A lot of things have been happening since the last post. We've been keeping pretty busy between working on the house, doctor appointments, beginning the new
MOPs year, and regular daily life. However, Seth has been doing some pretty amazing things.
First of all, if you don't know Seth, I guess you'd almost have to imagine a child who is deaf most of the time. He hears, of course; he's just very, very quiet. Even while playing, he makes nearly no noise. His hearing is great, he just doesn't find the need to communicate yet. Over the last few months he would become more vocal in the evenings or sometimes when he got really excited. He would shriek and do a little bit of babbling. But it was still minimal. We've been working on getting speech therapy in place for the last four months - that's right, Folks - four months! It seems like everything that could go wrong with the process did. In the meantime, we did get a play therapy set up for him, which includes a little bit of speech in it. He's had three sessions and seems to enjoy it. He had his third speech and occupational assessments just over a week ago, which came to the same results. Seth is above average on his understanding of language, but very much behind on his using language. So now the therapies have been ordered and we're on a waiting list at Children's Rehab. They said it would take one to two weeks to hear back from them. It's been a week and a half and I'm hoping the call will come this week. We're quickly approaching Seth's second birthday and I would love to have him started before then.
However...
Seth has become much more vocal (by his standards) as of late. As I said before, he will mirror the words "mama," "
dada," and "baby." He doesn't use them to identify us yet, but I think the time may come soon. If I had to say what Seth's first real word was, it would be "more." He's been using the sign for months, but now he'll actually say, without any provocation, "mo," which makes me so happy! If we prompt him, he will also say "ca" for car, "pa" for popcorn, and "
wa" for watch. This is pretty amazing stuff for us, because he would never even try syllables before and now he's very willing to. I figured the beginning parts of words are better than no words at all, so we'll see how this progresses. If we ask Seth a question, he will also say "uh-huh" for yes. This isn't all the time, so we're not sure if he's actually using it as a word or just an affirmative noise, but I love it just the same. I've been waiting for so long to hear his voice, it's just such a miracle to me.
Physically, Seth has been developing, too. He has a few sensory issues he deals with, which I think made him progress a tad behind schedule. Now he's a little monkey and climbs on everything, though! Most impressive to me is how he behaves at the play area we go to. I can honestly say, without any prejudice, that Seth is one of the best behaved children there. He's patient, waits his turn, doesn't get mad when others cut in front of him or hog a piece of equipment, and he listens well. Anyway, there was a bridge you can climb on and Seth decided to climb over the side and lower himself with his arms. I didn't even know he was that strong! He also climbed over the "tent", that's a good six inches taller than him. He just pulled himself up, straddled it, and lowered himself down the other side. I was so proud! Oh, and he's decided he can take his bottoms off whenever he pleases; we've had two diaper-less issues in the crib already!
We're adding a few more signs into his vocabulary, and Seth will now use "please" semi-regularly. He is a whiz at puzzles and is pretty good at identifying colors and some shapes and knows all of his body parts. He's becoming a little more social with kids and will even play/interact with them a little. He's enrolled in Mothers Day Out this year and I'm hoping that will really help him on that field.
One really funny thing that Seth does is smell
everything! He really surprised me with one thing, though. He's finally become used to the idea that Baby Caleb is in Mama's belly. (We're still struggling to get him to stop being so rough, though.) When I ask him where Baby Caleb is he will pick up my shirt and sniff my belly!
lol I joke that the bun must still be baking in the oven.
One unfortunate event lately is that Michael, Seth and I all caught some kind of virus last week. Seth really didn't start showing symptoms until Saturday evening, but they hit him fast. Any time he gets sick it goes straight to his chest. So, I took him to the doctor first thing this morning and they did what I expected. They prescribed him a
nebulizer. He's had three treatments and cries through the whole thing. It breaks my heart that he hates it so much, but I can already see a little bit of a difference in his breathing. I'm hoping that he may even be able to sleep in his crib tonight instead of in my arms. I know eventually he'll get used to this and I hope it's sooner rather than later. That being said, Seth will be missing his first day of "school" tomorrow, but I think it's for the best.
I know this post is mainly about Seth, but I don't want to leave Caleb out either. Boy is he different than Seth was! Of course, everything happens sooner with him than it did with Seth - the back pain, pelvic pain, heartburn, the
huge belly - but also the good things. Caleb is a mover and a shaker. At first I only felt him in the evenings, but now I feel him at nearly any time. And he really pushes, because Michael has no problem seeing his movements. It's going to be crazy having two boys and I'm really anxious to see how similar, and dissimilar, they really are.
My baby boy turned two years old this past Monday and it still boggles my mind. It seems like just a few weeks ago we were bringing him home from the hospital, fighting the sleep battle, watching him make his milestones. It really does just fly by.
