Showing posts with label talk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label talk. Show all posts

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

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Harlie says Mama!

While I have a quick second, I thought I would share this video with you. It is a really good one I think, and it makes me very happy. As you might remember, Beth was our speech therapist and we loved her. Her last day with us was February 19th and this video was taken that day. I find that I am getting emotional very easily lately. I'm sure it has everything to do with Harlie's upcoming heart surgery - now just under one month away. So, when I saw this today, it made me choke up a bit. Sometimes when you're in the moment, it is hard to really soak it in. So, Beth, if you're reading this - THANK YOU!!!

Oh, and by the way, Beth is covering Harlie's trach so she can make a clearer sound. The trach makes air bypass the vocal cords, thus no sound is heard. But, if she can't exhale air through the trach (because it is blocked) then air is forced to be exhaled the normal way - past the vocal cords and out the mouth and nose, producing sound.


Monday, January 12, 2009

Harlie "said" her first word!

On Thursday Harlie's speech therapist (Beth) started working on getting her to verbalize some vowels. We are hoping that Harlie realizing she can make sounds/talk, that it will make her want to wear her PMV (speaking valve). Here are a couple of videos of Harlie "saying" her first words!!! I know we have a long way to go but it's so exciting!

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! OH! And when Harlie said "eye" the first time, I said "I want to get this on video" so I jumped up and ran to get the camera. When I got back and sat down, Beth was already working on getting her to say "oh" for open (like in the second video). BUT, Harlie stopped and looked directly at me (without me saying a word) and said "eye" again. I swear she knew what I said and understood it! And Beth completely agreed. That girl is something!

Well we have to be on the road by 5:15am to go up to DC for her ear tube. Talk to you later!

Take care,

Christy

End of Summer

We have been home for a little over a month. We have been busy. Overall, Harlie is doing well. I think we are past the point of possible inf...