April's progress continued

Like I was saying.... :-)

I am very pleased with her progress! She's been able to hear speech for less than 4 months. Remember she doesn't have access to speech all the time either! She sometimes takes off the processor in the car. Sometimes she takes it off during play (but that is very short lived - I'm right there popping it back on!). However, with the amount of time she is able to actively listen, she is doing awesome.


Her receptive language is growing in leaps and bounds. She points at everything and wants to know what it all is. Expressive will take some time. I am just thrilled that she is moving through the 'typical' phases of listening and ultimately speaking.

Her first word that is really close is mouth. She says "mouf" and it is so darn cute!! Everything else she says is an approximation....Like Meow is still "Mou". But she is really doing well imitating as best she can!

Physically she is getter stronger and more confident each week. We just got her the traditional white shoe that comes up the ankle a bit for additional stabilization to aid in her walking. They aren't the hard sole that Justin wore (as did most of us), but a really nice cushy sole....like a sneaker. I love them! She is beginning to bounce by bending her knees more. We also got one of those toddler trampolines for inside and Juliana loves it! Mikaela is getting used to it, but likes to sit and play with her toys on it rather than exercise! Her PT gave us ankle weights for her to wear 5 minutes each day. They are 1/2 pound each and will strenthen her legs (obviously!) I was really forgetful last week and will do much better this week!

My plan is to post shorter and more often! Talk with you soon!

The consonants are coming!!! The consonants are coming!!!

Mikaela continues to thrill us each day! She really has quite the sense of humor and loves to make us laugh!

So much progress is happening all around. Let's start with hearing/speech. She is really aware of sounds now. She has begun to apply meaning to the sounds she is hearing and has quite of list of words she recognizes orally only. That amazes me! (I will be adding a list on the blog page soon.)

What is thrilling me the most is when she babbles! After being activated around 3 months, she began to make sounds she has never made before! She is beginning to make sounds like typical hearing babies make! It is such a thrill since for so long, the only sounds she made was "AH", and "NG". To hear her babble is nothing I take for granted..... She added vowels like "eeee", O (long and short) U (short only). She added consonants as well!! She has P, B, F, and M. She has been saying: up, woof (sounds like uff), ow, (as in meow), ab, (we aren't sure what that is to her, but she uses it a lot!) mamamama, and her favorite ...Uh-Oh. This has been status quo for several weeks now. She kinda stalled here. Since her last mapping, she has actually has dropped some consonants. She has gone back to "uh, uh, uh" for up, up, up. She dropped the F for a while at the end of woof, woof, but it has come back this week. It makes me wonder if there is something up with this last mapping. Or is she developing other areas and pressing pause on the original gains? I know typical kids do this sometimes.

Darn, I hear Mikaela waking up from naptime...so, I suppose I'll write more soon! It won't be so long....I promise!