Corban - almost 8 weeks later

Corban after a buzz cut!

Corban has come so far in 8 weeks, it is almost hard to believe this is the same child.  He has gone from only ever having a bottle as his sole source of nutrition, four times a day, down to two bottles a day, eating and drinking from a sippy.  A month ago, I would have never guessed we'd be this far in his feeding progress.

We have had many doctor appointments and evaluations completed in the past 4 weeks as well.   At the beginning of December, we met with a physical therapist who didn't show much concern just that we needed to build up his leg, core and chest muscles. She showed us exercises or activities to do that.  We don't have to meet with her again unless we feel he isn't progressing.

We then met with an ENT to have his ears and hearing checked, this resulted in learning that he had way too much ear wax to have his hearing checked.  We were instructed to put a few drops of oil in his ears every few days to soften it up. We went back this past Wednesday to have the ear wax cleaned out, wow did he have a lot of wax in his left ear - gross.   Since Corban is still not responsive all they could do was to do the hearing test they do on infants to be sure he has the ability to hear and that he passed.  I knew he would because he responds to us calling his name from another room.  We won't know truly if he has full hearing till he is able to complete a full hearing evaluation.  Hopefully, he will be ready for that in about 8 month.

The main concern about his hearing is his lack of speech though he is beginning to say/repeat a few words.  The main four words he can say are hi, nice, more and up.  It's a start. He does mimic the basic sounds of some things we say and can do basic repeated sounds like: ba ba ba, ma ma ma, da da da, etc.

A few weeks ago we also met with a feeding therapist and she was quite impressed with him as well. She liked that he was willing to try just about everything she presented to him and that he has some good basic mouth movements.  Her main concern his his lack of oral strength so that is what we are to work on.  We will begin to meet with her about every other week to help him grasp the concept of chewing because that is really all that is holding us back in feeding at this point.

We also are also having him evaluated by our school system's early intervention program.  They have a whole team of specialists: physical, occupational, feeding and speech therapist included.  We are waiting for a few more evaluations.  They will then write up a report on where he stands developmentally and then we will figure out a schedule where they will begin to visit us, here at home ,to help him begin to achieve goals.  He's come so far already, I can't wait to see how much he continues to develop with their assistance.

We have been working on sign language signs for eat, more and all done.  He does a pretty good job with them. It is probably time to begin to work on a few more signs.

It seems like every few days I say to my husband, he doesn't seem to be doing such and such as often as he was. We are in awe of his progress.  What are some of these "such and suches" he isn't doing or is doing less of:

• He isn't banging his head on things or with things anymore. He does still throws himself to the floor with a head toss back or he will hit himself in the head with his hands at times when he gets upset. Though we would prefer he not be doing these things too, it is a big improvement.
• He used to just outburst with a high pitched scream/squeal, not as in upset or anything, just a sound he made. When he would do this and I was nearby, I would put my hand on his lips and say "uh uh" because is was ear piercing and disrupting depending on where we were.
• We at times had to force feed him is bottles, now when he finished a bottle, (usually 8 oz) he gets upset.
• He no longer bites, other than me occasionally when I am working on feeding things with him and my fingers are in there. Ouch.
• He no longer sucks his thumb during the day or at snuggle time. Took about 2 solid weeks of pulling his hand out of his mouth during the day when he was just playing.  It did upset him at times and some might think that was a cruel but I think if we would have let it go too much longer it would have become much harder to break him. He does still suck his thumb in bed.

I'm sure there are many other things that I cannot think of right now but these are the major achievements.

I can see Corban emerging out of his shell.  He is becoming more comfortable with us and for that I am pleased.  At nap time he will actually relax a bit, at least until he begins to doze off, then he will throw a bit of a fit and relax again.  He has only fallen asleep in our arms a few times.

Corban likes giving kisses and hugs and seeks to be picked up.  He is still very much one who likes to do his own thing, for the most part. Corban still get's upset easily and often but then again he is two and constantly getting into/doing things he shouldn't. Redirection doesn't work well with him, it's what he wants to do or a fit. Slowly, this is improving.

I forgot to mention that he has gained 2 pounds and grown about an inch in the past month - it's amazing.

We thank God everyday for these two boys for without God blessing us with them, I cannot imagine how Tegan's but especially Corban's life would have ended up. Our lives are better with them as a part of our family too.  We have spiritually learned so much through them.