Audiology Update

Emily had a follow-up visit with a local audiologist this past week and the news was good. He said her hearing was perfect, and that her ear canals were three times wider than when we first took her in (about six weeks before she got the tubes put in). At that time he told us that she could not hear well enough to learn to talk. This is a scary thing to hear from an audiologist, but we knew it was only due to fluid and the problem would correct itself when she got the tubes (which it did). Plus the folks at NYU did not want Emily to start with speech until her palate was fixed so she would not develop bad habits. Now she's making many normal sounds and saying a few words ("hi" and "bye" and "mama"). She's doing so well that her speech therapist thinks that she doesn't need therapy anymore! She's going to come in once a month to follow her progress and reevaluate her again as she begins talking more.

She's still a very quiet baby and only babbles when she's around us (Me, Jim and Ana). She seems quite happy to watch the world quietly and, while she's friendly, she does not open up to people that she doesn't know. I guess it's not second nature for her to use language because her hearing was so poor for her entire first year of life. I never realized how important that window of time was for language. I'm just relieved that she's babbling now and starting to form words. She's a silent talker - tends to gesture and use some signs to tell us what she wants. I'm looking forward to hearing more words, but I won't push her.



Well, I had a little fun with all that baby hair. What else am I supposed to do with it??