Say What?!

  Ok, so we have been scheduled for our MRI. We were called and given an appointment for October 10th. Say whaaaaaaa?! That doesn't sound like the "fast track" to me! What happened to "critical development" time? We are still waiting to hear back on our appointments for other evaluations with the cochlear team, so maybe they want to do everything else first and the MRI is the final step before surgical consults? I guess we'll see. If I find out though that October is our next appointment, somebody is going to have to explain to me the thinking behind that one.

  In other news, we have coffee in our household again and the hubby is a much happier man. I gave my husband a Keurig single cup coffee maker last year for Christmas. It is probably the best gift I ever gave him (or at least the one that gets used most). He drinks his coffee WAY stronger than I can stand it, so the idea of making only one cup at a time and choosing your strength really appealed to me. I also had my own motivations...no more spilled coffee grounds on my kitchen floor!! I've gotta say, I am pretty in love with that little machine. We order his coffee online because he prefers a coffee named "Jet Fuel". I am not kidding. We are not morning people. It finally arrived in the mail yesterday and all is right in the world again for him.

  Speaking of the planet shaking, we had an earthquake yesterday! We live in NC, so this is obviously not a usual occurrence. I was on a video conference for work and started to feel my house vibrate. I had to stop the meeting by saying, "Um, just a second guys....my house is shaking." I went downstairs to the basement thinking that perhaps my husband had put a load of laundry in the machine and it was off balance and migrating across the floor. That's really what it felt like. Of course, my washing machine was not on and it took me a few seconds to come to the conclusion that the earth had actually been shaking. As a southern girl, it just did not even dawn on me at first to consider an earthquake. E didn't seem to notice at all other than the fact that his playing was interrupted when his nanny snatched him up, prepared to run. She later admitted though that she had no clue where she would be going :-) 

  Now that we know that E should be registering some speech sounds, we are having to shift gears and add auditory training to our routine. This is very strange for me. I have to say, I feel really odd focusing on voicing information and sounds. "Do you see the doggy? The doggy says WOOF WOOF! Can you say WOOF WOOF?" E has excelled with sign language. I am kind of frustrated to be starting over a bit with the addition of the listening exercises. Until Monday, I really had not given extreme focus to sounds because I had no reason to think he was hearing them. He still does not seem to really pay much attention to sound, but that will just come with time I guess. He does seem to be mimicking the VROOOOOM sounds we make when we play with cars. It is so difficult for me to try to figure out what he heard and what he may have simply ignored. I know this might sound strange, but I think it was easier when we didn't think he heard any of it. We have always voiced along with our signing, but now, it seems like I find myself talking CONSTANTLY and honestly, I annoy myself!

  I really love E's new way of reacting to things that interest him. He makes a huge surprise face and sucks in air. He has to then look at my husband or me as if to confirm that what he is seeing is indeed as exciting as he thinks it is. He gets so excited! I can't help but wish things still made me react that way. Wouldn't life be great if we still got that excited over bubbles?