Audiological Evaluation

Annabelle had her hearing evaluation today. For obvious reasons, the hearing evaluation was required before any speech evaluation. I had actually received the prescription from Dr. Calk at Annabelle's 3 year wellness visit in January, but I waited to schedule anything because I didn't think I could manage anything else into my schedule during the first few months of this year.

Annabelle's speech has improved greatly since then, so right now, I don't feel that it was a mistake. I now believe that others can probably understand 90% of what Annabelle says. Both Dr. Calk and Dr. Colton have told me that other people should understand 90% of what she says at this age, so hopefully, she is now on target with her speech.

I would never wish that another one of my children will struggle with speech as Annabelle has, but I will say that this has definitely been an interesting learning experience. I really enjoyed watching Annabelle as Miss Laura tested her hearing this morning. It was a learning experience for me, and it is always fun to watch other people work to learn new things.

Miss Laura first used an ear scope in both ears. The ear scope sent a message to her computer which drew a little "mountain" as she called it. She used the ear scope to test for the following:

1. Fluid in the ears

2. Reflex to the muscle

Then, Miss Laura sent Annabelle into a sound proof room to play with a board of colored pegs. She placed tubes into Annabelle's ears. She asked Annabelle if she wanted Mommy in the room with her or outside with Miss Laura. "Out there with you," she responded with absolutely no hesitation. I couldn't believe it! She was comfortable with Miss Laura as soon as she met her. So, she apparently trusted that Miss Laura wouldn't close her in that room forever because if I were three years old, that room would have looked pretty scary to me!

She had a blast with the peg game! Miss Laura told her to place one of the colored pegs on the board whenever she heard a sound. Per Annabelle (later in the day), she was hearing beeps and baby, Mommy and Daddy birds chirping. Miss Laura mentioned beeps and birds, so she obviously didn't make that one up.

It was hilarious to watch her. Miss Laura told me, "you've got a talkative one here mama." Oh yes! We definitely have a talkative one! She never shuts up! Miss Laura seemed quite impressed with how well Annabelle followed instructions. She said that most kids just stare at her, so it seemed that Annabelle brought a lot of laughter into her day.

Here are just a few of the conversations between Annabelle and Miss Laura.

Miss Laura: What is your favorite color?

Annabelle: I like orange! Aaannnd, I like yellowwww, and boo, and red.

Miss Laura: What color do you want to use next?

Annabelle: I think I want to use red. I have two reds left.

Annabelle: I hear Sophia crying!

Miss Laura: Uh huh, now listen. Listen for the baby birds. Focus, Annabelle, focus.

I cannot tell you how many times Miss Laura would tell her to listen since Annabelle was talking her ear off. Miss Laura was always very polite when she told her to listen though.

Annabelle's expressions were hilarious too! It was funny to watch her facial and body expressions whenever she heard a beep or a bird chirping. "Mmmm?!?!," she would say as she jumped to place another peg on the board.

Miss Laura and Annabelle also played a game of "copy cat." Miss Laura would say a word and Annabelle was to repeat her when she heard her. I wonder if Miss Laura uses the same word at the same decibel every time for her evaluations because whenever Miss Laura said "birthday," Annabelle never responded. I asked her why Annabelle could never hear her say "birthday," and she said it was because it was at a very, very low decibel.

Here is another conversation between Annabelle and Miss Laura during the copy cat game.

Miss Laura: Cupcake.

Annabelle: Cupcake! Dat is Strawberry Shortcake's puppy dog.

I think "pupcake" is actually Strawberry Shortcake's puppy dog, so maybe the conversation went a little differently or maybe Annabelle thought Miss Laura said "pupcake."

For the last test, we went into another room, and Miss Laura hooked Annabelle's ears up to another machine. Annabelle just had to sit there for that test. Annabelle would hear beeps, and this machine tested her inner ear for echos. The echos were automatically logged on the screen by the machine. This inner ear testing is related to the hair cells in her inner ear.

It looks like she's hearing a beep in this next picture or just listening intently waiting for another one.

All pretty interesting stuff if you ask me. I just wish I knew more about how our ears work, but it was still definitely a learning experience. The audiological evaluation took approximately 30-45 minutes. They had allotted an hour for the testing.

Dear Lord

"Give us pretty fowers, and give us pretty polka dots. Amen."

-Annabelle

VeggieTales

I bought the book, "VeggieTales 365 Very Veggie Devos for Kids," to read to Annabelle at bedtime.

For Day 1, the Bible verse was "Then Jesus said, 'I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'" John 6:35 NCV


Annabelle's response:

"No. I will be hungee when I see Jesus because I get hungee sometimes."


