(Not) Saying Goodbye

Nolan's school year is rapidly coming to a close. His Pre-K teacher celebrates the kids' summer birthdays throughout the month of June - Nolan was ecstatic to bring home his little birthday bag and wear his 5 year old birthday hat.

Since he is going to full-day kindergarten next year, he will start receiving services from the school district's teacher of the deaf (TOD) and speech-language pathologist (SLP). This means that we must say goodbye to his current TOD and SLP, who are through the county.

Except, of course, we are not really saying goodbye. We joke that his SLP is his "other mother," as she has been with our family since Nolan was 8 months old. She held him as a baby, cheered on his first steps, and gave him a voice. She helped transition his entry into preschool, and is passing the baton as he enters kindergarten. She is more family than therapist, and there is no way we could truly say, "goodbye." She might not be providing therapy services anymore, but she will always be a part of our lives.

What in the world can you give to someone who has given both of your children a voice? There is really nothing that can compare to that gift. I did find a neat little locket on Etsy (from Punky Jane's jewelry) that fit the bill.

It is hand-stamped and the inside says, "Thank you for my voice, Love Nolan."

We had our last home visit yesterday. We refused to say goodbye, since it really isn't a goodbye. It is more of a transition to an exciting Something New.

But still, the tears are flowing.

CSE Transition Meeting

When students transition from the preschool age group setting to the school-age setting, a special education transition meeting must be held, since the service providers change from the county to the school district. Nolan's transition meeting was today, and he moved from CPSE (the Committee for Preschool Special Education) to CSE (the Committee for Special Education).

One of the hard things is determining exactly what Nolan needs. He's quite bright and developmentally on track. He technically qualifies for an IEP in two different ways: the first being "hard of hearing" and the second being "other health impairment." His primary disability is the hearing loss (this affects his education the most), so this is his classification in the school district.

Our elementary school is fantastic and has a Teacher of the Deaf (TOD) on campus. Nolan has some vocabulary gaps and some language processing issues (some of this is due to his fluctuating hearing loss, which has been known to cause central auditory processing disorder - CAPD - in children). In children who are deaf or hard of hearing, this problem isn't referred to as CAPD, but is simply considered an effect of the hearing loss. Nolan needs some pre-teaching and some work on processing phrases, multiple step directions, and auditory discrimination skills in the classroom. The team decided that 30 minute daily sessions with the TOD would be appropriate - these sessions may be push-in or pull-out. "Push-in" means that the TOD will go into the classroom with Nolan, and "pull-out" means that Nolan would be pulled out of the classroom for a one-to-one session.

The biggest debate was speech. Nolan has some speech errors, but the majority are developmental in nature. He has W for L, misses S occasionally, and has the normal speech errors of a four year old (difficulty with R and TH). He does sometimes miss the D sound in words, and will confuse M for N. These errors are related to his hearing, and can fluctuate with his hearing level. Some weeks he has a solid D sound, other weeks it nearly disappears.

In the end, we decided to keep speech therapy, at least for Kindergarten. If the developmental errors disappear and his articulation becomes clearer, then we can always drop it. We'd rather not get behind the 8-ball with his speech, as it is easier to prevent a problem than to remediate one. He'll get speech twice per week at 30 minutes per session, which may be in (very) small groups or individually, as the speech language pathologist sees fit.

There are also a few "alerts" put into his IEP - things his kindergarten teacher should monitor. Nolan's gross motor skills are borderline, and his fine motor skills have come along nicely. Still, we want to watch for fatigue and make sure he is able to develop age-appropriate skills. He still can't hop on one leg like his peers can (or throw a ball well), but that may change over the summer (hint: Mommy Boot Camp is in session this summer).

The meeting went very well, and I am so thankful that we live in the best school district in the area for kids with disabilities. The team at our school really ensures that every child is given what they need to excel!

Back to the Routine

At the Jamestown Children's Museum

I am very glad that our weekly routine has been restored. Both boys wanted to get back to preschool, and Nolan was desperate to see Mrs. B., his preschool teacher, again.

Of course, as soon as we reached the bottom of the staircase at the preschool, he balked.

"I'm too tired."

He often claims this, after walking for a little way, and we have to carry him for a while. Fortunately, his speech therapist met us at the door and helped motivate him to walk a little farther.

He went into his lock-kneed stance at the door of the classroom, and froze in place. Our most wonderful and beloved Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) came to the rescue again, marching behind him to see if he would copy her march. He didn't, really, but he was sort of pushed into the classroom and she began to engage him with an activity. I could slip away, letting him re-acquaint himself with the classroom routine.

