How do you sign "hungry," again?

100% Cutie!

I am not much for New Year’s Resolutions. Several years ago I realized that making a change for the better ought to come from the changee, not Old Man Time closing the file on twelve previous months. Having said this, I have to admit to falling off numerous wagons in the last bit of 2009: the Cloth Diaper Wagon, the Exercise Wagon, and the Hearing Aid Supermom Wagon. It’s time to clamber back on board.

I am very passionate about cloth diapering; I see it as that little bit extra I can do to help out Mamma Nature and it isn’t insanely inconvenient over disposables. No one loves laundry, least of all myself, but all I need to add is an extra rinse cycle to an extra load of wash every other day. So why have I gotten so lazy about this? I am not sure, but I am tackling it with a renewed vigour: days at home are once again cloth diaper days, I’m back at it since last week.

Exercise. Ugh. I was doing so well up until Thanksgiving! When Jordy hit three months I dedicated myself to a regular workout and was back to my pre-baby weight in no time! Hooray. Then I got sick around Thanksgiving and never got back to the regime. Of course, by the time I started feeling really bad about it, it was coming up on Christmas and with all the chocolate and fruitcake, really, what’s the point!? So I am going to dedicate myself to that again, soon, annnnny day now....

The little reacher-creature trying to snag my mocha
during a break on Commercial Drive -- and really,
can you blame him?

Now the Hearing Aid (H.A.) situation is the one I feel most guilty about. Jordan went several days over the Holidays without wearing his H.A.s at all! This is a funny one, because it started out that we would take a break from the H.A.s whenever Jordan was having a “bad H.A. day.” This means pulling them out constantly and crying every single time I would put them back in. Doesn’t sound too bad when I type it out in black and white, but living with it is bloody torture (for both of us, I am sure.) What I noticed after the last time we got new ear molds made up is that he had fewer of these days when the H.A.s fit nice and snug. But then he would have the occasional bad H.A. day (and my theory on why is the old ladies’ excuse for everything: teething. He would pull at his ears even without H.A.s in them.) Anyhow, we had so many bad H.A. days in November that even after we got new ear molds and he was having better H.A. days, I had gotten lazy. Yes, I own that. But I have noticed that it is very easy for not only myself, but for everyone around me to come up with reasons to excuse me for this lapse. It’s too loud, we’re passing the baby around at the party and don’t want to lose the H.A.s, he pulled them out once – let’s take a break, you can’t expect a 6 month old to just accept them without a fight, etc. Until it occurred to me that babies with normal hearing cannot turn down the noise, they have to live with it, and too bad if it isn’t convenient, it’s up to me and Chris to not lose his H.A.s and to try more than once to put them back in if he takes them out, and while it may be true that it is a lot to expect a baby to wear H.A.s without a fight that doesn’t mean we don’t make the effort to put them in every day. When I examined the lame excuses I was using I felt terrible, but I knew this was only a fraction of the guilt I would feel if Jordy has a speech delay that is my fault. Thus I have a new commitment to putting Jordan’s H.A.s in on a daily basis. And though we do sometimes take breaks, they always go back in his little ears. I take this moment to ask friends and family who spend time with us to help us out in this endeavour. Don’t feel weird or bad asking where his H.A.s are or timid because you don’t know how to put his H.A.s in; let me know if you want me to show you how, it really isn’t difficult at all once you know how they go in.

This topic does remind me that I haven’t updated everyone on our new Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP,) Sydelle. Unfortunately, due to some budget cut-backs this fiscal year, DCS had to let go of Ayasha. Though we were extremely sad to see her go, the timing turned out to be okay for her as she was able to find another agency looking for an SLP and as she has a little one due in the spring so she will be going on maternity leave shortly anyhow. Sydelle is fabulous! Chris hasn’t actually met her yet, but both of them keep telling me, “I’ve got to meet this person, he/she sounds (insert positive adjective – usually ‘funny’ or ‘brilliant,’ here )!” Sydelle has a one year-old, Jake, and so has a lot of supportive advice for me and we find we have a lot in common. Right now we are working on awareness of Jordan’s communication methods and appropriate responses to them (e.g., he reaches for a glass of water – how do we respond,) and reinforcing our own spoken communication with visual cues, such as ASL and facial expressions, etc. (it’s time to boob him and then put him down for a nap – what do we say and sign.) It’s amazing what normal, hearing babies pick up in an incidental fashion by overhearing parents on the phone, speaking to one another, and other language in the background. It takes a lot of effort to be cognizant of our communication so that Jordan takes as much as possible from it. It would be helpful if he had his H.A.s in at all times!

