A Good Day

Today we had a great day! Julia and I were planning a Mommy/Julia day and we added Chris to the mix when his school was closed for snow. There really wasn't any snow where we live so we headed out for some one-on-one time with Julia while Emma stayed home to play with our babysitter and have a speech therapy session. Miss Kate, Emma's fabulous speech therapist, left us a note to tell us about Emma's session. I wanted to post it here so everyone can know of the progress she is making! "Wow! Great session today. Emma laughed appropriately at silly things I did - I got food on my elbow and showed her. There was something else that happened that Emma laughed out loud and so appropriately! Emma chose toys from field of three 2x's. She followed directions - knock it down and high five with motor support to accomplish. I heard the following sounds b d g u e uh. I heard C-V C-V C-V (c= consonant, v=vowel) syllable strings: agubija, agudu. She ate extremely well today. I gave her chin support to help Emma clear spoon and prevent spillage. She did a great job today!" This report just has me beaming! We are working so hard to have Emma hear and vocalize with her cochlear implants and it is so hard for Emma because her motor issues carry over to her mouth. When Emma first started vocalizing we only heard vowels. Then it was vowels that were strung out like: aaaaaaaaaaaah. Then we started hearing some consonants and now she is stringing together consonants and vowels. Emma still is quiet overall but getting more and more vocal as the days go on. Progress is made over the long haul and we are starting to see the fruits of Emma's (and our) labor. As for Julia's day out, we went to a local amusement center and then out to lunch at the place of her choice - IHOP. Julia ate up all the attention and insisted in holding both our hands as we walked to and from the car. Chris was so glad that he was getting so much attention from Julia since she sometimes shows a preference for "Mommy do it!" We all had such a fun time and are looking forward to our next one-on-one outing with Julia - hopefully when the weather is nicer and we can spend our time on an outside adventure. In case you were wondering, we also do one-on-one time with Emma since we don't want all of our outings with Emma to be to therapy and doctor appointments! Next up for Emma is story time at the local library that she and I will attend starting next week while Julia is at school and we are going to check out a KinderMusic class at the Y to see if we want to sign up for the Spring session. Here's to enjoying the good days!