Can you hear me now little toe walker?

2 trips to the Children's Neurodeveloment center
1 Speech evaluation
3 separate hearing tests
1 Physical Therapy appointment
2 normal boys
1 relieved MumMum!

Yup - Glen can hear just fine. He has one eardrum that is pulled back pretty far in his ear (perhaps because of enlarged throat glands of some sort), but it does not affect his hearing. So when he asks "What?" when he has just asked us a question, he is being 4, not deaf. Likewise with the snoring - could be a throat issue, is not related to his ears. Whew!

And my Maddox is just fine too. Yes, he has a delay in speech, and he may have some mouth or facial muscles that are contributing to it (he doesn't move his mouth very much or use his tongue as much as the therapist would like). BUT he is advanced for his age in what he can understand, he just doesn't express his understanding with words. So we have some exercises to do with his mouth and some sounds to work on, and a follow-up appointment in 6 months. But no real worries.

Likewise with the PT appointment. Maddox is advanced for his age in some of the gross-motor skills (standing on one foot, climbing and jumping - but I could have told you that). The little monster didn't toe-walk much at all at the appointment (of course), but the PT did not find any physical reason why he would toe-walk... she thinks he does it for play. Nevertheless, we will do some stretching of hamstrings and ankles. Curiously enough, Glen needs it more than Maddox. Who knew?

So what did I learn from this experience?

1 - I dearly want to install a sound-proof room in my house (for me)
2 - Padded rooms with mats and other objects are fun (hmmmm.... future basement project?)
3 - It's good to check these things out - well worth a $10 co-pay
4 - Maddox is very smart (but we knew that!)
5 - Glen can hear us, he just chooses not to (I thought this would be an issue at 14, not 4)
6 - Tyler was right (but I need to direct your attention back to #3, which I stand by)
7 - My kids are perfect.