I Expect a Full Book Report in the Morning

We received Val's book in the mail a little while back and we have all thoroughly enjoyed it. What is I'm All Ears about? The initial fears and anxiety of a new diagnosis, the thrill of watching your children thrive despite challenges that life throws at them, and perseverence.

Plus, the book contains many therapy ideas, including 101 uses for a laundry basket. With the recent snow, we found just one more thing laundry baskets are good for: impromptu sleds!

We got IN the basket, went DOWN the hill, then PULLED the sled UP the hill. Who knew laundry baskets were so good for language?

Don't Make Me Get the Hat Out, Boy!

And I thought our pilot cap days were over- ha!

Nolan won't leave his right aid in his ear. He constantly pulls it out, hands it to me, and then walks away to continue playing. A few minutes later the left one will come out, but he really doesn't want the right one put back in. I did a listening check and the aids are OK, so I can only hope its a phase he's going through. I really hope he isn't losing more hearing! I doubt it, since he can still hear us with his aids off (we're still audible, but not really intelligible to him with his aids off). He does have a cold, so that could be part of his problem.

Receptive Language Explosion

We've been a little worried about Nolan's receptive language because he hasn't really demonstrated an ability to listen to a word and associate it with an object. For example, if you asked him to get his cup, he might come back with a book or a toy truck. He would only obtain the right object if he had a visual cue- i.e., pointing to the desired object.

This past week has shown us that talking, talking, and more talking has started to work some magic. He was grumpy this morning and I asked him if he wanted his milk. Without any visual cues, he wandered over and picked up his cup. It might sound like a small thing, but in our world it is huge!

To further wow all of us, he correctly identified the cow, sheep, and rooster during his speech therapy session this morning. The pig seemed to confuse him a little, though. Perhaps he simply doesn't like pigs! I am over the moon. Things are really starting to click in his auditory world.

A Wasted Language Opportunity

I'd love to say that I used this moment to use words like "magnificent" and "black bear" and "powerful." Instead I mostly said "EEEEEEEK!" and got the kids inside the house.

Yogi finally wandered off and we are able to venture outside again.

We also found Nolan's earmold by a bookcase, so it turns out I don't get to win Worst Mother of the Year Award for letting him ingest a choking hazard this time around.

Man, This Gum Tastes Like Rubber!

Notice anything missing? Sigh....

We were on our way to a Mothers of Preschoolers meeting and I clipped the hearing aids to Nolan's shirt to save some time. By the time we arrived at the preschool, this was the configuration I found them in. I can only hope that earmolds are non-toxic!

Toddlerhood can be so much "fun!"

Pumpkin Patch Language

My parents visited for a week and it was so nice to have the extra pair of hands to help out with the boys! Extra adults means extra language and more one-on-one attention, so we had a week packed with activities while they were here.

We visited the local pumpkin patch "Pumpkinville," which is a great example of capitalism at its best (or worst, depending on who is shelling out the money for the games)! We had a lot of new words this time around, including: water pump, turkey, cannon, pumpkins, cider, maze, and hay.

I'm not sure how many of those words Nolan remembers, but all these new concepts and words will work its way into his brain over time. We're still seeing a receptive language lag, but he did retrieve a book the other day with no visual cues. We'll get there in time!

Our speech language pathologist wants to increase Nolan's therapy time to work on his receptive language, and I hope that increase in time goes through. He's due for his annual evaluation in November, so any time increase will take place after that evaluation. We're also concerned that he is "humming" again and is becoming more inconsistent with response to sound. He still responds on occasion, so we're not sure if he's demonstrating another drop in hearing or if he is just showing the selective hearing that his brother displays. Our next hearing test will be at the same time of year as his EI evaluation, so we'll have a busy November/December.

In the mean time, we are reading, talking, signing, and singing!

AVT is NOT good for the waistline!

We've been working with an apple theme today, so I made some mini candied apples (WAY easy to make and wonderfully delicious). We got in some wonderful language: apple, dip, sprinkles, twirl, sticky, green, sweet, sour, thick, cover, harden, tummyache.

I think I have about 10 of these puppies left, and let's just say that the kids didn't eat that many. I'm staying away from all scales until further notice!

Mini Candied Apple Recipe:

Materials:

Apples (I used Granny Smith)

Candy Chips (I used butterscotch)

Sprinkles and/or chopped nuts

Melon baller

Lollipop sticks or toothpicks

Method:

Using the mellon baller, scoop out several "mini" apples from the big apple. Make sure some peel is left on each mini-apple.

Cut lollipop sticks in half at an angle (for easier insertion). Stick the pointed end of the stick into the mini-apple.

Melt candy chips in the microwave (I melted a cup of chips by nuking them for 45 seconds).

Dip each mini-apple in the melted candy chips, then roll in sprinkles. Set on wax paper to harden, then refrigerate until eaten.