Wife on leave

Annie and our daughter have gone to China for three weeks leaving me with the boys at home.

She left this morning and so far Raphael has already vomited in the car, just as I was turning onto the southern outlet (a kind of free-way). That was really annoying and it was the stinkiest vomit I have ever smelt him do.

I was tired after a morning and afternoon out with the boys and the last thing that I wanted to do was clean him and the car seat up after we got home but there was no-one else and so I had to do it.

A couple of learning to talk classes

We have been recently attending a couple of courses to learn to help Raphael learn to talk.

It takes two to talk and Magic with music. They are both courses developed by Hanen.

I personally find the material dull and repetitive but I recognise the importance in the information that they provide and I can see how it is helping Raphael learn to talk.

Australian hearing and signing playgroup

Another Australian Hearing appointment today confirmed that the grommets are no longer in effect and it looks like he might have more fluid in his right ear. We will have to decide whether we want them to be reinserted during his next operation.

He performed as expected on his hearing tests and new moulds were taken to try to resolve the increasing problems that we are having from feedback (squealing).

It was a long appointment and we arrived at Raphael's new signing playgroup with only 15 minutes left. We had a brash introduction to the teachers there and I was a little disappointed that there was a lot of talking happening there. I was hoping that it might be a speech-free playgroup to encourage Auslan development for the children but there seemed to be more English than Auslan. Maybe all of the administrative work necessitated using a language that most people were fluent with and maybe the quantity of signing will increase next time.

Gross motor skills

Shortly after we found out that Raphael had a completely malformed vestibular (balance organ) and only monocular vision we were told that we could expect problems for Raphael being able to sit.

Then when he was sitting we were told that there would be real trouble for him to be able to pull to stand.

Now he walks!

He now happily chooses between walking unaided, crawling, and pushing a trolley. He is even trying to increase speed, although this usually ends up with a runaway effect followed by a crash that only a father could laugh at while the mother is not present. Turning is a tricky business and sometimes he has a very wide turning circle involving precariously placed footsteps with near toppling consequences, but he usually doesn't fall over during a turn though.

Two year old Ocupational Therapy assessment

Raphael had an Occupational Therapy (OT) assessment today and passed with flying colours.

This gives us even more incentive to focus on his communication and gross motor skills which are lagging behind significantly.