Monday, June 30, 2008

Bright spots

I just love this smile. It is truly the bright spot of every day. But we've had a few other bright spots lately.

For the last two nights, Micah has only woken up crying once and then went back to sleep. We're all enjoying the benefits of better sleep.

Our greatest joy has been Micah's speech. I know at least one of our doctors was hoping it would spontaneously be improved, and that hasn't happened. But there have been flashes of things that make us very happy.

There are only two consonant in the English language that can be spoken with an open palate: "M" and "N." So Micah's entire spoken vocabulary only uses these two consonants. He also will approximate other consonants using glottal stops. Libby comes out Mimmy. Mama and Baba are almost indistinguishable from each other. Golf cart ride, popsicle and apple juice are "unh unh unh." It's amazing how much he has been able to communicate with the speech that he has had.

But now that his palate is closed, he can push air through his lips and make other consonants. He just has to learn how. Before the surgery he could approximate the closed palate by plugging his nose. We worked on that quite a bit. He still likes to plug his nose when he really wants to make himself understood. But every so often, he will make a B or P very clearly. And yesterday he said "new day" with a perfectly enunciated "D" sound. How cool is that!

7 comments:

Donna said...

What a beautiful smile! Glad to hear his speech is improving. It seems to be a slow ride; however, I have faith that our babies will learn to communicate :)

~verna said...

How exciting!! Speech is such a big deal. Noah is still working on it and he doesn't have a cleft palate! Some days are very hard to understand and others are clearer.
Glad to hear he is feeling better. I love seeing that smile too!!

Julie said...

That is AWESOME!!! He is really doing well. Nathan still hasn't tried to get some of those hard constanant sounds so we are very impressed!

I'm glad that he is sleeping better and you all are getting more rest.

Donna said...

Totally cool! So glad that you're seeing improvement, this quickly too. Lainey is still lagging, nothing amazing yet. We'll be patient!

Anonymous said...

Hey awesome Ladman family (we miss you all): I'm so glad to hear that Micah is doing better and better since his surgery. Hope you all have a great 4th of July!

Tammy
P.S. I lost your e-mail again, but I wanted to let you know...please keep Jadelyn in your prayers as she is having eye muscle surgery on both her eyes tomorrow (Tuesday, July 1) at 11:30 a.m. Thanks a bunch, and I hope to get together again soon. Let us know when it suits and where.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like leaps and bounds. The magic of love, faith, and patience is a wonderful thing.

FHL said...

That is wonderful! Praise God for skilled physicians!!! Something tells me at his first kiddi Chorus concert his mama will have flowing tears and a puddle under her chair ;) So glad he is doing so well!!!