Creeping up on 6 months

We've got just a few more days before Jordy is officially six months old! We're going to celebrate the big day by visiting Dr. Davey for immunizations and then giving The Little Dumer his first solid food. There is a box of rice cereal barely able to contain itself in the pantry! When we were out on Sunday for dinner we decided to let Jordan try sitting in a high chair for the first time, and other than needing a little padding to support his back he did very well; he played with his toys while Mom and Dad enjoyed dinner without having to juggle baby and cutlery. It went so well that the next day I put together his high chair so he could get used to it before Tuesday Showtime. We also hauled the "Tot-Loc" chair out of storage and now leave it in the car for meal-times out. In fact, we used it the very next day (that makes a high-chair hat-trick for the kiddo!) when the three of us had lunch at Nando's after applying for Jordy's passport.

Our sippy-cup-cutie!

Yes, I did say we went to the passport office for Jordy! EA is "forcing" their employees to take an extra week off in December and Chris had the brainwave to take Jordan for a visit with Gramma, Grampa, Uncle Tom and all of his other Oregon fans. We looked it up and the turn-around time on the passport should allow us to make a roadtrip into Eugene for a few days before Christmas. Get ready Oregonians!

Nina, Owen, Santa, Deb & Jordy

Yesterday we ventured out to the mall with my friend Nina and her son Owen (you may remember them from the post on August 26th, "Play Date!") The new Moms just had to get the boys' first photos with The Big Guy! And when the photo-op moment arrived we were much more enthusiastic than our sons. Jordan didn't really give me much of a smile even though I was dancing around and crowing at him like an idiot, but at least he wasn't flat out upset about it; Owen cried. I tried to reassure Nina, in another year or two he will be begging to see Santa in July.

Parent Panel (L-R) Deb, Chelsea, Vivian, Chris M., (sorry, I forgot Emilie's mom's name!) Dominic & Emilie

And last but not least, today Jordy and I headed down to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver to participate in a conference presentation by the BC Early Hearing Program. Tia Aida was kind enough to join us and look after Jordan while I sat on the panel of parents of babies with hearing loss, speaking to an audience of Speech Language Pathologists from throughout BC. It was an excellent opportunity to tell our story and to put faces to the names of people I've been e-mailing or to the voices of folks I have spoken with on the phone. Most of all it was nice to connect with other parents of very young children and know that they understood our struggles. I always knew we have much to be thankful for, but it was driven home to me today, because some of these kids have complicated medical and developmental issues in addition to their hearing loss; they and their families have been through the mill. It was great to hear other perspectives: one amazing woman is a single mother whose daughter (just over two years old) has no auditory nerve or inner ear bone structure; I have no idea how she does all that she has to do on a day to day basis! Another mother and her husband have a son just over one who has just received a cochlear implant, they only moved here from China two years ago and English is a second language for them. And some families live in remote locales which makes for long travels and creative appointment juggling. For the most part, even though things aren't perfect the panel members have found ways to maintain positivity and celebrate their kids' accomplishments. There were a lot of great stories, moments that made everyone laugh and moments that made me feel so sad and yet so grateful of my own good fortune and support systems. I am pleased to have been invited to participate and I hope that what I had to say was of some value.