Speech woes and a new scare in the June Saga (this sure is our month, huh?)

Our life lately has been one big speech therapy session. We are constantly trying to get Elijah to blow air through his mouth. He has a whistle that he likes, but once he realizes we are tricking him into doing "work," he usually stops cooperating (of course). We have a few other tricks that we use to get the air flowing through his mouth, but it hasn't changed the way he says his words. I'm pretty (ok, a lot) worried about this. He has already formed some very poor speech habits that we can't seem to correct. After surgery next week we will hopefully have more energy to devote to this issue. Right now I am in weary, surgery-anticipating, sickness-worrying, hospital-dreading mode, so every little thing feels overwhelming. I'm hoping that after this surgery and recovery the speech stuff won't seem quite as daunting.

Thanks to a great suggestion from a heart mama/friend (thanks, Jane!), I am going to try to cross a few things off our list while we are twiddling our thumbs in the hospital next week. I am hoping we can get Elijah a hearing test, and also maybe a consult with an ENT about his possible palette issues. It would be great to get those things out of the way.

That is, IF we are in the hospital next week. The surgery would not take place if Elijah has, say, whooping cough, which is unfortunately a possibility. A slim possibility, but still a possibility. Today I received an email saying that a teenager helping out in the church nursery on May 24th was tested positive for pertussis (whooping cough). Dan and I were on vacation that day, and guess where Elijah was? At church with Grandma, and in the church nursery. I haven't been shy about telling you all how horrible Elijah's cough has been for the past few weeks, so that combined with the fact that the pertussis vaccination is only 70-80% effective in protecting against the disease (because it is not a live vaccine) is a little scary.

I brought him into the clinic immediately and the doctor said that he could have possibly had whooping cough, but whether he did or not, he probably doesn't have it now since he just finished taking the very antibiotic that is used to treat it (thank you, ear infections!). The chances aren't likely that he actually had it, and they are even less likely that he currently has it. This is good news. Still a little freaky, though. They took cultures in the office today and the results should be in next week sometime.

At any rate, Elijah and I have some fun things planned for our weekend together, while Dan grunts in the woods with his friends. I love weekends with my little sidekick (and Dan enjoys being manly in the woods)!