And then randomly as we continued reading, she replied:

"I want to go to heaven on a spaceship."

Busted!

I snacked on some of Annabelle's Halloween candy, and I forgot to throw the evidence away last night! As she walked in the living room this morning and sat on the couch and picked up the Strawberry Nerds box I had left behind, I thought, "Oh no! Busted!"

She picked it up and looked at it curiously for a moment. I could actually see the little wheels spinning in her head. Then she looked at me and said, "Mommy, did you eat some of my candy?"

Busted! Busted! Busted!

I thought for a minute as to how to respond. She just got candy from Uncle Ken and Aunt Katie on Friday, so I figured she thought I had eaten some of that. I wouldn't dare touch that candy without asking her first, but anyone has dibs on the Halloween candy (unless you are three and have to ask your Mommy or Daddy first).

I said, "Yes sweetheart. I had some of the Halloween candy from the snowman jar."

"Oh, okay," she said.

I had apparently answered her question in a satisfactory manner to her because she went on her merry way after I responded. She wasn't upset at all. I suspect she initially thought I had eaten some of her candy from Uncle Ken and Aunt Katie.

Of course, when I did try to throw the box away after I was busted, she said, "Did you throw away the candy box? I was going to use that on my picture." Annabelle is notorious for wanting to keep every piece of trash that she puts her hands on because she can "use it for one of my crafts." I typically wait a few days and then throw it away after she has forgotten about it. That is until she spots it in the trash can again.

Marriage

While playing at Shorty Howell Park today, Annabelle leaned in towards me and whispered:

"I'm going to marry Pierce."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because he's cute."

Just yesterday I was trying to explain to her the definition of flirting. As a result, we got into the marriage topic and discussed how you typically sought after someone you think is cute. I named out young boys that she knows. And, apparently, she was listening!

Pierce is my best friend's son who is 19 months older than Annabelle.

Metamelon!

One of Annabelle's favorite things about the summer time.

Metamelon!!!

Translation: You got it! Watermelon! That girl loves her some watermelon! So much that she ate two pieces of watermelon and only half her cheese pizza.

This picture was taken poolside at Uncle Ken and Aunt Katie's pool to celebrate Carter and Charlie's birthdays (even though Carter was born in December and Charlie in February). They apparently had requested a pool party, and obviously, you cannot have a pool party during the winter.

When cake was served at this pool party, Annabelle told her Aunt Katie, "Mommy tells me I can only have a tiny piece."

Aunt Katie laughed and said, "Well, Aunt Katie says you can have a big piece."

The funniest part was that I hadn't told Annabelle any such thing that day. I am sure I have used those words in the past referring to any dessert we've had at home, but I did not tell her that before cake was served for Carter and Charlie's birthday party.

Light Switch

Sophia's mood has flipped like a light switch! I don't understand it, nor can I believe it. It was as if she got sick and thought, "That was nothing! What was I complaining about?" in regards to the reflux.

But, I am more sold on the idea that it possibly wasn't acid reflux at all. Instead, I think she was a bit colicky and just needed the right technique to calm her which I wasn't used to with Annabelle as all Annabelle needed was her mommy. But now, I think I've figured this girl out! That is until tomorrow or next week when something happens with her little body and she changes course yet again as babies and children love to do that to us mommies, just after we figure it all out!

As for Sophia, she will sleep literally 2-3 hours in her swing during the day and 5-6 hours at night as long as she is swaddled. Annabelle never slept that long for naps, period! Annabelle typically gave me 30 minutes, 45 minutes max (unless I held her the entire nap time, and then she'd give me approximately 2 hours)! Of course, I never swaddled her and put her in the swing either. It is actually a little scary as I have to wake her sometimes to feed her. And that goes against everything I believe. Never wake a sleeping baby!

When Sophia starts getting fussy because she is tired, I swaddle her, turn the noise maker on to "heartbeat," give her the gumdrop paci, lay her on her side while rocking her in the glider and then place her in her swing once she's calmed down, which is almost always instantly. She will typically wake up and look at me when I place her in the swing, but she doesn't cry at all! It is simply amazing!

I think we may have to buy stock in Duracell batteries! And, I also think we need to invest in one of those portable swings to carry with us when we travel.

I am really getting excited now about the months ahead over the next year. I didn't say I was excited about the next two to three years! LOL! The first 12 months are so much fun! Well, I think they'll be more fun this time around because who can possibly get bored with a three year old around? I do remember getting bored when Annabelle was a baby because there was no one home to carry on a conversation with me. Of course, now, I cannot get a word in edgewise!