Halloween Fest

Last night we went to Halloween Fest in downtown Winter Garden (the new town we moved to, since I forgot to blog about that part of my life). I read about it being lots of fun with a petting zoo, live band, face painting, and trick or treating at the shops down there. When we got there...Wow. That's all I could think. There were hundreds of people there. Streets blocked off. Adults in slutty costumes, teens in slutty costumes, huge dogs dressed up, police, EMTs, and people everywhere I looked. I loved it, don't get me wrong. But I guess I never thought what it was like to CHASE a 2 year old from shop to shop looking for candy and trying to not lose him in the crowd. Of course said 2 year old was screaming at me not to hold his hand and "me do it". I never knew he could run so fast. I actually had to run. After my kid. At one point while he wasn't looking in front of him he almost ran into a woman dressed as a slutty officer with her butt cheeks hanging out. That would not have been pretty. I'm pretty sure I would have washed his face in anti-bacterial gel.

It really was a lot of fun. He was super excited. Of course there was a melt down on the way to the car and that same two year old nearly running into traffic. I think I remember at that point pushing the stroller and quietly yelling at Dennis, "get him get him, going into traffic, go, NOW".

Once we got back to the car we let him have his pumpkin with his candy in it. I didn't think there would be any harm in it, he's only 2. I mean how much damage can he do right? WRONG. We recently put him in the VERY back of my car in the third row seating so I'm not as privy to what goes on back there. At one point he was telling me something was gross and I looked back and he had some gooey-ness all over his face and his fingers were sticking together. I couldn't figure out for the life of me what he had gotten. I also still think the wrapper was on half of it, hopefully the half he ate was already de-wrapped. Dennis looked back and said, oh he got a Charleston Chew. A what?! All I knew was it looked gross. When we got home I saw that he had dumped some of his candy into the cup holders in the back so I told him to get the pumpkin so I could grab the candy and put it back. I put my hand in one of the holders and all I felt was ewww stickiness. I guess I found the other half of the Charleston Chew. I didn't even turn on the light to look, I knew I needed to sleep before I saw that mess.

Of course when I got there my phone died so I don't have any photos of the maddness...but really what time would I have had to take pictures? All I would have gotten would be his back and a running motion type look to the picture. BUT I do have his photos that his teacher posted on facebook...that was the less risque Halloween party of his day.

Nolan, Sanela, and his girlfriend. 

My hunka hunka man. 

Moderate Hearing Loss

You've developed the strength of a draft horse while holding onto the delicacy of a daffodil...you are the mother, advocate, and protector of a child with a disability. - Lori Borgman

I hate the title of this post but it is what it is. This morning I took Kaleb to the children's hospital here for his "6 month" audiology test. Yes, he is now 10 months old...I'm aware we are a bit late on the audiology train and I feel terrible for it. I wasn't worried this morning. When people hear that Kaleb has hearing tests often they always say, "Oh we know he can hear". Yes so do I, but I know it's more than that. This morning I had already told myself that he can hear and that's that. Well not so much. He was able to do the older kid testing where they sit you in a box with animals, lights, and sounds coming from different directions. Pretty freaky to me. I wasn't worried. Then I noticed he wouldn't respond like he should. I told myself, "he's a baby...he's not going to get every response correct". Then when he would not hear the same sound from the same direction over and over again, I knew it wasn't the best news. 

Kaleb began to get tired so Dr. Hall came in and did the "infant test" to see if that would have better results. Basically when a baby gets a hearing test they put these ear pieces in and it measures the movement of the ear drum, hairs, and other parts of the ear. After this test Dr. Hall told me that he had fluid behind both eardrums. I asked if that meant that he had ear infections. She said not necessarily because the fluid may be clear but somehow just stuck there. Kaleb's ear canals are very different than other's, his are very tiny and curve unlike most so most doctors and pediatrician's cannot see in there to see if there is fluid or an ear infection, etc. She told me to follow up with his ENT asap so they could use their special equipment to check on the fluid and get it to go away. 

At the end of the audiology appointment she sat down with me and showed me the chart which charts his hearing compared to other children his age. She told me he had moderate hearing loss and we would need to come back soon for another audiology appointment after seeing the ENT who can hopefully clear up the fluid behind his eardrums. Moderate hearing loss? This brought me back to the day we picked Kaleb up from the NICU to go home. We were so happy. Then the nurse said something to the affect, "oh btw he failed both of his hearing tests, you need to follow up for another one outpatient". Most parents don't have to hear that. I was terrified. Our geneticist pediatrician had already told us we needed to follow up with an eye doctor because she had concerns for his vision, and now his ears? I could deal with the extra chromosome, the crooked pinky fingers, the out of place feet, the very rare heart defect but for some reason thinking that my baby was deaf was unbearable. This appointment today brought me right back to that day we were discharged from the NICU. I'm not sure what it is about hearing loss but it terrifies me in ways that his other special needs don't. I think it is similar to the fear that he won't be able to walk. Maybe it's the main things we do that scares me, see, hear, walk, talk, those sort of things.

Well tomorrow we go to our ENT with Kaleb and Nolan. We need to talk to the ENT about Nolan getting his tubes in and obviously about Kaleb's possible ear infection...hearing loss...etc. It is sure to be a draining appointment no matter what happens...any appointment with both of the kids is draining no matter which way to slice it. ;)

I'm hoping to post soon about our Halloween night, ohmygoodness so much fun! Happy Halloween everyone!