New Ear Molds

Nolan was in desperate need of new ear molds. We picked them up last week - he went for the green-and-blue look this time.

Next week is the last week of school, and we are eagerly counting down the days! Both boys have their class field trips on Friday (Nolan is going to a local playground with his class, and Matthew is going to the Erie Zoo).

I have to admit, I am looking forward to summer. It will be nice to get a break from the early morning routine!

Of Long Car Rides and Earmolds

Nolan would much rather fly to Buffalo.

We drove up to Buffalo to make impressions for new earmolds yesterday. The actual appointment was quite uneventful, with the standard pink goo and disassembling of every puzzle in our audiologist's office. The car ride to and from Buffalo, however, was interminable.

For those of you who are not "lucky" enough to experience a long car ride with Nolan, I will recap the event:

• *drops juice cup* "MY JUICE! I WANT MY JUICE! JUIIIIIIICCCCCEEEE!"- 25 minutes.
• *takes off one shoe* "MY SHOE!!! MY SHOEE! SHOOOOOOOEEEEEE!"-20 minutes
• *observes Matthew sleeping* "MATTHEW! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!- 10 minutes.

At this point, I can't take any more crying (because all statements in the car must be made at maximum volume, in a sobbing voice). I told him to please use his talking voice, and not his crying voice. So, for the remaining hour, this is what I heard:

"I'M TALKING TO YOU, MOM! I'M TALKING TO YOU! TALKING! TALKING TO YOUUUU! I'M TALKING! TO YOU!"

His pronunciation might have made it cute, in that he sounds Italian: "I'm a-talkin' a you, Ma!" The volume, however, negated any "cute" effect.

The ride home was quite similar, except he didn't have his hearing aids in, so he was slightly louder.

The good news was that he finally fell asleep. The bad news was that he fell asleep three minutes from our house.

Thank goodness our audiologist loves us and booked our next hearing test for the earmold pickup, so we can reduce the total number of trips!

Snow Day

Slacking after "school"

New earmolds will have to wait, as Mother Nature has descended upon us in all her white and frigid glory. With 8-10 inches expected in our area today, I decided not to risk the drive. This turned out to be a great thing, as our speech therapy session could go forward as planned. And Nolan had an amazing "skyrocket" day.

While playing with the Aquadoodle, Nolan heard and said the word "wet." It was more of a "weh," but he said it over and over again. Then came "hop hop" when we were looking at a bunny picture, /p/ and /h/ sounds included. Goodness gracious, this kid is starting to imitate like crazy! He has also picked up some signs (banana and a few more I can't think of off the bat), but his word acquisition rate is now faster than his sign acquisition rate. I swear the kid said "dah go mmmmmm" (cow go moo) the other day, though I might be imagining it. Are two and three word sentences even possible at sixteen months of age?

Today rocks.

Pre-CPSE Meeting and Hearing Test Scheduled

Matthew at Panama Rocks

We had Matthew's pre-CPSE (Committe on Preschool Special Education) meeting at the local school district last Thursday. This was not an official affair, but just a "hello" to the school district and make them aware that Matthew has a likelihood of transitioning to the local school district for speech services.



We aren't quite sure if he will be declassified when he goes through his next round of early intervention testing or not. His receptive and expressive language are age appropriate now, but his articulation is still fairly atrocious. For example, take the following phrase:


"Go leet. Die. Ge'in car. See peet in wa. Wa. Too pie wie. Go peet."

For those who can't translate Matthew-ese, that's:

"Go to the lake. Drive. Get in the car. See fish in the water. Too far away. Go to the fish."

If he comes out with a "moderate" as opposed to "severe" articulation disorder, then he will not qualify for further services. I did request that he get another audiological evaluation to verify there is no hearing loss as a cause for his articulation issues, especially if he ends up with a declassification recommendation.

Luckily we brought Nolan in for the meeting, so they could see the whole family situation. They readily agreed that we should have Matthew's hearing tested since he speaks more Klingon than English.

Nolan with Grandpa at Cook Forest

Nolan has guaranteed services due to his hearing loss, so the CPSE chair was happy to meet him and told us her TOD would be glad to be working as a TOD again (the TOD is currently working with students who need speech therapy, but there are not other kids with hearing loss in our school district).

We also saw the audiologist this week, to pick up earmolds and more dessicant (darn that humidity). Our audiologist scheduled another hearing test for August 7th, so we will be taking impressions for earmolds on July 28, doing a hearing test August 7th, and going in for the MRI (pending insurance approval) on August 11th. I am reassured our audiologist is keeping good tabs on Nolan's hearing levels, especially since he seemed to lose a small amount of high frequency hearing between his ABR and first booth test.

Oh, yeah- and Nolan took his first steps. I can't believe my little guy is starting to walk!

It looks like we are on for a busy August and September, but then things should slow down and we will get back to our normal pace of life.

Blech.

The good news? Spring has arrived- in earnest! The bad news? So have all the viruses!

Nolan has has a cold for the past 3 weeks (with a fever for five days), and checking in with the pediatrician simply informed us that he had a "virus." He seemed to be turning the corner, and then I took out his hearing aids yesterday. The left ear has developed a chronic yellow crust from drainage. That CANNOT be good. Off to call the pediatrician to see if we can get in before our trip to Buffalo today!


