Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Earlier Today....
::Sophie knocks on the door::
Me: "Who's there?"
S: "Tookie! Num Num!"
Me: "Cookie Monster?"
S: "Noooooo!"
Me: "No? Who's there then?"
S: ::runs over to hug me:: "Pho-phie!"
Ahhh....love these little bits of progress she's making speech wise!
Me: "Who's there?"
S: "Tookie! Num Num!"
Me: "Cookie Monster?"
S: "Noooooo!"
Me: "No? Who's there then?"
S: ::runs over to hug me:: "Pho-phie!"
Ahhh....love these little bits of progress she's making speech wise!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Brrr....
We've had quite the "cold" snap in the desert recently. We had a couple of days where highs barely reached into the 30's (I know, I know...there are places MUCH colder) and lows into the teens to 20s for several nights.
Yes, it's cold. I've been in colder. People in the midwest and northeast have been dealing with winter storm after winter storm. Buildings are collapsing, snow piles are mounting and things are a mess. Here, here however, it's like we're in a third world country. We have a few days of below freezing temperatures and the utilities system falls apart. Gas service was interrupted or lost for several thousands of people (and still is not functioning for many), a few lost power for a short time and many, like us, have been without water since Wednesday night.
The water service returned late Friday morning at which time we discovered one of our outdoor pipes had burst despite being wrapped and insulated. "But you should have left a slow trickle of water" people say. Yeah, couldn't be done because we lost service Wednesday night BEFORE the coldest temperatures hit.
We have a really busy week coming up. The Little Miss is beginning a few free Speech Therapy sessions, being evaluated for Early Intervention services and has her usual gymnastics classes. I have a few Dr. appointments and add in the usual work, meetings and chores/errands it's going to be busy. I was already preparing ourselves for the week ahead with the plans to get ahead on laundry, get some meal plans together, clean and get the necessary errands done starting Thursday and finishing things up this weekend. Now, we're trying to function in a house with no running water. Most meals have been take-out. I'm sick of take-out already. The Little Miss and I ran to her grandparents house, 45 minutes away, to do a couple of necessary loads of laundry today. I don't feel like I have my head on straight and am getting frustrated at the diminishing promise of having any sort of running water by the end of the day Sunday.
I know I'm whining and complaining. And I KNOW things could be so much worse but after 3 straight days of no running water....about to enter our FOURTH day of no running water and I'm frustrated.
I'm really considering going off into the closet, closing the door and throwing a little tantrum. It might just be cathartic.
Yes, it's cold. I've been in colder. People in the midwest and northeast have been dealing with winter storm after winter storm. Buildings are collapsing, snow piles are mounting and things are a mess. Here, here however, it's like we're in a third world country. We have a few days of below freezing temperatures and the utilities system falls apart. Gas service was interrupted or lost for several thousands of people (and still is not functioning for many), a few lost power for a short time and many, like us, have been without water since Wednesday night.
The water service returned late Friday morning at which time we discovered one of our outdoor pipes had burst despite being wrapped and insulated. "But you should have left a slow trickle of water" people say. Yeah, couldn't be done because we lost service Wednesday night BEFORE the coldest temperatures hit.
We have a really busy week coming up. The Little Miss is beginning a few free Speech Therapy sessions, being evaluated for Early Intervention services and has her usual gymnastics classes. I have a few Dr. appointments and add in the usual work, meetings and chores/errands it's going to be busy. I was already preparing ourselves for the week ahead with the plans to get ahead on laundry, get some meal plans together, clean and get the necessary errands done starting Thursday and finishing things up this weekend. Now, we're trying to function in a house with no running water. Most meals have been take-out. I'm sick of take-out already. The Little Miss and I ran to her grandparents house, 45 minutes away, to do a couple of necessary loads of laundry today. I don't feel like I have my head on straight and am getting frustrated at the diminishing promise of having any sort of running water by the end of the day Sunday.
I know I'm whining and complaining. And I KNOW things could be so much worse but after 3 straight days of no running water....about to enter our FOURTH day of no running water and I'm frustrated.
I'm really considering going off into the closet, closing the door and throwing a little tantrum. It might just be cathartic.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
You say tomato....
The Little Miss grunts.
