Hearing - OK

Gabriel had a full-blown hearing test today.  His speech therapist recommended a hearing test mostly to rule it out as the problem for his delayed speech, and because he's now had several sinus infections in a row.  She wanted to make sure there wasn't fluid built up in his ears that might be causing an "underwater" effect to his hearing.  

I was concerned about people sticking things in his ears, which never goes over very well at the pediatrician's office.  But lo and behold, he did great.  He tried a couple of times to take the little tubes out, but I held onto his hands.  Then he shook his head like he was trying to get rid of either the tubes or the mysterious voice that had appeared in his head.  But he never cried or even fussed through the whole thing.  I was so proud of him!  And he even though he did have a little fluid in one ear, his hearing was completely normal.  YAY!

Which means now we focus on his motor skills of his mouth.  The therapist had another possible theory that because his cheeks are so big it's harder for him to make certain sounds.  So we're supposed to be trying to get him to drink out of straws as much as possible, and to eat chewy and crunchy foods that will make him use his mouth more.  He's basically exercising the muscles of his mouth.  She also suggested trying to get him to blow bubbles, or getting a toy horn for him to blow.   I was not looking forward to hearing an annoying toy horn sound over and over, so I found these really cool wooden whistles today for him to try.  There's a penny whistle, a train whistle and a slide whistle.  He loves them, and was so proud tonight when he finally blew hard enough to make the slide whistle make a sound.  

I've noticed a slight improvement in his speech over the last few days, so we will keep up all of this hard work that seems to be paying off!