It is an exciting time of year. The kids are super excited about it. Ainsley has her costume all ready and Sofie is very pumped up about it this year. I don't think she really understood it last year. She gets it now!! She has been practicing her best kitty cat meows and is ready to go out and get tons of candy, her favorite treat. Both girls are also in dance classes this year and they absolutely love it! I will post the Halloween pictures after the festivities are over and, yes, the dog has a costume again this year too!
Sofie had her follow up appointment with the ENT surgeon. Everything is healing nicely and looks good. We still won't know if her surgery was a success for another 4 months. They wait until 6 months post op before they re evaluate her. It will be her speech therapist who will determine this based on how her language has progressed. This is the hardest part for me. There are a lot of sounds that she can say, she just can't repeat them on a consistent basis. It just accidentally happens. She still is learning how to use the new anatomy and we are not sure how much impact her hearing has on everything. While she can hear great now with her hearing aids, she was deprived of that during the time in childhood development when you learn to hear and understand language. I find myself willing her to make a break through with her speech.
I no longer have short term goals set or expectations that such and such will happen by this time. Things will happen when they happen and not a moment before. They are out of my control. All I can do is try to help Sofie as best I can. I have one big long term goal that I pray will happen sometime. That Sofie will be able to be understood by people and be able to start Kindergarten with other kids her age. So many people have told me not to worry about it. Sofie is amazing and she can overcome anything. What I have had a hard time putting into words is that I know that she can overcome any difficulties that life may throw her way. She is amazing! I just don't want her to have to overcome anything else. I just want to keep moving forward and not have to worry about her overcoming stuff and just let her be a kid.
I have to admit, I was not prepared for some of this. Most of the cleft issues, yes. The exception would be her last surgery. The hearing issues have definitely had a learning curve attached to them. It is still the one thing that can just set me off. I like a schedule of every 3 months you go to audiology and you do speech twice a week etc etc. We have never made it the whole 3 months without having to head to audiology for something. Something breaks, comes apart or needs to be glued again or her ears grow and we have to have new ear molds made AGAIN! Next week we are going back to have new molds made. We weren't supposed to go back until mid December for a hearing test. I know compared to some peoples problems, this seems minor, and it is. I think is stresses me out because I have 3 days to fit all her appointments in and then I work the other two days.
Still, all she has to do is utter that awesome laugh that comes from deep within her soul and all is right with the world. All I have to do is watch Sofie and her big sister walk hand in hand down the cul de sac to play with their friends and my heart is at rest. All I have to do is watch the amazing effect that she has on other people she interacts with, and I know she will be OK. I know she can and will overcome anything that life throws her way. I just pray that she doesn't have to. :)