We pick up earmolds today (set number 8??) at BHSC. Nolan's growth finally seems to be slowing, so hopefully the earmold trips will slow accordingly! The end of April seems to be rather busy for us. Earmolds today, InfantSEE exam tomorrow, ASL lessons on Monday (part of my obsession with learning about EVERY option for deaf/hoh kids), and the post-operative exam for the tymp. tubes on the 30th of April. With rising fuel prices, we're trying to keep those trips to Buffalo to a minimum.


In the meantime, we are trying to spend every waking hour out of doors in the glorious sun. Nolan has taken to the park quite nicely, though he mostly watches Matthew from the sidelines. I am in the midst of planning a summer full of activities for both boys. The Herschell Carrousel Museum looks interesting, as does the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. Good weather rocks!

Setting Earmold Records!

I picked up Nolan's 5th set of earmolds on Tuesday. I have a feeling Emtech (earmold company) is regretting their re-make policy by now! The wings are gone, but now there is a gap between the mold and the side of his ear. Darn! We'll be going back on the 29th for new impressions- earmold set number six. Hopefully we'll get a better set this time! In the meantime, I'm having some trouble keeping his aids in (especially the left one). Thank goodness for pilot caps.

The weather was rather miserable (in the teens with high winds), so I didn't venture over to the hospital for the genetics bloodwork. Instead, I will do it the morning of the 27th, since I have to go up for an ENT clinic on that day. Nolan has had fluid in his ears since January 9th (at least) and has had one infection. Hopefully the infection is gone (I'm pretty sure it is) and I hope the fluid is, too!

So the remaining schedule for this week and next is:

Today (the 20th): Speech Therapy and playgroup (I didn't make playgroup)!

Thursday (21st): Pediatrician appointment (check ears) and MOPS

Friday (22nd): Speech Therapy

The weekend: Absolutely NO appointments! Yay!

Monday the 25th: Speech Therapy and EI wrap-up meeting to put Matthew's IFSP into place.

Wednesday the 27th: ENT appointment and genetics bloodwork

Friday the 29th: Earmolds!

Beware Strong Winds!

I went up to get earmold set #4 (along with my trusty friend K, who has been on more trips to BHSC than any good friend should). We had the earmolds remade in the hope of losing the extra "lip" on Nolan's left earmold. No such luck! We took new impressions and I will go up again on February 19th, to get earmold set #5! In the meantime, I'm keeping the boy out of any high winds- he might just fly away.

Big brother gets tired out from the frequent doctor appointments. He's a real trouper, but it is pretty evident when he's worn out. It is 5:00pm and here's his current state of being:

Going For Our 4th Set of Earmolds!

We went to pick up Nolan's next set of earmolds, and they didn't fit. Not too small this time, but too big! I think the earmold company mis-cast them, or the impressions weren't quite right. The ear canal section on the molds was HUGE. Our most excellent audiologist pared them down with a scalpel (I told her she should have become a surgeon- she said she can't stand blood, lol).

She also called the earmold company to tell them they needed to get re-made. We will have new earmolds next week- our fourth set in 2 months! In the mean time, we'll make due with the chiseled earmolds. She also bumped his hearing aids up to full volume (I thought she had done that last time). He's up and running now- doesn't seem to mind the volume increase at all. I did have the computer speakers on, though, and the music from Jodi's blog made him jump and cry! I have to remember to turn those speakers down!

Now we're just waiting for him to get old enough to get behavioral test readings. Hopefully by the time he hits six or seven months we'll get him in a booth. The other thing I'm waiting for is the start of babble. Babies with normal hearing start babbling by around six months, so I'm eagerly watching and waiting. Come on, Nolan- give us a "dada!" Or, more preferably, a "mama!"

This and That

I went to pick up Nolan's new earmolds yesterday (impressions made on January 9) and they were too already too small! At least they don't fall out of his ears like the previous set, but there are gaps at the edges. Our audiologist took new impressions and is airmailing the earmolds with another baby's. We go back on Friday to pick them up- these ones should fit for a little while (I hope)!

Along with outgrowing earmolds like crazy, I think I need to buy the next size up in pilot caps. He was in the XS size, and he definitely needs a small now. I'm going to see if I can cross-stitch something onto the hat. I'm definitely not a crafty person, but I can cross-stitch. I'm not sure what I want to put on the hat, though. My husband is lobbying for a Red Wings design, but I don't have a pattern for that!

Early Intervention also came by to set up the evaluation for Matthew's speech. I should have a date soon- I just hope he qualifies this time. He has about eight unclear words. In most states he would qualify for a speech delay, but NY state does a "total language" score. This means that even if the kid never talks, he may not qualify because he understands so much. He wasn't even babbling by 17 months and didn't qualify because his receptive language was that of a 26 month old. We'll see what happens this time around- he just learned to say "mama" at 2 years of age (and can't always say that), but he understands what it means to "gain altitude." If he doesn't qualify for speech therapy, we will just continue on with sign language for him. All I really care about is communication, but it would be nice if we could get some help on the speech front.

Speaking of sign language, I've been wanting to take an ASL class at our local community college. I can't for the time being because the husband is in Sweden for half of every month, which means I have no place to leave the kids while I take a class. There is a lady (ASL interpreter) who goes to my church, and she gave me a certificate for 5 one hour ASL sessions in our home. AWESOME! That should get me started, and the one-on-one will allow me to focus on vocabulary and phrases for communicating with my little guys. J.K., I am forever in your debt!