Logan can hear it.  Meaning, Logan passed his hearing screen Tuesday with flying colors! And, no more fluid in the ears either. Yippee!  Great news! Here’s an adorable picture of Logan waiting to see the ENT to get the all clear.  The look is priceless, but he was really just tired (appointments eradicated a morning nap).

Additionally, we have loved having Grandma Diane visit with us for the past couple of weeks.  Logan has thoroughly enjoyed spending some massive QT with her.  And Noah and I have loved all the help she has been around the house, in addition to watching Logan while we’re at work.

And I’m very happy she is here today to continue to assist me since last night I sprained my knee. If you’re going to sprain a joint, I recommend selecting one that’s less important for simple tasks such as walking.  Officially a sprained my medial collateral ligament.  Big fancy way of saying OUCH!  After hobbling around, I decided to go out and rent some crutches.  Sure makes moving more efficient…except for in my house.  They’re useless.  Too many stairs.  Did I mention I get to wear a brace for at least two weeks?  So. Much. Fun.  Try not to be jealous.

In other news, Logan’s newest trick is standing up in his crib.  This makes going to bed soooo easy now.  I am ready for the novelty to wear off. 🙂

I’ve since had to take that quilt off of the wall for safety reasons (Logan decided it was fun to yank and flap).

And one more picture just because my son is so darn cute…bed head!

So all day on Tuesday, I thought it was Monday and thus totally blew off Logan’s doctor appointment.  Ooops!  Thankfully the kind folks at Kaiser let me reschedule.  So now, on Tuesday, Logan will see the audiologist and then his pediatrician.  Until then, enjoy this short video of Logan crawling on all 4s!

Logan excels at climbing over obstacle, especially is that obstacle is Momma, Daddy or Lava’s bed.

But that is no longer good enough.  It’s time to start to pull up and stand.  He’s already mastered climbing the stairs.  On Wednesday, at Logan’s 2nd PT session, emphasis was placed on helping him get to his knees from his belly, to make it easier to stand.  This morning I caught Logan standing against several pieces of furniture without any assistance.  Way to go Logan!

He is also making progress with crawling.  Logan has started to get himself up on all fours, but when he wants to crawl somewhere he still goes down to his belly and scoots like an army recruit at boot camp.

This morning Logan had his Child Find Audiology appointment hearing screen.  This test was to check his hearing as the last two screens done by Child Find kept coming back with results that showed fluid in Logan’s inner ears.  The Audiology department has a more precise screening process than the test conducted at the Child Find office.

The results from the audiologist are that Logan still has fluid in his ears, and he test results were outside the normal range – mainly for low tones.  These findings are consistent with having fluid in the ears.  The Audiologist recommended I take Logan to see the doctor today to make sure he does not have an ear infection.  He doesn’t.  But the doctor did prescribe a course of antibiotics to see if they will cause the fluid to dissipate.   I also needed to set-up another hearing screen through our insurance company as the school district/Child Find audiology department will be closed for summer.  At the end of the month Logan will have his ears re-checked by the doctor.  If the fluid is still present the doctor may want Logan to be seen by the ENT/Audiology department sooner than his June 7th appointment.

The objective now is to determine whether or not the fluid is a chronic condition and to eliminate the slight possibility of a hereditary hearing loss.  We don’t think Logan has any permanent issues with his hearing given how he passed his newborn hearing screen and is quite the chatterbox.   However, if the fluid is and has been present, it totally explains his gross motor delay.

Next check is on the 31st, so we will find out more then.

Logan had his first physical therapy session today.  It’s very nice having our friend, Jessica, as his PT.  Logan knows her, and not that he’s shy – because he’s not, but I think it probably helps things out, and she has worked with him already.  Did I also mention that Logan’s girlfriend is Jessica’s daughter? 😉

The session went well.  We mostly worked with Logan pulling himself up on furniture and climbing the stairs.  Jessica  showed me how to assist Logan in getting into the proper positions and how to encourage him to use both sides of his body (this kid is totally right side dominant).  He does use both sides, don’t get me wrong, the goal is just to get him to use both the right and left muscles equally.

By the end, Logan was cranky and exhausted, but it’s so great to be able to give him the push he needs and to see his progress!  His next session will be in 2-weeks.

This year we re-started our annual Easter tradition of pot-luck lunch and egg hunt.  Including kids, there were 12 of us and as always, the egg hunt was a hit (this year, we had a golden egg, which garnered a special prize to its recipient).  And thankfully, the rain held off until after the party! We skipped last year since Logan was only 10-days old.

What a difference a year makes!

Click on the current Easter picture for more photos of Logan from yesterday’s festivities.

Although Logan has been able to sit for some time, today he finally consistently started sitting up on his own from laying down!  Thanks to our friend Jessica for all of her “torture” sessions. 🙂

Jessica watched Logan for me yesterday and when she went to check on him after a nap he was sitting up in the pack-n-play.   Once he was “caught” he laid back down.  Of course, when I went to pick him up, he wouldn’t sit and prove to me he had mastered this new skill.

However, today we caught him sitting up on several occasions!  Here’s picture proof!

We are so excited for Logan!

Today Logan had an evaluation appointment to see if he qualifies for therapeutic services (as requested by his doctor).  The concern was not major, but enough to prompt the evaluation.  The reason: gross motor skills.  Logan is by no means developmentally disabled, but he is a bit behind the curve in crawling, walking, sitting/pulling himself up.

At today’s evaluation Logan also received another hearing screen.  He passed his newborn screen, but as part of the evaluation process they do a vision and hearing test.  Back in March Logan had the initial screen.  He passed the vision perfectly, but his ears were responding with some fluid behind the drums, so they wanted to retest him at today’s appointment.  At the time, Logan had a cold, so a little fluid in the ears made sense.  This morning the screening was performed again.  Logan’s left ear drum responded appropriately, but his right ear did not.  This prompted a referral to an audiologist – that visit will happen on May 11th.  The audiologist has more precise equipment to be able to determine if something is not working properly inside Logan’s ear.  The reaction today could also just be due to the fact he is once again a snot factory – the result of either a) a teething, b) a cold, c) seasonal allergies or d) some or all of the above.

During the evaluation itself, Logan was assessed by an occupational therapist and a instructor/speech language pathologist.  Although the evaluation was only for his gross motor skills, they also looked at his social interaction, speech/vocal skills and fine motor skills.  Logan is a talkative social butterfly, so there were no qualms there.  And his fine motor skills are on par with everything expected of a nearly 13-month old child.

As for Logan’s gross motor skills, he is what is considered to be 25% delayed.  The therapists expect that Logan will have no problem achieving the appropriate skills and want to help motivate and encourage him by providing physical therapy sessions twice a month.  This will be a short-term therapy duration (6-months).  They expect that 6-months from now Logan will be able to pull himself up/sit-up, walk independently, bend to pick up toys, and turn around while standing, among other skill sets.  I anticipate therapy will probably start next month, but won’t know for sure until I am contacted by the physical therapist.

All in all, we are glad that Logan will be receiving services and the extra motivation he needs to get on track with what is expected of a child his age.

Here’s a fun picture of the happy boy, and yes, he crawled into Lava’s bed himself:

After weeks of taunting, and aggravating a certain little boy (especially at night), tooth #4 finally decided to make an appearance on April 9th.  I think Logan looks pretty happy about it, don’t you?