Emma Updates

Photos #1-Growing up! Emma on August 14, 2005, Photo #2-Emma Christmas 2005, Photo #3-Emma Destin May 2005, Photo #4-Emma and her "Bubba" Halloween 2005, Photo #5-Emma's 3rd B-day, Photo #6-Emma at Destin May 2005, Photo #7-Emma at October 2005, Photo #8-Emma and "bubba" listening to their MP3 players (yes Emma loves music!), Photo #9 & 10-Emma at Destin May 2005 and the last photo is the social butterfly herself with friends at her birthday party.

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May 17,2007 Emma had her second cochlear implant activated this afternoon!!!! She was "scared" and cried up to the point where we got to the Callier Center and then she understood that this was going to be fun. She did great! The video says it all. Landon was a big help and at one point he was asking Emma if she could hear, then she asked him to which he responded, "This test is not for me, this test is for you!"

May 21, 2006 Emma had her Dance Recital this afternoon! She did great! And she looked like she went from four years old to about 21 with the makeup they had her in! If the video does not download, try clicking here. We also have update the photo page with new photos of Landon and Emma. The photos above are of Emma getting ready for her Dance Recital.

May 9, 2006 Emma had her Spring program with the Regional Day School for the Deaf. They sang and danced to the "Peppermint Twist." She won the "Best Dancer" award for her performance! We stayed for the whole show and it was amazing! Talk about inspiring! There were kids playing Beethoven on Violin's and kids singing! And these kids can't hear? We left there realizing just how much we take life for granted.

March 1, 2006 FOR SOME REASON THE LINK TO THE EMMA'S BALLET VIDEO DID NOT WORK. IT SHOULD WORK NOW!!!!Emma started her first ballet lesson tonight!!!" (YOU MAY HAVE TO CLICK "REFRESH" ONCE YOU GET ON THE VIDEO PAGE) Who would have thought that less than two years after she began hearing again that she would be taking ballet and dance!!! "Tap" seems to be her favorite (as she likes the sound of the tapping shoes a lot!). This is one of those things that we thought Emma would never be able to do in the days after her diagnosis. She continues to exceed all expectations and she is the most social kid you have ever seen! Emma makes friends everywhere she goes, including tonight in her dance class! We could not be more proud!

February 16, 2006 Here is the latest audio clip of Emma talking! Emma is really talking away now. She now counts to 25, is using 2-3 word sentences and you would never know she has any hearing trouble. Sometimes she hears the smallest things. Tonight she was swinging outside and heard a mocking bird. Something I never seem to notice because we tend to take our hearing for granted. Emma notices the smallest things in life. Just watching her really makes you stop and realize how much we don't notice. It has not even been two years since Emma's implant surgery and she should be talking on about a two year old level but she is obviously closing the gap quickly! March 26 will be two years since her surgery and April 19th will be the second anniversary of her hearing again. Emma is now writing her own name and when asked she will tell you her name is "Emma Cook! I'm three!" God continues to bless Emma and us. Landon seems to be her biggest AV teacher. He can get her to talk better than anyone. He loves his baby sister! We hope to have another audio clip of Emma soon and possibly a video clip of her counting and writing her name.

November 6, 2005 Well, Emma continues to make amazing progress. Now she is starting to read a little and easily counts to 12. You can point out birds in the yard and she will tally them up and turn around and say "three birds." We intend to get an audio clip of her but I think we may actually try to post a video clip of Emma showing off. She is only showing a "mild" speech delay now and is on or above par as far as her intellectual abilities. She loves art and loves to color and draw. She likes to draw people. She will sit and look up at you and back down at her paper and draw your picture. What amazes us is the attention to detail she has. She notices the smallest things like my beard or whether or not I am wearing my glasses. She can easily and clearly write her own name as well as "daddy" and "mommy." Emma readily identifies letters in the alphabet and even offers up a word that starts with specific letters (for example, she will say "E" and then "elephant"). She is also talking on the phone more and more. I must say, the cochlear implant has FAR exceeded our expectations!!! And Emma loves it! She still listens to music and will spontaneously break into dance when she hears music. Everything we thought Emma would never be able to do, she has already conquered! The sky is truly the limit with her! We think she is probably learning a lot from her school but also, to a large degree, from her brother (her best friend). Landon take such good care of his baby sister and he works with her on words. He seems to be able to get her to talk much better than any of us can. She will repeat just about anything he says. And with his academic performance, he is a great role model for her to have! God has truly blessed us with these little guys!

