Let's start with the little guy:
I haven't shared on the blog yet, but our sweet little Conor has had some developmental delays and we have been pretty concerned about the little guy. At his 18 month checkup Conor was only speaking 6 words. Our pediatrician also has three children close in age and said that it is extremely common for third and fourth children who have siblings close in age to be slow with their speech. He wrote a note in the file that I should monitor his speech and call back if I had any concerns.
Fast forward a couple months and Conor has completely stopped talking. He had not been listening well lately (which is not uncommon for a 20 month old boy!) but, I became increasingly concerned that he was not able to hear me at all. Over the next couple of weeks I tested out my theory and was positive that he was not able to hear. He wasn't responding to loud sounds and he wasn't responding to his name at all. He had not been sick, did not currently have an ear infection and had only had a few ear infections over the past couple of years. We were baffled. The pediatrician immediately sent over a referral for a hearing specialist at Vanderbilt. I patiently waited over 3 months on the waiting list. Let me tell you...it was TOUGH not knowing what was wrong with my child and having to wait such a long time.
About a week before the hearing tests at Vanderbilt, Conor seemed to start to hear again. He started responding to his name again, looking up when he heard an airplane overhead, started babbling again and picked up one of his old words "bye bye." We finally had his hearing test last week and the results were confusing. Let me start with what we know in layman's terms (as I am no doctor!)... 1) we know that the hearing waves are reaching his brain and that he is registering them in his brain. He had an extensive newborn hearing test done that verified this. I vividly remember being concerned that his hearing screen took such a long time for him to pass at the hospital. I also remember the nurse saying that it normally didn't take so long. I'm just assuming extra testing was completed in the hospital since the doctor asked if a special test had been performed and was able to pull up the results and determine that they were accurate and she was satisfied with those results.
2) We know that the sound waves are bouncing back out of his ears, which means there are no blockages
3) The next part of the testing was sitting in a room while sounds played from either direction to see if he could hear the specific sounds. Once he looked in the direction of the sound, a screen would light up and talk to him. He looked at every single sound on his left side and only one sound on his right. After the test the doctor said that he had passed. "Passing" meant that he could hear within the normal range in at least one ear. As long as he can hear within the normal range in at least one ear he should be able to develop speech normally.
As you can probably guess, Michael and I were concerned after the testing that he could not hear very well in his right ear. The doctor asked if she could try and perform additional testing. The additional testing required putting probes in Conor's ears and he was not about to let anyone touch his ears any more! The doctor recommended that we come back in 6 months and try the testing again. The other non-recommended option would be to put him under anesthesia to determine the status of the right ear. Conor is allergic to a few medications, so it makes me a little nervous to put him under anesthesia when he should be able to develop speech normally.
I met with the pediatrician for Conor's 2 year appointment this morning to discuss the results. We determined that we would work with a speech specialist to see if we can develop his language for the next 6 months until his next hearing test. We also discussed the possibility of autism, since that is a large concern for children who are not speaking at 2 years of age. After a long discussion with the doctor (and a whole lot of questions) he decided that he does not believe he is autistic. Even though Conor has a couple things that are a little concerning, the doctor thinks that it is largely due to his hearing and not due to autism. It is definitely not off the table, but I was relieved after the discussion. Hopefully we get the answers we need soon!
And on to my big boy...
Oh Patrick. This child is too smart for his own good. He challenges me daily and pushes me to my limit every day. He is an incredibly bright child, and he knows how to work the system and get his way!! He is extremely eager to learn. We have seriously been through about 15 math workbooks in a couple months. He begs for them. I picked up a few 1st grade math workbooks, after we finished every single kindergarten math workbook I could get my hands on, and he has dominated them and says they are too easy. I might as well throw the reading workbooks in the trash because he has no interest for those at all! Can you tell he has two accountants for parents?!?!
Well he was doing wonderfully in Kindergarten and the past few weeks has seemed to get a few behavioral reports sent home. Turns out that every single day he has received a behavioral report, that his lunch has come home uneaten. He is also not eating anything at home except for smoothies and the occasional goldfish. So...back to food therapy we go! We have previously gone to High Hopes and loved our experience there. Unfortunately, our food therapist works limited hours and I would have to take Patrick out of school for about 3 hours each week. Not to mention that his brothers would be in the car for 2 hours and then sit at his appointment for another hour. Not an option for us right now with two little boys who can barely sit still for 5 minutes. We had a referral to Vanderbilt and have his initial appointment in a couple weeks. I can't wait to start food therapy and really hope it sticks this time!
We have also had a lot of dental issues with Patrick. After our first appointment at the dentist a few years ago, the dentist warned me that Patrick has really soft brittle teeth...great. Well, he developed an abscessed tooth on his six year molar and had to have it removed. I thoroughly brush this child's teeth every morning and night so it was a little frustrating to me. He had a spacer put in and is doing great now. Hopefully his six year molar comes in sooner rather than later.
And the middle child...
This child is definitely my easiest of the bunch! He is an easy going little guy that gets along with everyone. We had a little hiccup a while ago with his daycare where he was screaming and having nightmares about his teacher yelling at him. After a long break, we have decided on a new mother's day out. He goes a couple days a week and LOVES it. I have been thrilled with how well he is doing. His teachers give him the most glowing reports each week. They all brag on how well he listens, gets along with everyone and is a leader in his classroom. I couldn't be more thrilled for the little guy.
We also had a little dental issue with Peyton. He had a cavity between his two molars, but since his teeth are extremely close together they decided to do caps on his teeth to try and space them out a little. If you look in his mouth he has a huge gap in the back where some of his molars should have spread out, but instead are right on top of each other. So now Peyton's mouth is blinging with silver caps on his molars. Since his molars are so close to the front of his mouth you can clearly see the silver caps when he smiles and it drives me nuts! Luckily it is just temporary.
Phew...what a crazy month! Here's to hoping the rest of 2017 is not as eventful!
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