A while back I mentioned I was worried about Sophie's speech development. She seemed to be progressing along normally until just around 18 months all progress stopped. She was no longer using two-word sentences and using very few words in general. It was either "eh eh eh" or "uh uh uh" or a point or sing language or some combination there of. We spoke to her pediatrician about her concerns but were told "She's still in the 'normal' range. Let's look at it again at her 2-year visit."
We switched pediatricians for her 2-year visit (same practice, different Dr. - long story). Anyway, we discussed our speech concerns and The Little Miss even demonstrated her "babbling" and lack of speech. Our pediatrician said there's some definite cause for concern so let's start the ball rolling for speech evaluation. That was in November.
I called the requisite numbers for all the referrals and were told "We can get you the hearing evaluation but speech evaluations are running 4 to 6 months out." Geez. Apparently I went into the wrong field! Her hearing evaluation was scheduled for early January, just after our holiday trip. We'd yet to hear from the speech people but were on the cancellation list so knew we could possibly get a call any time. As we assumed, Sophie had no hearing loss. Two days later, we get a call from the Speech center with a last minute cancellation. Literally. They called at 9:30am for a 10:30am appointment. The Little Miss wasn't dressed, I was dressed but not for public consumption and it takes us 45 minutes to get to the hospital where the evaluations take place. C-razy! But knowing how long it takes to even get an appointment I jumped at the chance. We made it, with 5 minutes to spare.
After an hour and a half evaluation with a FABULOUS SLP we learned Sophie does indeed have a delay. She has a greater than 50% deficiency in "expressive speech and language". In some language areas she's functioning at a 36 month level but in expressive speech and language she's barely functioning at a 15-18 month level. (Which makes sense as that was when she stopped progressing normally speech-wise.). There's some concern she may have a possible motor disorder called Apraxia of Speech (or Speech Apraxia). She has several "characteristics" of Apraxia of Speech like being able to do something once then never again (two word sentences, saying a word once then never again, etc). Other characteristics include having trouble forming the sounds and words consistently. Sophie can watch our mouths closely and attempt to make the sound but come out with something totally different. Unfortunately, Speech Apraxia can't really be fully diagnosed until age 3.
So where does that leave us? In limbo, really. Our insurance will not cover speech therapy for developmental delays. It was recommended that The Little Miss initially receive 16 weeks of therapy with a re-evaluation at 12 weeks to see how she's progressing. Through a local hospital and The Children's Miracle Network's Helping Hands program we can receive 4 sessions. That still leaves 12 sessions to fund. We're in the process of getting The Little Miss evaluated for Early Intervention home therapies. Generally, children like Sophie with one deficiency don't qualify BUT we learned recently there are funds available for just Speech Therapy. We're keeping our fingers crossed she qualifies. We have a couple of other options to look into but if she doesn't qualify for anything else we'll be paying out of pocket.
Next month, well week actually, she's being evaluated for EI services. The following week she begins the first of four sessions through CMN. Family members have asked if I'm "distraught" over her diagnosis and I'm not. Not at all, really. I'm glad to know I wasn't crazy and my concerns over her speech were founded. I'm glad we know what's going on; why she's delayed. I'm glad other people (outside of family/friends) are seeing just how bright she is but how frustrated she gets when we don't understand her "jargon". I'm glad she's going to be receiving help and we're going to be learning some tools to work with her at home. She's already making progress. Since her initial evaluation we've been practicing using two-word sentences and focusing on the ending sounds of words she knows. She's been using those words more and more and trying to use sentences when she can. She gets frustrated when she fails (head down, bottom lip out) so we encourage and get excited about EVERY attempt. It's going to be a long process. She should catch up we just don't know how long it will take. I'm heartbroken to see her so frustrated at times but thrilled to see her eyes light up when she KNOWS she said something correctly and we understood her.
We hope to report, in a few months, that we can't get our little jabberbox to STOP talking. I'm positive she'll be full of some VERY interesting and imaginative stories.
A while back I mentioned I was worried about Sophie's speech development. She seemed to be progressing along normally until just around 18 months all progress stopped. She was no longer using two-word sentences and using very few words in general. It was either "eh eh eh" or "uh uh uh" or a point or sing language or some combination there of. We spoke to her pediatrician about her concerns but were told "She's still in the 'normal' range. Let's look at it again at her 2-year visit."