Have I ever mentioned how grateful I am that we decided to pursue push-in services? Honestly, our SLP is truly a superwoman- helping him on the social front as well as with speech/language issues.

Hopefully he'll re-adjust to school very quickly, and pick up where he left off with the socialization situation. With Superwoman the SLP, I have a feeling it won't take him long!

Hooked on Phonics...

Matt turned four a month ago, and has been increasingly interested in reading. He knows many sight words, but he really wants to figure out how the sounds combine to make words. To satisfy his curiosity, I bought a set of Bob books (the beginning reader set) and set him loose. He needs help with many words, but is starting to get the idea. We still have almost two years until kindergarten, and I have a feeling he'll be reading before then. All that speech therapy helps with phonemic awareness!

Anyway, here is a video of Matt "reading" one of his Bob Books (0 to 10):

Houston, We Have a "Yes"

Up until last week, if you asked Nolan if he wanted to go outside, his answer would be:

"You go outside."

Or if you asked him if he wanted to have a snack, he would say,

"You want snack."

He didn't nod his head, never said the word "yes" unless it was in direct imitation, and would parrot whatever you said, word for word.

We have worked for months to get a spontaneous "yes" out of Nolan. It literally took months of modeling, practicing, and therapy to eliminate the echolalia and get the concept of "yes" into Nolan's head.

Here it is, in all its glory:



I never knew such a simple word could make me feel so happy!

In other news, we are heading up to Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center tomorrow for a third attempt at getting accurate hearing levels. Our audiologist called on Friday to cancel the appointment (we have had nearly every appointment since June cancelled or moved at the last minute- it's getting a little old). I told the staff I wanted to keep the appointment, so we're going to try the testing with a different audiologist. If we wait any longer, Nolan will have had the sleep study and ENT/GI doctor appointments and will be wary of the sound booth again. Plus, we have already arranged for Dennis's time off from work and for the prescription to get faxed up from the pediatrician's office.

Wish us luck- I hope Nolan cooperates this time around. Maybe a different audiologist will be a good thing, since he doesn't have as much familiarity with her. On the other hand, he could flip out and refuse to cooperate at all, which would mean that we have to schedule a fourth hearing test. Since I really hope to avoid that scenario, I am praying for a compliant and cooperative two year old tomorrow morning. Though I'm pretty sure that "two" and "cooperative" is an oxymoron, there's always hope that he'll be in good form tomorrow!

What We're Working On

Honestly, we could do with a little less snow

Nolan's speech continues to take off, with such spontaneous phrases as:

• "I don't want green sock. I want white sock!"
• "Matthew pushed me! No pushing, Matthew!"
• I don't want take nap."

We do have some minor articulation issues - he misses some sounds- hockey comes out as "hah-hee" and the word four comes out has "hor." He also confuses the B/M/N sounds on occasion ("I meed that" instead of "I need that," or "The moy did it" instead of "The boy did it"). These are really minor and his speech is intelligible for the most part, so we work on these sounds, but don't fret over any of it. It will come in time.

We are actively working on some language processing skills. Nolan struggles with echolalia (the fancy term used to describe parroting back what you just said) and auditory processing. It isn't a severe issue, but it is rather obvious during many exchanges.

An example of the echolalia would be this:

Question: "Nolan, where did you go today?"
Response: "No-wa, where go day?"

He will answer a simpler question, such as "what color is this flower?" because there is only one possible answer, and he doesn't have to think of what to say.

Another example of auditory processing issues is this:

"Nolan, do you want blue or yellow?"
"Yellow."
"Nolan, do you want yellow or blue?"
"Blue."
"Nolan, do you want blue or red?"
"Red."

Instead of thinking about what he wants, he simply mimics the last word uttered. Frankly, it's easier than thinking of both choices and then choosing the one he wants.

So we're working on the echolalia with a lot of modeling. This appears to be working in some ways, because we have gotten a spontaneous "yes" response twice this past week! It will be an ongoing exercise for us, as the more open-ended questions will take a bit more work.

To get Nolan to listen to a whole sentence and retain it (rather than just repeat the last word as his answer), we are giving him two choices, but with one choice far less desirable than the other. And the less desirable option comes last in the sentence. For example,

"Nolan, do you want to go sledding or go inside?"
"Nolan, do you want to play with playdough or do a puzzle?"
"Nolan, do you want juice or water?"

This is working very well. Often he'll stop, start to say "water," then look at me to repeat the sentence. This time he'll listen to the whole thing, retain both choices, and select the one he really wants.

