Thursday, September 16, 2010

Another great moment!

Today was another successful day of Harlie wearing her PMV.  It is SO exciting!  And not just for talking.  Wearing it causes a chain reaction of positive things like a better, stronger swallow, less secretions - which means less coughing and less suctioning (can I get an Amen?) AND communication!!!  Woohoo!!!

So, tonight was back to school night at Murphy's school.  I walked there and Tom stayed here with the kids.  On my way there Tom called my cell phone.  He said, "Listen to this". And held the phone up to Harlie and I HEARD her say - CLEAR AS A BELL - "My turn".  It was the coolest thing EVER!  I couldn't believe it was her!!!  It was SO awesome to hear her on the phone!!!!  What a great moment!!!

Earlier today she said "dinosaur."  I need to get that on video.  She is very faint when she says it - almost a whisper.  But it is SO cute!!!

Although she is making HUGE strides (I can only guess that progress will really start to take off as soon as she realizes what her talking can do for her) communication is still difficult.  Tonight after we put her to bed she started crying.  She never does that.  She really never cries unless something is hurting her or she didn't get what she wanted (and that usually only lasts a few seconds).  I went up there and I'm assuming that she was scared - but that's really only a guess.  She appeared to be looking at something in particular - but I couldn't figure out what it was.  I'm thinking that maybe it was a shadow that she could see before I turned the hall light on and that she was looking for it when I was there.  I don't know.  At any rate, she wouldn't use any signs or her communication device to try to tell me what was wrong.  We just sat there for a few minutes and she finally laid back down.  It was weird.  I hope she didn't see dead people. Because that would be freaky.

Today was Therapy Day.  I forgot my camera.  But I just realized that I never showed you the pictures from last week's physical therapy appointment.  So, here's a video:


Personally, I was pretty impressed she could do that.

Here's Harlie and Traci scooting around...


And Traci tested out a lift for Harlie's right shoe.  You might remember this photo from a few posts back...


As you can see, her right foot has to be on it's toes in order for her to stand "straight."  Since her hips are crooked it gives the appearance that one leg is longer than the other.  So, we are going to work on getting her a lift for the "shorter" leg.  Unfortunately, it looks like she's going to need one that is about a half-inch or more thick - so it will be too thick to fit in her shoe.  So, we'll probably have to get one that goes on the outside of the shoe.

Okay, that's it for now.  Just wanted to tell you about Harlie's talking!!!!  It is so fun to type that!!!  Who knew that she would be doing this now????  Crazy!!!!

Thanks,
Christy

6 comments:

Christy said...

how exciting!!! so happy good things are happening for your amazing little girl.
love, Christy

Just Diane said...

Aw, how exciting is that? Amen!

I hope she just had a little scary moment too. Sometimes I think my kids see things and they tell us things that make us believe they did! AAHHH.

Can't wait to see more videos.

Susan said...

OMG! Has she ever talked before? Are these her first words? Wow! Yes I want to see that! I love how fast she was at putting those toys in the box. Go Harlie GO!

Christy have you seen these new Tracoe valves that are adjustable? They are a little big but maybe the adjustability would be a good way to get her used to wearing a speaking valve regularly. I find a huge part is habit. Wouldn't it be cool if with regular use of the valve she could talk? Maybe you could even lose the communication device. If the girl can say dinosaur I think you're set.

Tanya said...

That is just *so* exciting! May the time come quickly where she's talking so much you can not believe she ever wasn't talking :-)

Donna said...

Like I said after I watched her putting that puzzle together - SHE'S AMAZING!! :)

Eleanor said...

WOW! I've totally been out-of-commission lately so I CAN'T BELIEVE what an incredibly long way Harlie has come!...and that Cooper is yummy! Would l;ove to get together soon and catch up!

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