Fall Time!

Fall is here. The leaves are changing and this area couldn't be more beautiful. After a photo shoot last weekend, Jason brought Eliana out for a few pics. Of course she loved the leaves.






In other Smith news, Eliana has her big Auditory Brainstem Response test this Friday. She goes into the pediatrician on Wednesday to see if her ears are clear of fluid. If they are, she has her test at the hospital in Fairfax, Virginia on Friday. That will be a hard day for her. Her test is at 12:30pm, and she can't eat or drink for 6 hours before. Try explaining to a 2 yr old that can't understand words why we can't give her anything. We are going to wake her up at 6am to give her a big breakfast and hopefully, she will take a morning nap before the trip. It will take us an hour to get there. We have to be there an hour ahead. She will be put under, so that will be hard. We are hoping that after this test she will be a candidate for hearing aids.

We can hear her babble, but I have never heard her voice. That was a realization I had today while talking to a friend. She was talking about her three year old that insisted she call her Cinderella. I was wondering what it would be like to have a conversation with Eliana. Hear her use words. And then there is the realization that we might not. So many things you don't think about, it makes my heart hurt.

Good news is she is picking up the sign language. She will come and ask (sign) for milk if she is thirsty. She was looking at a book the other day and I came in the room. She was signing ball. I was confused. She pointed to the picture and it was a picture of balls. I was so happy. I asked her what was on the next page and she signed cat. She also pointed to her picture and signed her name without any prompting. That one caught us off guard. The cool thing about that is that I thought that you spelled out someones name. You actually use the first letter of the name and pair it with a characteristic or attribute the person has, from the shoulders up. Eliana's is the letter e signed from the corner of the mouth up to the cheek. That is for laugh or smile, which she does all the time.