Matt is still in speech therapy, though his speech has continued to progress to the point where the issues are more minor articulation concerns. There is a great likelihood that he will graduate from speech therapy this spring. We are currently working on "cluster reductions" (that's where he omits some sounds from the middle of a word- screwdriver would be pronounced as "'kew-dyer") and getting the /s/ sound in blends (snow is pronounced as "no" and "school" is "kool").

His preschool did a speech screening last month, and I am interested to see how he did with an independent Speech Language Pathologist. I wonder if he "passed" or "failed" the screening. He receives speech services through June no matter what, but we will have to have another IEP meeting next October to continue or stop his current services. He also starts the Universal Pre-Kindergarten program next year, so if he gets speech therapy, it will likely be during school.

Random Update

We've had a good week with the grandparents visiting from California, our first snow of the year, and visits to the Strong Museum of Play and Brown's Berry Patch. We've noticed a change in Nolan's language, which is getting more complex by the minute. Recent sentences include:

• "I don't know where Matthew is!"
• "My not a baby. My a big boy. Matthew baby!"*
• "I got my Grandad!"
• "My a frog. RIBBIT RIBBIT!"

The first sentence blew me away. It was completely spontaneous, and included all the appropriate parts of speech. Also, it was six words long.

He's also been responding better to sound, which is a big relief. We had about a month of poor response, which occurred with a cold. We know that Nolan's hearing level drops to about 80dB in the presence of fluid, so it is a big relief to see his behavior returning to "normal." He's turning to his name again, and even seems to be doing well in the presence of background noise. He turned when his name was called at preschool (the voice was behind him), and responded to Daddy's voice at the very hectic "Zoo Boo" event we went to last night.



The Nexium seems to be working well, and Nolan has been eating a good amount this week. He still isn't sleeping through the night, but our recent discovery that apple juice is on the "no-no" list may help matters a little.

It is nice and uneventful around here- just the way I like it! The only upcoming appointment is for earmold impressions on the 30th and then a well-baby checkup (2 year) in November. I love it when everything goes along so smoothly!



*Matthew heartily disagrees with this statement, and has indicated on numerous occasions that he is a big boy. This is a common point of contention between the two boys!

Speech Sample: 25 Months

Nolan is obsessed with the Pixar movie Cars, so when Grandma sent a sticker book with the characters, he was absolutely thrilled! I figured I would snag a speech sample while he was so enthralled. I have noticed his "hearing bubble" seems to be smaller these days- he has had a cold recently so I am not sure if the fluid is causing trouble or if there is something more permanent going on. He's dropped his final /r/ sound (car used to be "tar" and is now closer to "tie"), initial /p/ sound, and is confusing words like "police" and "green." I'm voting for fluid troubles- hopefully it will clear out soon!

Small Steps

Nolan's receptive and expressive language is quite good. Not "good for a hard of hearing child," but simply good- for any child. He regularly puts together 3 and 4 word sentences, has far too many words to count, communicates his wants and needs (LOUDLY) and is able to follow 2 step directions.

We do have some concerns with his grammar and his verbal processing, though this may be due to age more than hearing status. Still, because he is at continual risk for language problems, I think we will definitely mention these problems in his IFSP goals this fall.

We have found a way to work with his ability to answer questions. Since Nolan will mimic the question rather than formulate an answer, our speech therapist has devised the following technique: Ask, Model, Ask (wait).

First, she asks the question, "Nolan, what is this?"

Nolan will invariably repeat, "Noh*, what is this?"

Then she'll model the answer by asking me the question:

"Mommy, what is this?"

"That is a frog!" I enthusiastically answer.

Then she asks Nolan again: "Nolan, what is this?"

He'll repeat, "Noh, what is this?"

Then comes the waiting. Instead of answering the question for him or accepting his repeated question, we simply look at him and wait. Finally, after much pause, comes the answer:

"Pwog!"

Then there is much clapping and cheering and running around in circles (Nolan's personal expression of "happy"). This process works about 25% of the time right now, so we're keeping it up and hopefully the success rate will increase with time.

His other "issue" is not uncommon for children his age. He gets his grammar backwards- instead of saying, "the bear has a ball," he'll say, "ball has a bear." Or he'll say, "Work at daddy" to mean "Daddy is at work." Right now I am simply repeating what he says, but in the correct order. If he says, "Asleep a Matt," I'll say, "Matt is asleep! Maybe he will wake up soon."

