Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Amelia's in the mix

Amelia is a busy body!  She wants needs to be involved in everything.  I can't tell you how many times she has smashed our toes with her step stool while following us around the kitchen trying to "help" with cooking, washing dishes, loading the dishwasher, ... everything!  Naturally, she especially wants to do everything Siena does. Siena is such an awesome big sister.  She is very patient with Amelia and really wants her to be able to hear and talk.  Luckily she is a great role model since she talks non-stop all day long :).  She teaches Amelia many new things everyday without even realizing it.


I'm sure it must be difficult for Siena to have a little sister that gets so much attention.  Everyone is always asking about Amelia and we are always either taking Amelia to doctor/therapy appointments or having therapists come her to work with her.  This isn't to say that Siena doesn't get plenty of attention from us and her doting grandparents but I'm sure it can be tough.  She does get jealous at times but for the most part she takes it all in stride.  It is her "normal" and jealously between siblings happens in all families, special needs or not.

This weekend we made up a new game for Amelia that Siena called musical hide and seek.  Siena and I would take turns hiding and would play an instrument (usually a drum or tamborine) while Amelia looked for us.  Amelia was really good at this game and was definitely locating where the sounds were coming from.   We had lots of fun and I'm sure we will be playing musical hide and seek again soon.

Being a busy body has really helped with Amelia's therapy appointments.  She is usually raring to go and can't wait to play with the new toys the therapists bring.  She loves solving problems and puzzles.  We went for her first mapping (sound adjustment) at House Ear Institute in LA on April 18th and she did great.  It was a very long day (10:30 to 4:30 with an hour break for lunch) and she played and stayed engaged for the entire session.  Finally, around 4 pm, she had enough and let us know she was over it.  I think she fell asleep before we even got out of the parking garage!


Amelia is still responding consistently to loud sounds (clapping, loud kissing sounds, banging plates and silverware,....) and some softer sounds like keys jingling.   She seems to be noticing new sounds daily.  Today, for the first time, she responded to Hannah, our dog, barking at the door as well as the door bell.  She does not seem to respond to voices yet except inconsistent responses to shhhh sounds.  Her brain is still learning to listen.  The last two days she has been incredibly vocal and repeats uhh, uhh, uhh over and over again so we are wondering if maybe she is beginning to hear her own voice and playing with controlling it.  Every day is a new and exciting day in the Heston household :)  Never a dull moment........





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