Update on Seth

So, I guess I should post something about Seth. It's been 14 weeks since Seth had his CI surgery. And it has been what, about 10 weeks since activation? So, when he was activated, it's like the beginning of hearing. So, his listening age is about 10 weeks. I am happy to report that Seth is doing better than expected in speech and listening. In fact, our auditory/verbal therapist says he is doing so well, that instead of seeing her twice a week we only need to see her once a week. Our therapist is really good and demanding, she wouldn't cut back his therapy unless she really thought he was doing well. Not only is this wonderful for Seth, it's wonderful for me too, I don't have to drive to Virginia twice a week anymore! Hooray! Stress level cut back a lot! Some things that Seth says are: Tartan (Karsten), Aya (Alex), Dane, Emanee (Emily), and Day (Kate). The K sound comes from the back of the throat which is harder to make than the sounds from the front of the mouth like "buh" and "mmmm". So Seth doesn't quite say the "ck" sound, but considering he's only a ten week old in speech and listening, I'd say I've got a little genius on my hands! Alright, he's already had a little hearing in the left ear, but he has progressed A TON since activation. We are trying to get him to spontaneously say two word phrases. He will repeat a phrase after it being modeled for him, most of it is just the intonation. Apple, open, all done, more, dad, mom, mmm for milk, up, jump, baby, doggy, bubbles, ball, down, and night-night are some of the other words he says pretty clearly. W is a hard sound too, it comes out as the y sound, but if we practice, he can get the w sound out. So when he says yah-yah he means water. He sings Twinkle-Twinkle pretty well, as well as Itsy=bitsy spider. We have some other songs that go with the therapy we do that he will sing. I love when we sing, "Blink, blink, blink, your eyes, blink your eyes together, blink, blink, blink your eyes, blink your eyes together." He really blinks his eyes! And he is trying so hard to do it, that you can't help but laugh. I will have to get that one recorded. That would be fun to watch. Ok, so anyways, that's life. Lots of running around to doctors and therapy. I have a neighbor who is just entering the life of having a special needs child and all the medical and therapy that's involved. She is just entering this new world, and I guess I've been here so long, I can't even imagine what life would be without all the craziness.

Kate and Her Violin

On December 27th, Kate played with a group of young violinists at the Washington D.C. LDS Temple Visitor Center.  She was very excited to be a part of it.


Here is a couple of videos of her playing.  These are only a few of the pieces they performed.