Audiogram & 3rd Anniversary of Thea's Adoption

I'm adding another post keep those of you who have no cable TV, hobbies or social life, or those who have an extremely low threshold for entertainment, updated. Micah had his audiogram at JFK Rehabilitation Institute in Edison (what a miserable drive, everything I hate about roads in NJ and then some).

The test itself turned out pretty well, after being kept in a sound proof room that was about as warm as Hell's antechamber. He got so warm, I had him stripped down to a t-shirt and diaper by the time the appointment was over. As expected the decibel range covered by air conduction was nil (no ear canals, duh), but once they bypassed the structural abnormality, the bone conduction ranges were fine - so a bone-conduction hearing-aid for starters. I'm inclined to do the least invasive for now, the hearing aid, pending hearing from whatever surgeon is going to deal with the surgery later on - sometimes doing the pins for a BAHA (bone-anchored hearing aid) or cochlear implant will preclude future work on the reconstruction of the auricle. I don't much care for the cosmetic part, but Micah may care about this some day so I don't want to make any decisions that will override what he may want to do in the future.

The downside is we go back again in a week for a repeat audiogram, to make sure their assessment was correct and to see if they can distinguish between the left and right ear in terms of ability. I liked both of the audiologists who worked with him, one of whom has a doctorate. She was very much on the same page as me as far as getting Micah communication skills as opposed to solely focusing on his acquiring speech. The one school that Somerset County's EIP works with is more focused on oral/speech and once upon a time had a director who was opposed to sign language. This kid needs sign language as a temporary measure to express his basic needs: thirst, hunger, tiredness, etc. so anyone who is going to look down their noses at me will eventually be also butting heads. The second audiogram may also be able to put off further testing that would require Micah to go under anesthesia, so there is a plus to it.

Thea is doing ok at YingHua Day School, a Mandarin Chinese-immersion program. She taught one of my mom's neighbors "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Chinese a few days ago, but then was mortified when I told her teacher about it. She sort of keeps her Chinese school stuff separate from us, which is so adolescent it's almost scary. Today is the third anniversary of her adoption, so we're celebrating Family Day with dinner and a dessert of her choice (blueberries and strawberries (with whip cream, we're not saints)).

Labor Day weekend I took my little mutants down to visit my mother over Labor Day, proving I could travel solo with two of them. I highly recommend The Who's CD, Who's Next for drowning out any whining or asking are we there yet, Mommy? Mom got Micah to eat yellow squash, pineapple and a few other things that he was spitting out at home. Mom bought Micah a little pinafore/bib thing at the farmers' market. I put it on him and it looks more like a sundress than a bib/coverall, but if one is going to cross-dress, let it be John Deere fabric and Mennonite-made. Fortunately he wasn't into accessorizing with his sister's shoes (loves the sandals with the pink flowers) or one of the purses that she has no use for.

I'm now trying to get invitations out for Thea's birthday party. She turns four on Saturday, October 13th, and this year we're finally doing a children's party instead of just the family parties of the previous two years. She actually walked into My Gym and said, "This is a cool place for a birthday party." Coming from the child who hates to be the center of attention in a lot of ways, I had my checkbook out in about two seconds flat. I've been scouring the dollar section of Target since Spring so I already have most of the stuff for the party favors, if I can find all the places I've squirreled it away.