Dan and Elaine .NET

This was a big month for Sam. He has really come into his own, as far as babies go. He smiles, he laughs, he coos. He rolls over both ways. He loves to sit and stand as we hold him. And he sleeps through the night, which is my personal favorite. This kid sleeps better now than Hailey did at the year mark.

And when I say he coos, I mean he really talks. This kid can make a lot of noise. He’ll go back and forth with you with his oooh’s and aaaah’s, but he’ll also kick it into high gear with his squeals and squawks. I wonder what the heck he’s trying to tell us.

Sam’s also an overachiever when it comes to his education since he’s started working with a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing every couple of weeks. This is a service provided through First Steps, Kentucky’s early intervention program. Sam’s teacher practices different kinds of listening with Sam, trying to determine if he’s hearing low and high and continuous or intermittent sounds, for example.

When you read about hearing loss, much of what you see focuses on giving your kid access to sound via hearing aids or cochlear implants and by exposing them to good listening environments. There are subtle skills related to listening that we take for granted, but that are significant for a little one with hearing loss. So Sam’s teacher helps assess where Sam is and helps us learn how to help him develop these listening skills. Right now, it boils down to using different noise makers out of sight to look for a reaction, playing games like “this little piggie,” and getting into a habit of talking to Sam a lot. We need to get better about doing this stuff more at home. We seem to be in survival mode to just get through the work day and the home routine, so I forget to carve out time for Sam and to be extra vocal around him.

Despite the craziness, Sam is doing well. He does respond to lower sounds and some mid-range sounds. He does better with continuous sound. And his hearing aids are well-adjusted so we don’t have freak outs at loud restaurants any more. Sam will have a sedated audio brain response (ABR) test done later in June, and that will help nail down the specifics of his hearing loss. His audiologist should be able to get a good sampling of data points to understand his hearing thresholds. We’re starting to research the cochlear implant process more seriously now too.

We’ve got the daily routine down, but it is quite time-consuming and it doesn’t leave a lot of time for things like cleaning the house and yard work. We’re looking to outsource some of this before our house turns to shambles altogether. I’m coming to terms with the fact that my weight loss has plateaued and I now need to improve my eating habits. Gotta get in that bridesmaid dress in a few months!

Back to Sam now……he’s still the snuggliest fun little guy and we can’t get enough of his 13 pounds and 14 ounces (31%) and his 24.8 inches (46%). He’s about a pound and and inch ahead of where Hailey was at this point, but he’s smaller on the charts since he’s a boy. That’s Hart style, so no surprise there. Now for the photos!