Great Weekend!!

We had some really fantastic "winter" fun back in Ottawa this past weekend. Spencerville, a country town near Ottawa, had a Winter Festival on all weekend. We all (me, Noah, Aiden, Grandma & Grandpa) packed up and headed out there first thing on Saturday morning to enjoy the "Santa Breakfast" at the local Legion. Aiden ate a HUGE helping of pancakes, toast, sausage and scrambled eggs. Then the kids got to have their pictures taken with Santa. Noah told Santa that he wanted a John Deere, and construction trucks ... Aiden, however, was a little suspect of Santa :>

After breafast we participated in lots of other great Festival events: decorating Gingerbread Men, horse drawn sleigh ride, kid's crafts, Barbershop Quartet, and hot apple cider over a fire outside the town's Mill. We really had a great day. Again we are all amazed that Aiden wears his implant up at full volume around all of this hustle and bustle - and it doesn't seem to phase him a bit!

Back at home, we met up with "Auntie Sharon" (my sister). We then got the chance to all sit around the table and have a little Therapy session with Aiden. He did GREAT! And, again, he CLEARLY showed that he heard all of the "sounds of the speech spectum" and all of the "learning to listen sounds" that we made as well.

Then, to top off that great weekend - Ric came to Ottawa this morning so we could both accompany Aiden to his AV Therapy (Audio-Verbal) at CHEO. And, what a little superstar our boy is!!!!! In the sound booth, Aiden showed very distinct reactions to sounds at just 30 db (like a whisper). Then, during his AV Therapy, he actually COPIED the sounds of a cow (okay, so it was an "oooo" - but pretty close!!), a monkey ("ee ee ee") and a sheep!! Aiden's therapist was SO amazed by him - and so was his Audiologist. (We also received some wig tape for Aiden at this appointment - and it actually seemed to be working, until Aiden got really tired at home and just kept pulling it off!) They just can't get over the progress that he is making (especially considering that his implant was activated just 2 weeks ago today). Way to go Aiden! I think that next week I will take some pictures of Aiden from the NICU to show them. I know that, although they think he is amazing now, when they see his start in life they will really understand he is nothing short of a miracle. We sure do anyway :> :>