Tubes & Talking

This blog has been a month in the making but finding the time to sit down and write it has been hard.

A month ago, on July 7th, Gabe had ear tubes put in to help solve his his issues associated with recurrent ear infections. Watching my boy in pain and needing antibiotics just about every 2 - 3 weeks was rough. I missed seeing the happy boy that I knew was in there. In addition to the never ending fussiness I wondered if a large part of Gabe's delay in speaking well had something to do with the constant fluid in his ears.

Gabe's tube surgery went very well. It was over quickly and he recovered so well. He didn't do that great waking up from the anesthesia but I expected it, thanks to a wonderful friend who warned me that he might become very combative and hard to control. He did, but he did calm down very quickly. After we were discharged he fell asleep in the car on his way home and by the next day he was back to his normal self again. More than that - he was happy. Since his tube surgery we have had maybe two or three major screaming toddler meltdowns. Before the surgery we were seeing those meltdowns several times a day.

Three days after his surgery I heard him running around the house saying, "Nonny! Nonny!" At first I was confused, but then realized that he was referring to - ME! He had always said 'mommy' with a bit of an N sound. It was never clear though, it always sounded slurred, just like every other word he said before the surgery. My attempts to teach him to say Mommy correctly hadn't worked. So I sat him down on the couch and told him, "No Gabe, I'm Mommy, not Nonny." He gave me a huge grin and said, "Mommy!" and my heart just melted. It sure is something when your 2 year old finally calls you Mommy (correctly!) for the first time.

Since then I've seen slow but steady improvement in his speech and it just blows me away all the time. He's learning new word and finally starting to say words he all ready knew correctly. He didn't suddenly start spitting out full sentences overnight but I didn't expect that. We continually work on his speech and he's getting better every day. He has a whole vocabulary of words now. I haven't tried to count them but I know it's a lot. Before his surgery I could count his vocabulary on two hands and now it's exploded. I am so proud of him and I am so happy we had tubes put in his ears. He hasn't had an ear infection since. His 1 month checkup with the ENT is tomorrow so we'll find out how his ears look inside and how everything is healing.

Yesterday Gabe was playing with Elena and she started trying to poke him in the eye (ahhhh siblings!). Gabe got all excited and told Elena, "It's an eye!" Excuse me while I tear up a bit. He said a full sentence and was also trying to teach Elena. Since then I've seen him doing such wonderful 'big brother' things with her. He shows her how to use toys and he's trying to teach her words. I can't believe it. My baby boy is growing up.