Home and a video

Stephen went to the ENT today, and first had a hearing exam. The first part was a Tympanogram test, the same kind his speech therapist had been giving him. He appeared to have negative pressure on his right side, and a little more movement on the left. It was still a poor showing, though, indicating that his ear drums don't vibrate as they should. Next, he had an actual "tone" test, where they played sounds and voices through speakers on each side of us. He sat on my lap, and another audiologist sat in front of us to help Stephen focus on the front instead of looking side to side as he learned to expect sounds from the side (smart boy!). He did well with this one! It went MUCH better than I had expected, given that it was during his normal naptime (his pediatrician scheduled the appointment to get us in earlier than if I had called myself). He had a little trouble hearing some of the lower register sounds on his right side, which lines up with the negative pressure he had there as well. Afterwards, we went in to see the doctor, who said that Stephen does NOT have fluid in his ear today, but that this is just one day, and on other days, he probably does. He did say, however, that since there was no fluid today, that there has to be another reason for his poor vibrations in his ear drums. Basically, he thinks that Stephen's adnoids are enlarged to the point that they do not allow the ear drums to vibrate properly. Stephen's history of snoring, restless sleep, and daytime fatigue support this hypothesis, and since enlarged adnoids are the most common cause of sleep apnea in toddlers, he is going to schedule a Sleep Study sometime in the next couple of weeks. Then, if that is the problem, we will have surgery scheduled to remove his adnoids and tonsils, because let's face it - who really NEEDS their tonsils anyways? Theoretically, if that is the course, we should have that scheduled within the month. I suspect they take sleep apnea pretty seriously, especially in little guys! In my limited reading about this issue today, the other option would be for him to sleep with a CPAP machine, which would force air into his lungs at night, but I don't think that would help with his hearing issues. We go back to the doctor for another hearing test in 2 months, and he indicated that we would have this all taken care of by then. For Stephen's sake, I certainly hope so!

And for more fun news, Stephen has learned to catch the ball really well. I took this video last night, but it is only a snapshot of the game he and Erik were playing. I think they were doing this for almost 20 minutes...

For the past 3 nights, Erik has been reading a book to Stephen called "Dinosaur vs. Bedtime." It is a short book, so they've read it all the way through each night. Starting last night, though, Erik noticed that Stephen kept putting his hands out when he was Roaring like the dinosaur. I went in to watch tonight, and it looks like Stephen is pretending to be the dinosaur as Erik is reading. He is putting his arms out like he is pretending to "claw" when Erik is Roaring. It is pretty cute, and I'll try to record it next time they do it!