September 17, 2005 I have posted several photo updates on the Photos Page. These updates go all the way back to February and I have posted several HUNDRED photos taken since the last December photo page update. Emma continues to do amazingly well. Now we are having trouble discerning between her and her brother when they are in a different room. Emma says "thank you mommy, thank you daddy" totally unprompted now when you give her something. We went out to eat a last week and when the waitress brought Emma her drink, Emma clearly said "thank you." To which the waitress replied "you're welcome" and she never had a clue that Emma had a hearing impairment! I turned to Amy and said, "Was that Emma saying 'thank you' or Landon?" She also now tells us "I Love You" while signing it everynight as we tuck her in. Her teacher says she is doing great and is a social butterfly. Our biggest fear in finding out about Emma's hearing loss was that she would be socially introverted. She is anything but! She is extremely social to everyone. Her best friend also has a cochlear implant and is the daughter of two deaf parents (that both also have implants). We love the fact that Emma easily makes friends, both hearing and not. We plan to eventually teach her sign and she is already doing a little bit that her brother has taught her. She easily identifies objects when asked (she scored 100% on her last formal evaluation for identification of objects). She can discern between two or three very similar words (i.e. "Llama and Mama" as well as "Purple and Bubble"). We could not be more proud. Her formal evaluations put her at 99 percentile for her hearing age and only at a mild speech delay now (that is up from severe speech delay at diagnosis). Emma also associates sounds with animals and objects. For instance, you can now ask her what the "cow says" or what the "cat says" or what the "owl says" and she will tell you! She loves her Barbi dolls and baby dolls and loves to be "mother hen" to her best friend and big brother, Landon. She cleans up after him and helps with cleaning the table off after dinner. She is a natural caregiver and has the same compassionate heart as her big brother. We could not have asked God for more perfect kids!

AUGUST 14, 2005 I know, I know! Why has it been so long since the last update? Well, life has been unbelievably busy for us these past 8 months. I started a new career, mom has been getting the kids back and forth to school and T-ball and it has just been busy beyond belief. Anyway, Emma is now speaking two to three word sentences (Bye Bye Mommy, I Love You Bubba, Thank You Daddy, etc.). Emma also now understands most of what we say to her. We are having to repeat ourselves less and less. We expected to see progress slow to the point to where we did not think we would see changes but every six months or so. But everyday, Emma is doing more and more with her speech and hearing. We do not even think of Emma as a hearing impaired child anymore (another reason I have not posted in a while). She has learned a little sign language for when she is at the pool (like "walk, don't run"). She teaches us her own version of sign everyday but for the most part she verbalizes everything she wants. Everytime we pull up to school, you immediately hear Emma in the back seat say "Hi School!" She says "thank you" unprompted now and openly says "hi" to people she meets. She is not shy and is still the happiest thing you ever saw. Her brother is now her best friend and Emma has a magnetic personality that attracts people to her. Needless to say, the kid is a social butterfly with many friends! Emma seems to know that she is hearing impaired and knows that we are not. I did not think she would realize that for a few more years but you can tell she knows. Amazing what you can see in a child. Anyway, I have posted new photos above and I will record a new audio link of Emma talking in the coming days. Since my last post (in January), Emma has turned 3, had her tonsils out, gone to school, gone to Destin FLorida, learned to swim pretty good, and scored 99 percentile for expressive AND receptive language for her age group for kids with cochlear implants. She only shows a mild speech delay as compared to her hearing peers. This has improved from a moderate to severe speech delay a year ago.