Checking out the crazies on the SkyTrain

We are also taking American Sign Language (ASL) lessons. DCS is able to provide us with in-home lessons, an excellent benefit. We’ve been studying since late November. Ritva is our usual mentor, but she has been ‘snowbirding’ in Arizona since Christmas and until she returns in early March we are having our lessons with Bev. Mark and Aida usually come by on those evenings too, which is a plus as Jordy sees them more than anyone other than Mommy and Daddy. We always have a great time, though it’s possible Ritva thinks we’re all alcoholics; since teaching us ‘beer’ and ‘wine’ in our holiday themed lesson, we like to use sentence examples that include those signs: ‘We have dinner together with family – and drink wine,’ etc. Thank goodness Ritva noticed one night that I was using one of our more common signs incorrectly: for months I thought I was signing ‘hungry.’ It’s hard to explain but, you kind of make a c-shape with your hand, and with the fingers toward you and the back of your hand facing away from you, you gesture downwards along your chest, just ONCE. I was making this movement multiple times, thus asking my son if he was, not ‘hungry,’ but ‘horny!’ I still don’t know which was more cringe-worthy: my gaffe, or Ritva (sweet little grandma that she is) telling me what I was REALLY saying!

Next week we will be taking Jordan in for his first hearing test since his diagnosis. He is now physically capable of sitting up and has a full range of head and neck movement which means he is ready for a Visual Reinforcement Audiology (VRA) assessment. Our audiologist, Selma, will sit in a booth and cue tones for Jordan while he sits in my lap in a dimmed room. The tones will come from the right or the left and when he hears one, he will turn his head (hopefully) in the direction the sound originated, this response is rewarded, by Selma with visual reinforcement. I’m given to understand it’s something like a stuffed animal on that side of the room lights up and moves or sings a song or something equally appealing to a baby, though describing it to you, I admit to having an “It’s a Small World Afterall” moment. I am really looking forward to seeing what his results are, not only to be reassured his hearing hasn’t degenerated at all, but also to see how much better his hearing is with the H.A.’s. Naturally, I’ll let you know how that goes next week.

We did hear back from the University of British Columbia (UBC) before Christmas about Dr. Kozak’s referral for genetic tests. Don’t anyone try holding your breath unless you’re a Navy SEAL though; there is a 12 month patient waiting list! As we said before, it’s just another point of information, it doesn’t really change anything, so we’ll let you know what we find when we find it, but that day is far off and we’ve got bigger fish to fry until then. I don’t want to scare anyone, but before that time, The Little Dumer will probably be walking and talking!

Just another good citizen waiting for a bus

It’s hard to believe that in about a week Jordy will be 8 months old! We’ll have to take him in to be weighed again. When we checked on January 4th he was pushing 19 lbs (18 lbs., 14 oz.) Funny enough, people constantly comment on what a big boy he is, but according to the growth index he is average. Chris theorizes that his sparse hair makes him look younger than he actually is and therefore bigger than his perceived age. I was filling out his baby book the other day and there was so much to write! He is able to grasp with his thumb and forefinger, it’s a little clumsy, but he has enough dexterity to get his rice cracker in his mouth! He isn’t crawling yet, but he is really close; he kind of rotates on his tummy to where he wants to go, not the most efficient way, but it works! And he has got a subtle scoot; you sit him down on his bum on the floor and a minute or two later he is two feet away from his starting point. I have seen the future and it involves a lot of baby-proofing! Jordan had first ride on the bus and sky train this week too, we dropped Chris off at work and then went on an errand to shop for his birthday gift. We later met him for lunch and left the car with him so we could take transit home. The hardest part was getting the stroller on and off the little “community” bus, but even that wasn’t too much hassle. Jordy’s just growing and learning so quickly, Chris doesn’t even really think of him so much as a baby as a little boy at this point. That’s a load of bunk though; he’s still a baby to me, dammit!