November 8, 2008

I totally forgot to mention that Michael has done his second Barium Swallow Test on October 28. He did really well and he does NOT have any penetration anymore with thin liquids, so now he can drink water!!! Woohoo!!!

We are teaching him to drink from a straw and he really likes his water. I also tried to give him some diluted apple juice, but he is not so fond of that.

His eating is not improving as much as we would like. He still gags and vomits with purees. So we decided to give him Feeding and Swallowing Therapy 3 times a week now.
Because Michael was sick on and off, he lost some weight. He went from 19.8 pounds to 18.9 pounds. So now we are trying to get him to eat more again. It has been a struggle for months now to get him to that 20 pound milestone!!!

Last week on Saturday Robert picked up Maria and Alberto in Miami Beach and they came to see our new home. They loved it, but mostly loved spending time with Michael and Shiva. Alberto took Shiva on a walk and she escaped from him and caught a squirrel!! Robert, Maria and Michael were with them and they all thought the squirrel was dead, but when they approached it, the squirrel got up, wiggled for a second and then run up the tree, so we think it's fine :)

We showed Maria and Alberto Michael's Halloween costume and he loved wearing it. He is so funny!!! Here are some pictures.

Robert likes to lift Michael up high and he loves it. He was squealing

Maria was excited to see Michael. He showed off his stair climbing skills :)

It was a big deal for Alberto to come, he never leaves South Beach

Alberto, my Giraffe and Maria

He is sooo cute!!!!

Look at that face :) He makes my heart melt...

He is such a happy boy, he is ALWAYS smiling :)

Saturday afternoon we brought Maria and Alberto back home and after that we went for dinner at my favorite Pizza place: ANDIAMO. We met up with Natalia, her husband Jose and her mom Gloria. It was so much fun seeing them again. I forgot my camera but Natalia took lots of pictures.

Sunday afternoon Rae and Jules came over to see us. We were all standing in Michael's play room and Michael was holding on to the door of the gate. Robert decided to close the door and took Michael's hand off of the gate. It took a few seconds for all of us to realize that Michael was standing up without support and then he took his FIRST unsupported step towards the gate and we all witnessed it!!! It was awesome!!! He tried it a few times since then and he should be able to start walking any time now. He will be 17 months adjusted next week, so that will be within an acceptable time frame developmentally (from the Early Intervention point of view; my point of view is that I don't care when he does it, as long as he reaches his developmental milestones!).

This Wednesday Michael and I had to drive to Miami for another ABR hearing test. I had to get him up at 6am, which wasn't easy after watching the elections all night :)

They have to prep him with all the electrodes on his head and then I have to make him fall asleep. When he was asleep they found out there was too much interference in the room and I had to transfer him to another room. This wasn't really helping him stay asleep and he woke up pretty fast after that. They managed to get their test results and they found out that he has Auditory Neuropathy in both ears. We still don't really know what to do with these test results.

The textbook child with Auditory Neuropathy would be a candidate for a Cochlear Implant and their CI team is talking about Michael now. However on Friday I took him to auditory verbal therapy and Kathy (his therapist) doesn't think he needs it. Michael hears and understands quit a lot. She put Michael on her shoulders and went to see two doctors that are part of the CI team and showed them how she says something to Michael, like clap your hands and he would clap his hands. Without visual stimulation.

Both doctors were very impressed and agreed that Michael needs more testing before we will go down a CI path...

Oh and he learned something really cute this week. He can blow kisses now!! He sticks his thumb in his mouth and pulls it out and waves at you and then makes a little bit of a clicking noise with his mouth. I will have to video it :) It's the cutest thing!!!