Just a quick one...

to let you know how things are going.

Harlie is wearing her hearing aid VERY reluctantly. If she sees me coming with it, she immediately covers her ear with her hand. And then all of a sudden she turns into an octopus and has more hands than I do and it is a major scuffle to put it in. She's worn it for two 45-minute sessions (in two days) and she did wear it for our whole speech therapy session on Wednesday (which is a little less than an hour). The rest of the times have probably been for less than 15 minutes each.

We put it in for dinner tonight so she could "join" in on things. I usually give her a toy that will keep her busy - like Mr. Potato Head or some building blocks - since she can't eat or anything. Murphy talked the ENTIRE time. I almost wished I had a hearing aid I could take out! So, I couldn't blame her one bit when she ripped it out. Seriously, I don't know how that kid gets enough oxygen when he talks like that!!! God love him!

Plus, with Cooper's screaming and carrying on - that's got to hurt! I was thinking that she would like to wear it for her favorite movies. But, even when I turn the volume down to a respectable level - she still takes it out within a few minutes.

I guess this will be a long process.

Now I feel even better about a decision I made over the weekend. Tom was out of town (more about that later) and I realized there was no way I could keep up with Harlie's potty training. She pees every 30 minutes and to get her on the potty is a struggle. I decided that there are only so many battles we can fight. She must think I am the meanest mom ever. And I hate fighting her all the time. And when it comes to the potty - she's going to win. So there. I'm done. I've thrown in the towel! When she's ready, she'll let me know.

And do you know that very day I stopped putting her on the potty she told me she wanted to go! That stinker. She's asked several times since then. So, I'm sure without the pressure from me, she'll probably be potty trained in no time. Maybe this will finally get me to learn that I cannot pressure her into anything. Somehow I need to figure out a way to make her think it's her idea!

Harlie had her private speech therapy on Wednesday. Her therapist taught me some more things about her communication device. Adding that into her day is another long process. And one that will have to start a little at a time. Tom and I uploaded some pictures of the characters of her favorite movies (Ice Age, Finding Nemo, Curious George, etc.). So, she now knows how to ask for a specific movie on the device. That took no time at all. She also knows how to ask for bubbles. We also uploaded a picture of her, so that when she wants to say "I" it is a picture of herself. Now we need to upload pictures of her favorite books and toys so she can learn to ask for those.

After speech therapy I took her to get her haircut. I was a little worried because she has gotten so incredibly protective of her body. But can you believe that she sat there like she's done it a hundred times and was good as gold?! Seriously, she could not have been any better behaved! I wish I had my camera, but I forgot it. And I still haven't taken a picture of her new haircut. I'll do that soon and post it. She just cut some length off - it was way too long. And it was constantly getting in the way of her trach, which got pretty gross after a while. It had to go!

Well, Tom was out of town for his Grandfather's funeral. He passed away on December 30th. He was 85 years old. Tom's Grandmother passed away last December and ever since he has missed her so much. He had a stroke a few months ago and he said he wanted to be with his wife. So, Tom went back to PA for a few days for his funeral.

This is when I hate that our life is NOT normal. We can't just put the kids in the car and go. So, for many reasons, we stayed here and Tom had to go without us. And I hate that I couldn't be a supportive wife. But, Tom said that his grandfather is where he wanted to be, so that helps.

Today we have speech therapy at the school. So, that's it for now. More Later!

Take care,
Christy