Six Months?

We've all been sick with the flu. The nasty little bug caught Drew and he has spread it to the entire - ENTIRE - family, including the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that spent Christmas with us. I'm not sure if anyone will come back next year! In the midst of the sickness, Drew's six month hearing anniversary escaped me. Has it really been six months? Some days it seems just like yesterday that he was activated, in others it seems like he has always been able to hear, as the most early days of Drew's life are sadly fading from my memory.

In six months Drew has changed tremendously; physically, socially and most obviously in his communication.

• Drew can identify all of the ling sounds at close range, three feet and six feet. He can repeat /ah/, /e/, /m/, /s/, /oh/. The only one that I haven't heard him say is /sh/.
• Drew has several words he uses consistently now. "Uh oh" is by far his most favorite and the one he uses most appropriately. He likes to drop things, like his food and milk cup, regularly and say "uh oh." I love hearing him say the word too much to tell him not to play with his food! Other words in Drew's vocabulary include: Dada, Mama, up, open, no. Quite honestly, the list of words that Drew has said or has attempted to say is getting so long that it is hard for me to recall all of them!
• The other day Drew's Dad asked Drew, "Do you know where my keys are Drew?" Drew responded, "No."
• I took the kids to my Dad's work the other day and my Dad said, "Hey there big guy," and we swear Drew said "Hey there!" The imitations he is trying to make of the language he is hearing is amazing. He also said "I don't know" twice on Christmas day imitating the language I was using (and I had witnesses both times!).
• Drew's receptive language is amazing, and I would guess that when his therapists do his next evaluation he will be just about age appropriate with his receptive language. He understands open, close, up, down, eat, bath, go up stairs, no, come here. Again, the list is getting so long that it is hard for me to recall all of the things he understands!
• Drew's balance continues to improve and we are hopeful that he will walk in the next few months. (We have had him evaluated and been told that he will walk, he is just slow to do so). He cruises around the house like a champ, sometimes so fast it seems like he is running, actually better than our daughter ever did before she walked. He loves to push his toys around and knows how to maneuver them around obstacles. He has even started to let go of things and stand on his own for short periods of time. We try to encourage him to take a step, but he prefers to squat down and then crawl wherever he wants to go. Both Drew's Dad and I feel that as soon as he captures his balance he is going to take off because he clearly has mastered the coordination needed to walk (and run!).

These past six months have been amazing and have far surpassed my expectations of how Drew would progress. I truly believe that getting him implanted at such a young age has allowed him to make such tremendous progress in just six months. I am so excited with the progress he is making and I can not wait to see what the next six months bring.