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!