We switched pediatricians for her 2-year visit (same practice, different Dr. - long story). Anyway, we discussed our speech concerns and The Little Miss even demonstrated her "babbling" and lack of speech. Our pediatrician said there's some definite cause for concern so let's start the ball rolling for speech evaluation. That was in November.
I called the requisite numbers for all the referrals and were told "We can get you the hearing evaluation but speech evaluations are running 4 to 6 months out." Geez. Apparently I went into the wrong field! Her hearing evaluation was scheduled for early January, just after our holiday trip. We'd yet to hear from the speech people but were on the cancellation list so knew we could possibly get a call any time. As we assumed, Sophie had no hearing loss. Two days later, we get a call from the Speech center with a last minute cancellation. Literally. They called at 9:30am for a 10:30am appointment. The Little Miss wasn't dressed, I was dressed but not for public consumption and it takes us 45 minutes to get to the hospital where the evaluations take place. C-razy! But knowing how long it takes to even get an appointment I jumped at the chance. We made it, with 5 minutes to spare.
After an hour and a half evaluation with a FABULOUS SLP we learned Sophie does indeed have a delay. She has a greater than 50% deficiency in "expressive speech and language". In some language areas she's functioning at a 36 month level but in expressive speech and language she's barely functioning at a 15-18 month level. (Which makes sense as that was when she stopped progressing normally speech-wise.). There's some concern she may have a possible motor disorder called Apraxia of Speech (or Speech Apraxia). She has several "characteristics" of Apraxia of Speech like being able to do something once then never again (two word sentences, saying a word once then never again, etc). Other characteristics include having trouble forming the sounds and words consistently. Sophie can watch our mouths closely and attempt to make the sound but come out with something totally different. Unfortunately, Speech Apraxia can't really be fully diagnosed until age 3.
So where does that leave us? In limbo, really. Our insurance will not cover speech therapy for developmental delays. It was recommended that The Little Miss initially receive 16 weeks of therapy with a re-evaluation at 12 weeks to see how she's progressing. Through a local hospital and The Children's Miracle Network's Helping Hands program we can receive 4 sessions. That still leaves 12 sessions to fund. We're in the process of getting The Little Miss evaluated for Early Intervention home therapies. Generally, children like Sophie with one deficiency don't qualify BUT we learned recently there are funds available for just Speech Therapy. We're keeping our fingers crossed she qualifies. We have a couple of other options to look into but if she doesn't qualify for anything else we'll be paying out of pocket.
Next month, well week actually, she's being evaluated for EI services. The following week she begins the first of four sessions through CMN. Family members have asked if I'm "distraught" over her diagnosis and I'm not. Not at all, really. I'm glad to know I wasn't crazy and my concerns over her speech were founded. I'm glad we know what's going on; why she's delayed. I'm glad other people (outside of family/friends) are seeing just how bright she is but how frustrated she gets when we don't understand her "jargon". I'm glad she's going to be receiving help and we're going to be learning some tools to work with her at home. She's already making progress. Since her initial evaluation we've been practicing using two-word sentences and focusing on the ending sounds of words she knows. She's been using those words more and more and trying to use sentences when she can. She gets frustrated when she fails (head down, bottom lip out) so we encourage and get excited about EVERY attempt. It's going to be a long process. She should catch up we just don't know how long it will take. I'm heartbroken to see her so frustrated at times but thrilled to see her eyes light up when she KNOWS she said something correctly and we understood her.
We hope to report, in a few months, that we can't get our little jabberbox to STOP talking. I'm positive she'll be full of some VERY interesting and imaginative stories.
 |
| A cousin's tutu makes for a great head piece! |
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Still with me?
Hello dear readers!
My intent was not to abandon this blog but, well, I've been busy.
This has been occupying most of my time.
I hope to return soon. The holidays were excellent, though far too busy. There is some news to update you on regarding The Little Miss. Be patient....I will return.
In the meantime....
Can you believe how big she's gotten!?
My intent was not to abandon this blog but, well, I've been busy.
This has been occupying most of my time.
I hope to return soon. The holidays were excellent, though far too busy. There is some news to update you on regarding The Little Miss. Be patient....I will return.
In the meantime....
Can you believe how big she's gotten!?
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