Happy Holidays! Well, this update is a month late…what can I say, life has been busy! But the month of November brought an exciting update in the world of Auden that is definitely worth sharing. We had an appointment with the development specialist that he sees every three months who performs an evaluation on his development and skills. With Auden’s recent speech explosion, I knew it was going to be a good appointment, so I insisted Cody go with me for the first time. Cody enjoyed going, although he likened it to watching your child take the SATs (nervous for them and wanting them to prove what they are capable of, ha). As I thought, the specialist was absolutely thrilled with the huge speech difference between his last appointment and this one. His last appointment was just before he turned 18 months and he only had 3-5 words. At this appointment, just three months later, Auden had more than 50 words which put him on target with his actual age, an average 21 month old! Absolutely amazing what three months can do. Since he is no longer delayed in speech, he is officially caught up in every developmental area. Some fine motor skills Auden exhibited even tested well above his actual age. We are still going to go to the specialist for regular check-ups, but hopefully from here on out, we will no longer hear the word “delayed" when it comes to our little guy. In light of these developments we have decided to cut his speech therapy back to monthly visits (instead of bi-weekly). We had the choice of stopping therapy all together but we decided it’s probably best to keep him in the Early Intervention program for a little while longer, rather than have to start up services again if there is an issue in the not to distant future.
So what does Auden have to say? Now at 22 months old he has more than 75 words (speech therapist makes me write them in a notebook, ha), adding new words everyday and he is beginning to say some phrases. His phrases include: anything with “hi” and “bye” like “hi momma,” and “bye truck,” words in combination with “go,” like “go truck,” he also says “I got you!” when we play chase around the house, and just recently I’ve been getting him to say “yes please” instead of just “yes." He is also starting to say some names in the last month which is really fun. Looking at pictures around the house, he now identifies mommy’s dear friends “aimee” and “linsdey” (“insey”), he can say his friends’ names “jack” and “shane,” but most importantly in the last 2 weeks he has learned his own name and loves to run around the house with pictures of himself yelling “Auden”! Much to our surprise, he has picked up letters really quickly. I bought the foam bath letters thinking he would just like to stick them to the tub but he rapidly started remembering what I was calling each letter! He can identify over half the alphabet and can say almost 15 letters. The cutest things he is saying right now that make us laugh are “cock a doodle do” (sounds like cock-a-do) for a rooster sound, "up-sa-daisies" every time he wants us to pick him up and he says the word “avocado” with the best Spanish accent you’ve ever heard! The sweetest thing is definitely his made-up song he sings at least once a day that sounds exactly like “I love mamma, I love dada, I love mamma, I love dada, hmm-hmmm-hmmmm.” He “sings” all the time and will definitely catch us off guard when he all of a sudden belts out the real words instead of just his made up words!
We had another check-up in the month of November for Auden as well. This was an appointment with his cardiologist (who we usually just touch base with over the phone to discuss Auden’s current weight so he can then adjust his heart medication accordingly). We thought it was time for a discussion on how much longer Auden should be on his medication (called Digoxin). As of now, it’s been 15 months since his last SVT episode (extremely rapid heart beat that typically needs intervention to stop). So, what does that mean? There are several options: 1) He has grown out of the condition permanently, 2) He temporarily has grown out of the condition but it may come back during adolescence like it frequently does, or 3) He still very much has the condition but Digoxin is doing a great job of keeping under control. Of course, we will never know if he has grown out of the condition unless we take him off Digoxin but Cody and I told the doctor we don’t feel comfortable taking him off quite yet. His cardiologist said it is completely our choice and he sees no problem with keeping him on it for six more months and checking in again with him. We decided if I was a stay-at-home mom, it would be different and we definitely would take him off the medication because I would be able to check his heart frequently with a stethoscope and be able to identify any issues quickly. However, with him at daycare 4 days a week, we are just not comfortable taking him off of it yet. Once he can verbalize that he doesn't feel right, the medication becomes a lot less important...so hopefully as he gets a little older we will feel better about discontinuing the medication. Worst case scenario, Auden still has the condition and when he is old enough (age 6 or up) he will be able to get the ablation surgery to correct it (fairly minor surgery). Cody and I partly just want him to get the ablation surgery anyway because it will not be fun just waiting and wondering if it is going to come back in adolescence at any given moment. However, he would have to have a few more SVT episodes to qualify for the surgery (which obviously we do not wish for). So, that is that for now. In the meantime, we will count our blessings that he either 1) has grown out of the condition for now or 2) that his body responds to this medication so well.
Here are some recent pictures of our little man…
As for adoption news. Background checks are in, additional reference letters have been written (BIG thanks to my dear friends who wrote them), so now our social worker is in the process of writing our home study specific for China. Once she gives us a copy, we can file the first form that kicks off the whole process (called the I-800A) which basically asks China to give us their approval to adopt a child from their country. Two catches though. It takes 60-90 days after you submit the form for them to grant your approval and it has a hefty application fee. After discussions with our agency and the Korea program specialist, everyone feels it would be in our best interest to wait to file this form until February because January is traditionally a huge month for referrals (or matches) in the Korea program. Right now we are number 11 in the line of families waiting to be matched with a baby girl from Korea. If January does end up being a huge month for matches and we get to number 5 or below on the waiting list, it may make sense to continue on with Korea. Of course I want to submit this form for China a.s.a.p. in order to have another ball rolling, but unfortunately due to the expensive fee that goes along with it, financially it makes the most sense to delay starting China by one month just in case. Of course, due to the state of the Korean program now and all the disappointments and extended wait times as of late, I am desperately trying not to get my hopes up for the Korea program. It is good to know that by the end of January we will have a good indication of whether we should just call it quits all together on the Korea program. We would appreciate any thoughts and prayers that 2012 brings us good news and great strides in our journey to finding our daughter.
Happy Holidays to all our friends and family near and far! May 2012 bring you lots of happiness and good health.