Otherwise, he continues to astound and amaze us with things we didn't know he could do. Our speech therapist told him to put a green circle on blue square, and he was a bit flummoxed. She backed the complexity of the request down a notch, and asked him to put the yellow triangle on the yellow circle. His little hand reached out and accomplished the task without hesitation. He managed to handle two shapes and one color in his auditory memory, and get them in the right order. WOW! Not bad for a kid who still hasn't turned two!

The "eating thing" is still plaguing us. His appetite varies greatly from day to day, so we never know if it will be a good eating day or a poor eating day. This morning he woke up and threw up until noon. He doesn't appear to be sick (slight temperature, but Nolan nearly always has a slight temperature). It is very similar to what he did in April, when he quit eating well. It is definitely something we will keep an eye on. He has his follow-up GI appointment on the 31st of August, and we will get our assignment to the feeding clinic at Buffalo Children's at that time. I've heard they can do wonders, so if there is no medical cause, we should be in good hands.

*Noh is what Nolan calls himself. Silly parents for giving him a name filled with low frequency sounds!

4 Word Sentence!

We've been doing a lot of games involving verbs to strengthen Nolan's receptive vocabulary. We've been jumping around the living room to "Jump around! Jump around! Jump up -jump up -and jump down!" When we were done playing, Nolan looked at me and told me: "Mommy, want jump around." That sentence is four words long, people- before the age of two!

The ENT's office called me with the scintiscan results today. The scintiscan is negative, so there is nothing physically wrong with Nolan's tummy and esophagus. This is great news, though I'm a little disappointed because mild acid reflux would have been an "easy fix" to his eating issues. I'd list the things Nolan cannot eat (like cheerios- he can't chew them at almost 2 years of age), but it is easier to list the things he CAN eat:

Soft fruit (strawberries, blueberries, orange slices, melon)

Yogurt

Oatmeal

Graham crackers (they dissolve)

Yep, folks- that's it! Even cookies get crumbled on the floor rather than eaten. M&M's are rolled around in his mouth and then get spit out. Part of me wants to put him on Pediasure to make sure he's getting enough nutrition and calories, but there is a negative with Pediasure. Nolan already balks at solid foods, and putting him liquids might make resuming solids difficult later on. I'm not quite sure how to proceed. On one hand, he obviously is not eating things an almost-2 year old should eat. On the other hand, he is maintaining his weight in the 3rd percentile and seems otherwise fairly healthy. I suppose we'll watch and wait to see how he's doing at his 2 year old well-child appointment.

A Problem I'm Ecstatic to Have

Nolan, washing rocks in a bucket. Hey, it keeps him entertained!

We have stumbled upon a new problem during speech therapy. Nolan never quiets down! He talks incessantly from the second our SLP arrives to the moment she leaves, barely taking a moment to breathe.

How can this be a "problem," you ask? Well, he never stops blathering on to listen to what the question is or to pay attention to the current activity! An example would be:

Nolan: BALLOON! Balloon! I want balloon! I see ball! I want ball!

SLP (trying to get a word in edgewise): Yes, Nolan. Can you get the blue square and put it on the peg?

Nolan: Ball! I want ball! Cow! I see cow! Doggie! Doggie woof woof!

SLP (trying to go along with Nolan): Yes, the doggie says woof woof. Can you find the BIG doggie?

Nolan: Duck! Duck quack quack. Milk. I want milk. Want cup!! Want Matt. Weeee!

He is now talking so much that we're going to create a goal for conversational give-and-take in his next IFSP. We're writing another goal for Nolan to stop and listen, and respond appropriately to questions.

I can't help but be thrilled at our new "problem." The kid loves to talk. Now we just need to teach him to stop and listen to us!

Keeping Those Darned Things In!

Nolan, showing off his excellent aid-removal skills for our SLP

Nolan has figured out how to circumvent the pilot cap. It gives us a head start, but doesn't keep those agile fingers from ripping out his aids. We also have a great little clip from Oticon that has an elastic band that goes around the hearing aid case. The clips worked wonderfully until last week.

I am proud to announce that Nolan is a prodigy- when it comes to fine motor skills! That little rascal has figured out how to remove that clip, the hearing aids, and disassemble all hearing aid parts in less than 30 seconds.

First, he reaches up under the pilot cap and yanks the earmolds out of his ears. Then he pulls on the lanyard until the clip disengages from his shirt. He pulls the whole thing down and out, then pulls the elastic bands off the BTE cases. As a final act, he rips the earmolds off the tubing and tosses them as far as his little arms can throw. Which turns out to be pretty far.

