Clearly I have been slacking on the updates, it's been two years ;) I honestly don't have time for anything right now, and so much has changed. I'm not even sure where to begin.
Lani is 3 and a half now, and her CIs just started responding 9 months ago. We don't know why they didn't work before, and we don't know why they started working suddenly, but I'll take it! She can now hear speech sounds and with very intensive speech therapy is starting to babble and make speech sounds. Her SLP thinks she will have words soon. I'm very excited about this! I had come to terms with the fact that Lani is profoundly deaf, she will never hear me, I will never hear the words "mama" or "dada" or "I love you" come out of her mouth, but now it seems like that might be a reality!
Her sign langauge skills are still lacking severely. She is receptive to sign but cannot express them herself. She has about 5 signs she can do, but doesn't unless you do them first and then she will immitate. Communication is very frustrating right now and she is having more and more meltdowns. I'm hoping these will start to resolve soon as she is able to hear more and able to do more ASL. Her fine motor skills are still not where they need to be which is one of the problems with her signing.
Other big news.......LANI IS WALKING!!! All by herself! I never thought I would see the day. She started walking a month before she turned three, and now I can't stop her and she will just keep walking all day long, and I'm ok with that! She still wears SMOs to support her ankles and she still has low tone, vestibular problems, and very poor balance and depth perception, but she is determined and she is doing it!
Something else has happened in the last two years. Lani became a big sister to Cambria Mahala who was born on March 25th, 2011. She is now 18 months old, and that seems insane to me! I am so out of my element with a "typical" baby. I have no idea what's normal and what's not. She was able to sit up at 5 months old and Robert and I thought she was some kind of super baby because no baby should be sitting up that early! We were told by family that she is no super baby, and that she is at the right age to be doing that. Who knew?! Something else that she is doing (besides walking at a year old which also seems crazy to us!) is talking and signing herself. I'm not sure if I will ever be used to having a child that can talk to me, that can hear me, and that can understand what I am saying and follow simple commands. Robert and I seriously have conversations debating if that is typical development or if she is a genius....some may disagree but we prefer to think she is a genius. :)
Lani does not do well at all with her sister, and hasn't wanted anything to do with her since the day she was born. She is now very aggressive towards her, she will kick her, push her down, slam her head into the cabinets and more and we are not sure what to do about it. I feel like we have tried everything and poor Cambria is scared to death of her sister and just wants to play with her. We should have a consult soon with a psychologist at childserve who will hopefully have some ideas. Some days I am honestly afraid that Cambria will get hurt really badly.
Lani has also started school this year and is having a really rough time. She seems to like going but we are having a lot of issues with the school and with her being included and we are looking to switch her into Capital View's Deaf Ed Program. Hopefully we can get her in so she can be around other kids who are similar to her.
On top of the school and all of the appointments Lani goes to Childserve 3 times a week and once a month 4 times a week. She does PT, OT, and speech 3 times a week. Once a month she also does aquatherapy and she loves it there! I cannot say enough about how amazing Childserve has been for her and how glad I am that we started going. She is also now in the Dance Without Limits ballet and tap class at Ballet Des Moines. It is a program for children with special needs who will not be judged or kicked out because they are not doing what they are supposed to. So far she loves it but she has some trouble with her attention. But hey she's 3. :)
That is our update for now! Hopefully I will be better at posting things.
-Heather
