We went on a vacation at the beginning of the month, traveling to Athens GA, Atlanta, and Asheville NC. We had a lovely trip and Lola was able to add 4 new states to her map!**Fun activity for all ages! Color the states that you have visited. You can print out a map here. We color the states we've lived in one color and the states we've visted another color.
We still read Knuffle Bunny every night, and she has taken a liking to a little stuffed puppy that's name is now Knuffle Puppy. She can even do his sign name - very cute! We also read Piggies every night, and she does many of the hand gestures along with the book, including the signs for hot and cold. She does do the cutest "cold" sign that you will ever see. She loves for us to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider and sometimes does the motions with us, especially "wash the spider out." She is fascinated that other people know this song, and on our vacation was very impressed with our waitress Halloween night in Asheville - not only was she dressed as a fairy and let Lola play with her wand, but she knew the Itsy Bitsy Spider! When she walked past our table, Lola looked at her and did "spider." Cute.
We had another appointment with Dr. Windmill last week to get turned up again. This visit started with a stop in the testing booth. This was our third time in the booth. They play sounds out of different speakers, and she is expected to turn her head towards the sound. This was the first hearing test we had when she was 14 months old, and of course she didn't turn her head at all. They tested her again with her hearing aids, and again she didn't turn her heard at all, not even once. So this time, even though she was a bit cranky from a cold, she did so great! It was wonderful to see her turn her head to the sound almost everytime. Her new audiogram is very impressive for being turned on for under 2 months. It's all so amazingly promising.
She is making a lot more sounds now too. We were told that it would take awhile before she would start speaking - just think of a new baby, they have to have a lot of sound come in before they ever make words. But she is making more sounds and more word-like sounds. She does a close "quack, quack, quack" and an "up, up, up" - mainly the vowel sound, but she's definitely getting there. We still sign, but we try to say the words first to emphasize her oral development. She is picking up signs so fast right now! She is up to 40 signs with new ones all the time -- here is a list of her current signs.
Her balance is also getting much better too. It won't be long now!
Thanks for keeping up on Lola! I know we'll continue to have lots more news to share!