Our SLP demonstrates her excellent hearing aid replacement skills

I am no longer frustrated by this behavior. Just weary of it. We want to keep Nolan's aids a positive thing and avoid power struggles, but at the moment he is only wearing them for a few short hours out of every day. The tubing is now torqued because he has ripped the earmolds off so frequently.

I heard, once, that the hearing aid struggles decrease by the age of two. I can only hope.

I Think We Finally Did Her In

Our poor, long suffering speech therapist. I think we finally did her in!

When the weather is nice, therapy is often in the great outdoors. We didn't actually do her in (she was having Matt give her step-by-step directions in how to get up). Below is proof that she's really OK:

Blowing bubbles: pop, pop, pop!

To prove that we have the best speech language pathologist on this side of the Mississippi, take a gander at the boys' shirts. She made those - one says, "I'm the big brother" and one says, "I'm the little brother." Too cute!

Painting with sidewalk paint

Cheap, easy to make, and fun: sidewalk paint

We've been doing a lot of outdoor crafts lately. The latest was sidewalk paint. We discussed color, wet vs. dry, messy vs. clean, and words like drippy, thick, thin, and mixture.

For anyone brave enough to do sidewalk painting at home, the recipe is really simple:

• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
• 6-8 drops of food coloring

You may want to double the recipe, though. We went through our paint really fast! Cleanup is simple. You can sweep it away with a broom once it dries, or get out the garden hose.

Fun at "School"

Just a few random pictures from speech therapy today. Speech "therapy" is all play- the work is hidden within all the fun!

Why I honestly believe our SLP should be paid more- she has to handle two at once!

I Didn't Teach Him That!

Nolan thinks our cat is "eegee." He's not wrong.

When you find out your kid has a hearing loss, you find out that one of the things they miss out on is "incidental learning." They don't overhear things as easily, and might miss out on some language and learning opportunities. This is probably why, for instance, Nolan looked at me blankly when I asked him where the toy firetruck was. We haven't specifically sat down to play with firetrucks and labeled them as such (this has been remedied, by the way).

On the other hand, we have some additional "language helpers" in our house. Matthew loves playing with Nolan (most of the time) and has obviously been teaching him new words. Today I have heard the following- none of which has been taught to Nolan by Dennis or myself:

My! (mine!)

Eegee (stinky)

Puh (poop)

Weh! (away, as in "go away!")

The words are piling on fast and furious. "Mine" is the current favorite, and he is beginning to resemble the seagulls in Finding Nemo. As much as I'm not a fan of the word "mine," there's something really cool about his brother teaching him words that we probably wouldn't. Brothers rock.

A New Word

Nolan's adding new words at a rate of about 2 per week, but one caught my attention recently (hint: it's my favorite!). Yes, we have "mommy." Not "mama" or "ma," but an extremely clear and beautiful "mommy."

It took my hearing kid* almost 3 years to utter this word, so I am over the moon that Nolan is saying it so early. He is speaking so clearly that it can be hard to remember that he does have a hearing loss. Just when we start to get complacent, though, we have a few "hard of hearing moments." Asked where his tummy is, he sticks out his tongue. And asked if he wants to go "up high," he points to the light. Auditory and speech therapy are very, very helpful and necessary!

*On that note, Matt will be going in for another hearing test just to make sure he really can hear. We still lack plurals, past tense, and mid/final consonants in his words. I'll update when we get an appointment!

Early Intervention WORKS

Yesterday morning our speech language pathologist arrived with a box full of blocks, toy utensils, a teddy bear, and a testing manual. After having Nolan take a block off the box, put the block in the box, and select various objects, he received a receptive language score of 124%. That score is ABOVE the level of his normal-hearing peers. His expressive ranked at 108%.

This is the kid who couldn't understand simple words like "kitty," "truck," or "cup" two months ago. One month ago, something clicked and he has never looked back! We did identify some language holes (he can only identify one body part and should be able to label four), but overall he is thriving in his language rich environment!

We are sans hearing aids today until we visit the pediatrician. Nolan has a nasty cold with drainage out of one ear which makes me leery of inserting the earmolds. With his hearing test only 2 days away, I want to make sure his PE tubes are open and any infection is addressed!

Yesterday evening the "lady game" (Matthew's term) came to our house to evaluate Matthew. He has already been evaluated for speech and language, so we know he still qualifies for services based on articulation. This testing was a formality to assess his general cognitive skills. We won't have the results back for a week or two, but the psychologist did tell me she's confident he's performing at age level.

