the week of appointments

Today was Lucas's 18 month well baby visit (at 19 months). Because of his CI surgery, his 12 months immunizations were pushed back a month, also pushing back his 18 month immunizations. So, it was a pretty easy appointment. For once, I didn't have a long list of questions for our pediatrician. It felt kind of nice. Lucas is in the 5% for height and weight, so he's a little guy! But, he continues to gain weight and grow, so we're not worried. And, I think Lucas is done with shots for a little while, woo hoo!

Tomorrow, we head to CHOP. Despite the long drive, it will be an easy day, with just audiology and a speech evaluation. It makes me think back to last year, and all of the days when we had 3, 4 and even 5 appointments in one day. Tomorrow will be nothing like that. I'm actually looking forward to seeing where Lucas tests in the booth. I know that he is hearing more than he tested last time.

But, I'm worried about speech. There, I said it. Lucas is doing wonderfully, but how will he really measure up? In terms of speech, he's doing very little. So, I guess we'll wait and see what she has to say.

But, I decided to make a list of what he IS doing to bring along and share, to especially emphasize his receptive spoken language, since that seems to be his strength right now. At 19 months of age, and 6.5 months post activation...

* Lucas responds to a variety of sounds, from birds chirping to airplanes flying overhead, to dogs barking from afar.

* Lucas makes a variety of sounds, although mostly the same ones he was making at 16 months: mama, dada, baba, nana.

* Lucas will blow kisses, if he is either asked to blow a kiss, or hears a kissing sound.

* Lucas will cover his eyes with his hands if you say “peek-a-boo.”

* Lucas will throw his arms up in the air if you ask him “How big is Lucas? So big!”

* Lucas will identify the following body parts on himself and on a book, and sometimes on other people: eyes, nose, belly button.

* Lucas will gesture along to “the wheels on the bus” with the horn and wipers.

* Lucas will tap the horn on his car when prompted by “beep, beep.”

* Lucas will clap when prompted by "yay!"

* Lucas’s expressive words or approximations: mama, ahhhh – airplane, dada, bye bye, bown – down, hi, muh muh – milk, buhbuh – bubbles, ba – ball, uh – up, ow - meow

* Lucas’s expressive signs: milk, eat, more, light, mommy, cat/kitty/meow, uh-oh, please, cheese, what, bye-bye, dog, all done, hi, down, book, bed, hat, bath, rain, daddy, brush teeth, fish, bird, airplane, hot, ball, monkey, mouse [He will do all of these signs with verbal cues only.]

* Lucas understands and responds to the following spoken words by a show of excitement, pointing, etc., in addition to all of the words that he knows signs for: cracker, water, up, upstairs, downstairs, outside, hungry, point to the…, diaper, animal sounds, car/ride, walk, Oma [This list is not comprehensive.]

Our week of appointments ends on Thursday with a visit to the cardiologist, for his 6 month follow-up visit. Hopefully he will remain on monitor only status, and we will return in another 6 months. Expect some updates.