I've been wanting to share a few things with our friends and family that check in here to know what's happening with us.
First off, our long, fun time with Derek's winter break is officially over. Derek's FINAL class of his graduate work began this past week. I think we're very excited that this long journey that began in January 2006 is nearly over.
Unlike when Meghan was 2 years old and Derek started his spring session, I did not begin potty training Evan this year. I am in NO hurry to do that task all over again.
Meghan is continuing to be on target for speech, though WE are noticing some sounds that are not clear that may have been at one time. However, these sounds are not sounds that a 4 year old is supposed to have mastered yet. She loves preschool. Just in the past month or so, she has started to enjoy coloring! Though she has always enjoyed painting, crayons and markers have never been fun for her...until now. That really excites me.
Meghan will be seeing an eye doctor. No, we're not concerned about her eyesight (though I was in first grade and Derek in second grade when we got glasses). She has always had a blocked tear duct, and she's old enough now that it will likely not go away on its own. Her right eye waters a lot (constantly) when she has a cold. It only became infected once though, and that was a possibly two years ago.
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| Evan drank this cup of hot cocoa without a drop on his bib! |
Early in the month of January, Evan had a hearing evaluation. It was suggested when he had his speech evaluation. I didn't really understand why the hearing evaluation was recommended since he wasn't even 25% behind in speech. However, we followed through with the hearing evaluation, and frankly, we were surprised (SHOCKED) at the results. That day Evan had fluid in both ears (not infected) and mild hearing loss. I really, really struggled with the idea of tubes (though I know that MANY children get them...and they help). My thought was that I didn't want to deal with yet another (SVT, apraxia, seizures, therapies) thing. After three days I had accepted it, and was no longer concerned about the surgery and implications for the future. Thank you, God!
After the initial hearing evaluation, the proper follow up was with Evan's pediatrician to check to see if the fluid was still there. We visited Dr. G after the recommended two weeks. Once again, I was SHOCKED! The fluid in Evan's ears was gone. This would be normal if he had had a cold with his first eval, but he didn't. At this point, we're not looking at tubes, though we will need another hearing evaluation. The hearing loss I spoke of above was likely due to just the fluid in his ears. It is not likely to still be impacting him.
Even if Evan required tubes to remove the fluid from his ears and restore his hearing, we would still be thanking God for each of our many blessings!
Evan's speech is still a bit garbled and difficult to understand, despite his increased vocabulary. (Increased vocabulary, yet still difficult to understand often means frustration!!) We don't know the cause for this, but we continue to work with him. He is also getting speech therapy twice a month (along with physical therapy to strengthen his core muscles).
Evan has been taking his big sister's lead and also enjoys coloring! I love having them at the table together to color or complete a project.
We have been getting bombarded with snow. Last week's snow hadn't melted (completely) yet, when more snow was dumped upon us. I put in about three hours shoveling. Derek put in about five. Together we removed approximately 18" of snow. We were hit much harder than nearby towns. We look forward to a snowblower even though our driveway isn't super long. Meghan only had one morning of school this week (instead of three). We played outside a bit on Wednesday, but we (the grown-ups) have been choosing to stay inside since then. (It might have something to do with the hours of shoveling.)
It took me a while to get the settings right on our camera. The first few shots I took were quite funny. Here Derek is pushing a snowball. I really like my camera, and like fussing with the settings, but the generic "snow" setting has never worked for me in the snow. 