The testing was interesting. There were puzzles to put together (Matt got to the five-piece puzzles and was stymied after that). Blocks to build in patterns that matched a template set up by the psychologist (he could do anything with three blocks, but four blocks were a little difficult). Lots of questions for information (he couldn't name the colors in a rainbow, for instance). There were also a lot of receptive language questions. He missed two that I thought he would get- one of a lamp (we don't have bedside lamps, so he isn't familiar with the term) and one of an iron (embarrassing, but I don't iron our clothes very often).

Matt's responses to some of the questions were rather interesting. A selection of his answers are below:

Lady Game: Matthew, can you name some animals?

Matt: Animals live at the zoo.

Lady Game: Can you name some of them?

Matt: My mommy drive me there.

Lady Game: Matt, can you name two items that have wheels?

Matt: A choo choo train!

Lady Game: Can you name a second one?

Matt: Another choo choo!

Lady Game: Matt, what is this picture?

Matt: A banana!

Lady Game: Matt, can you tell me what this is (picture of an iron).

Matt: That a plug on it.

Lady Game: Yes, but what is the whole thing called?

Matt: I go eat banana now.

Testing almost-3 year olds is a job reserved for saints!

Wonderwoman (AKA our Speech Therapist)

Nolan had an absolutely amazing speech therapy session on Wednesday. We had lost the words "ball" (pronounced da) and "Uh-Oh" (pronounced uh), which was rather upsetting. We have been working very hard to get them back, and Nolan successfully uttered "Da!" for us several times during our session. Then, to further wow us with his unending potential, he proceded to imitate "eat" (eee!) and "Kitty" (not a consistent sound, but one that usually has a "kh" sound somewhere within the squeal). I'm not quite sure how Mrs. C. manages to get Nolan to become a literal chatterbox when she's here- maybe she secretly puts something in his goldfish crackers! It is interesting that most of his early words and word approximations are ones that he already has signs for. Is it normal to be in love with your kid's speech therapist?

We also discussed Nolan's minor head lag issue. She consulted with a physical therapist, and after talking to his pediatrician and the PT, we feel that it is not a pathological or neurological problem. He can hold his head up in a prone position and doesn't have low muscle tone in the rest of his body, so it is probably just one of those things where he is on the low end of normal for muscle strength in his neck. We'll keep an eye on him, but all the experts who deal with him are sure there is nothing to worry about. That's a big relief!

We had an ENT appointment that afternoon. I did ask about his MRI results and she confirmed they were totally normal. She is concerned about the drop in hearing level and wants another booth test before we see her again in January. We'll be monitoring his hearing levels every three months until he stabilizes. She does feel his loss is genetic due to the symmetry and odd configuration. She also said they used to see a lot of 2-3 year olds show up with severe/profound losses out of nowhere, and the number of these supposedly "acquired" cases of deafness have dropped substantially since the inception of the newborn hearing screening program. She said a lot of these losses were actually mild or moderate losses that progressed and were then found at the age of 2 or 3. Interesting to know, though we hope that Nolan's hearing won't deteriorate any more than it already has. His aids work really well for him right now, and we hope it stays that way. We're prepared for the alternative if it should continue to progress, and know that he'll be just fine no matter what.

We're still battling the weight issue, which hasn't been helped by a recent stomach bug. We are getting about 10 ounces of milk into him every day, but that is still far short of the recommended 24 ounces from the pediatrician. I think my son and I need to switch diet strategies!

The Miracle of Speech Therapy

I truly love speech therapy. Matthew has been showing some improvement already, which is thrilling to this mama! He has added "car" and "two" to his very short list of spoken words. He uses both of them spontaneously, and uses them to communicate (instead of just imitating the word). He doesn't know the exact meaning of the word "two," but knows it is more than one! When given a cookie, he'll always say, "two, two!" in the hope of getting as many cookies as possible.


Nolan isn't babbling with consonants yet, but this isn't really delayed even for a baby with normal hearing. The range for babbling with consonants is 6-9 months, so we're keeping a sharp eye out for hearing that first "mama" or "dada" or "baba." He is taking turns with making sound, imitating an open mouth, and making lots of "aaaahh" noises. He's localizing to sound and I'm a little anxious for that first booth test (not yet scheduled).



The boys are starting to interact, which makes getting a good picture of the two of them very difficult. One takes a lot of silly faces, and the other takes bribery. For those of you with even basic ASL knowledge, take a guess at what I bribed Matthew with (I know, I know- bad mother of the year award):