Brianna is back!

Brianna and her siblings have been on a little vacation with their grandparents. Just a little time to rest and relax this summer (for me too!) But they are all back now safe and sound. Brianna has another mapping session on Wed (8/13/08) followed by another speech evaluation. Maybe I am too naive, optimistic or just unobservant, but I don't think there's anything wrong with her speech. Since the activation in May, we have worked on the only problem that the speech therapist noticed last time; "r"'s. She used to say "oyange" not orange, "dwesser" not dresser and so on. Now she is speaking beautifully. So I don't really foresee any problems there. However the upcoming audiogram is where I am concerned. Being the nature of summer, it has rained a lot, and when it's not raining, Brianna and her siblings always find something else to do with water. So she hasn't been wearing the CI processor as much as before summer hit. She wears them in the morning and evening, but during the day, she takes them right off. I have thought about having daycare make her keep them on, but I don't want her to feel like she is being punished. Brianna absolutely refuses to wear her processors when they may get wet. She is so protective of them. I am sure that's normal. So, she would have to make the choice to either wear them in the rain, or under the sprinkler or else she would have to sit out. I guess I took the easy way out and just let her take them off. So, I am curious to see what the audiogram will show. Has she lost something in not wearing them from the moment she awakens to the moment she says goodnight? We will soon find out. I guess if she has, we will definitely see how "water resistant" these processors are!
Later this month, I am taking my 3 other children in for audiograms and hearing evaluations. Since they were never able to tell me what caused Brianna's loss, or when it really started, I don't know if the other kids have it as well. They all have hearing tests done at school. There has been no cause for concern. But now that things are finally on an upswing with Brianna, I feel like I can tackle other problems right now. So without postponing it any longer, all the other kids will have the tests done. I guess I am pretty confident with my older 2 girls that they do not have any hearing issues, but my son is another story. He's 3, and I don't care what anyone says, 3 is worse than 2. He recently has started ignoring me. He will look at me, and I know he knows that I am saying something, but he doesn't respond at all. He gets that from me, I am stubborn and I have a tendency to ignore people when I just don't want to hear what they have to say! I know, bad Michelle. But this isn't about my personality problems! Anyway, I am hoping that he is really just standing his ground and purposely ignoring me, and not losing his hearing as Brianna did. But this too will be known soon.
Other than all that, the summer is going well. We are just enjoying the heat for a little while and all that summer has to offer. We are going to the county fair next weekend. My brother is getting married this weekend, and we are going to see the Buffalo Bison's (baseball) in two weeks. I love summer, so relaxingly-busy! I hope everyone out there in blog-land is doing well and enjoying the summer!