More devices...

Harlie had speech therapy today. So, we looked at a few communication devices. It's so cute to see Harlie so excited about it! And just after a few minutes she knew where certain keys were (even when Michele hid the picture) and she started to imitate the words. One of the buttons is a stop sign and, of course, it says "stop" when you push it. Well, after just a few times she started to try to verbalize "stop." It was so cute! And that's exactly what we want her to do.

Well, we looked at few devices, and most are just too heavy. If she can't carry it around, it just isn't practical. So the Springboard Lite was still the front runner. Until Michele thought about it a little more. She said that it can only go up to 36 keys and she said that Harlie will outgrow that in a year. Hmm. Good point. So, it looks like we're going to look at the next step up - the Vantage Lite. It can have up to 84 keys. It isn't as light (it's one pound heavier at 3 pounds, 6 ounces). But I think she can manage that just fine. The only problem is that the Children's Hospital here doesn't have one for us to see in action. And it's kind of hard to think about committing to a device that we haven't been able to use first. They are not cheap. So, I don't know what that means for us. I'll talk to her more about it next week.

Tomorrow Tom is having surgery on his shoulder. We have to be there at 5:30am! Ugh. I am hoping that they will have wireless there, so I can work on my computer. I am also hoping that his recovery will be okay (for him, and for me). Well, I have to get off the computer now.

OH! One thing I wanted to tell you about is that Harlie is doing GREAT with her oral feedings! On Tuesday and Wednesday she ate a daily total of over 12 ounces!!! WOW! And today she ate 10 ounces, but she missed an entire feeding because we had speech therapy during that meal. So, I think we can say that she's consistenly eating over 10 ounces per day by mouth. WOW! We meet with nutrition next week to figure out a new plan. It is getting very difficult to get in all her oral feedings and her tube feedings without just completely over-stuffing her! And, honestly, we are feeding her one way or another - all day!!!

Well, hopefully I'll have good reports on Tom's surgery tomorrow.

Thanks!
Christy