity for the day. The Zoo is always a great choice because it is "free" to get in to with our membership.


We quickly dressed, packed lunches and loaded the car. Drew's Dad and I were quietly talking in the front of the car as we pulled out of our neighborhood. As we continued to drive we heard Drew from his car seat saying, "Wiggle, Wiggle." We noticed that we did not have any music playing in the car. Isn't it amazing that Drew knew there was an absence of sound, and had the expressive language to tell us so?


We honored his request by turning on the CD player. The Doodlebopps began playing, and Drew's Dad and I continued our conversation until we heard Drew saying, "Mama, No. No. No." Drew knew within five seconds that the CD playing was not The Wiggles and was using his expressive language to tell us that this was not the CD he wanted to listen to! I find this very interesting on two levels: 1. There is little known about how a cochlear implantee "hears" music, because of the way the implant electrically stimulates the auditory nerve, but clearly Drew could instantly recognize that the music was NOT something the Wiggles sing; 2. Drew is clearly developing an auditory memory for music, simply by listening to it in a noisy car.


We changed the disc in the CD player to The Wiggles and Drew was finally happy, listening to The Big Red Car as we headed for the Zoo.

Being at the Zoo, the fun continued. We heard Drew say the word "elephant" for the first time. He also said "duck", "bye, bye" as we would leave each animal exhibit, he growled when we saw the tigers and pointed to his ear to indicate that he heard the lion's roar. (The lion was roaring like crazy. This was the first time I have heard a lion's roar in person and it was rather scary!)

Another fun day with Drew and his Sister. This technology never ceases to amaze us. Drew never ceases to amaze us.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

We had an enjoyable Christmas, spent at home with family. There were many wonderful moments throughout the day, but this was the highlight:



In the video, my sister sped up the 'beat' and Drew started bouncing to the music. The video really doesn't show just how much fun Drew had playing with his sisters' princess piano (or the fun we all had watching him dance; we all - Grandma's, Pa Pa, Aunt, Uncles, even big Sister - actually ceased with the present opening to enjoy the moment). He enjoyed listening to it play all day. Anytime the 'beat' function was turned on he would start bouncing to the beat of the music. While trying to enjoy Christmas 2006, I never thought I would see Drew bounce to the beat of music just one year later. It was the best gift I received!






We hope that you and your family had a relaxing and peaceful holiday.