"Typical" A

Wednesday, January 29, 2020 was a very bittersweet day.  It was time for Little A's IFSP (like an IEP meeting for early intervention). This was the day that he was officially discharged from physical therapy. Meaning Little A can physically do everything a "typical" child his age can do. Let's be real - this kid does not sit still. He climbs on things, runs around and oh yeah loves the opportunity to hold your hand and go up and down the stairs all day.  This was a day we were waiting for… to say Little A may hear in a different way but other than that he is just like everyone else! We are so excited to have the news he doesn't need PT anymore. The bitter part is that we loved his therapist. She not only showed how much she cared for Little A and helped him reach so many goals and milestones, but she helped me in ways too. While she worked with Little A, she would always talk and check in and see how I was doing. She didn't always realize that some of our conversations were very encouraging to me.  She cheered him along with us - even things that didn't have to do with PT. One conversation will always stick out in my mind and is one we have gone back to a lot whenever we are getting a bit frustrated with where we are at with Little A. We told her that Little A wasn't using his pincher grip yet. She simply asked one question "Have you given him the chance to try by putting the food on his tray?" Our answer was no because at the time we didn't think about it. She said "I'm not worried about it, I'm sure after a few tries he will get it". She was right.  When given the chance to try and practice he was able to quickly learn to use that pincher grip. When it came to Little A eating foods besides purees, we were nervous. For some reason the question "have you given him the chance to try?" popped into my head. I quickly realized it doesn't matter if we are scared about what might happen, if we don't give him the chance to try how will he learn. This gave us the courage to just keep pushing forward. So even though we are sad we won't have weekly chats with his therapist anymore, we are excited for how far Little A has come from a physical standpoint. When we brought him home, he was a skinny, tiny boy who could barely turn his head to the left side (he favored his right). Now, he is the little big boy who doesn't have enough time in his day to explore the world. Little A continues to see a speech therapist and audiologist.  He has about 30 words that we have counted so far, but seems each day he is saying a new one. They aren't always perfectly said (usually missing the first consonant sound) but they are definitely recognizable. Just last weekend he said "pizza" in a clear enough way that his uncle and cousins stopped in their tracks because they were happily surprised to hear it from him. 🍕 Some other words he loves to say are "chocolate" "cookie" "cheese" Aspen" (the dogs name) "up" "come" "dada" and "mama" plus many more. Little A loves music and at night we often hear him singing songs to his stuffed animals. This week we also got good news from the Audiologist, Dr. Ben. Little A is not completely deaf without wearing his hearing aids. He pulled up the audio graph and took the time to explain to me what we were looking at (I'll do my best to explain haha). It showed that without his hearing aids on, Little A's hearing is in the 60-65 decibel range.  This is still like 40ish decibels below the normal hearing range. What does that mean for Little A though? It means without his BAHAs we sound like the adults in Charlie Brown. He doesn't hear consonant sounds, only vowel sounds. But at the decibel level, he can understand intonations. That means he would know if you were singing him a song for example even without the BAHAs on. Now with his BAHAs on I don't remember the decibel range but I think it was 30/40ish. I know it is still below the normal range because even though technology is awesome, it can't make his hearing perfect. Plus it can change as he grows and the bones change. Testing the decibels with the BAHAs on shows that the nerve that sends the sound information to his brain is working as well as it should be. So basically, the lack of ear canals is like a wall blocking some decibels of sound to get in. The BAHAs help get around that by sending sound directly to the nerves by vibrating bones. Dr. Ben was very pleased with the testing we did that day. We continue to see him every other month to make frequency adjustments to the BAHAs.  Dr. Ben even calls Little A his favorite BAHA-wearing man. With such caring therapists and audiologist, Little A will continue to grow beyond our expectations and doing more "typical" things. #unstoppableA

Mantra: Unstoppable

When I first started this blog--two posts in--and still very emotional, I was talking to A-wonderous friend Abby a few days after New Years 2019.  Every year she creates herself a little mantra page in a book. She writes the word and decorates the page along with three definitions. I really wanted to do it too, so Abby helped me pick out the word "unstoppable". I never got around to starting a notebook and making a pretty page or anything. To be honest, until a more recent conversation when Abby asked me when I was going to write more posts because my small following was asking, I hadn't even thought about my mantra unstoppable. Even though it is February 1, 2020, better late than never.  Now I'm not sure if UNSTOPPABLE is more fitting for me or Little A. At the time we chose, Abby told me it fit because I am supermom. Like anyone else, I have good and bad days and don't always feel super - I just try my best. Plus, I cannot take all the credit for what this little boy can do. Did I give him opportunities to learn and practice? Yes! Did I push him and show him not to give up? Yes! I also showed him sometimes, to have the strength to keep going, you need to lean on people you trust. But in the end, I'm not the one who learned the skills - Little A did. I'm not the one who, not only met goals, but surpassed them (sooner than expected) - Little A did.  In 2019, Little A was UNSTOPPABLE! We wanted him to drink a few ounces...he would drink the whole bottle. We wanted him to just drink the bottle for 1 feeding...he drank his bottle all day. We just wanted him to eat a few bites of baby puree...he ate it all. Unstoppable A eats what he wants when he wants it. Unstoppable A has some signs and about 30 not perfect, but understandable words (I say about because everyday I feel like I am surprised to hear a new one). Like any 20 month old, he has his tantrums and needs to be reminded he does have better, more effective ways to communicate. If Little A doesn't have the word YET to tell us what he wants, he has learned to take your hand and say "come" so he can show you. According to Google, unstoppable means "impossible to stop". I would definitely say Little A had an unstoppable 2019 and because of that I was an unstoppable Mama.  I learned I have the strength and heart to support this little boy in any way I can. I learned to try, even if I'm afraid to fail, because that is the unstoppable way. This unstoppable mama and son have a pretty good track record going that shows together we will meet our goals. For now, unstoppable still feels like a powerful word to me. One that, when I feel like maybe I can't keep going, will help remind me that we haven't let anything stop us in the past, so we won't in the future. #UNSTOPPABLE