Follow up appt

Grayson and I drove up to Phoenix yesterday for his follow up appointments with the surgeon and Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) Dr.  Grayson did well on the drive up and slept half the way.  We got to the surgeon first and spent maybe a total of 10 min in the entire office building.  He came in right away, checked his mouth, and said everything healed very well.  It's completely closed.  Stitches are dissolved and everything looks wonderful!  Guess giving him food from a spoon and stuff wasn't a problem afterall! :)  He said that nothing else has to be done until he's 2.  At age 2 they'll do a full speech screening.  He should be saying about 15 words at age 2 clearly that anyone can understand (not just mommy and daddy).  Since we'll most likely be moved again by that point he said once we know where we are going he'll help us get connected with a craniofacial team in that area for the speech screening.  If needed at that time, he may start speech therapy.  The dr seemed hopeful though by the way the palate healed that Grayson won't have much problem at all with speech.  We then had an appointment with the ENT dr a few hours later so Grayson and I went to the mall nearby to do a little shopping.  At least there was an Old Navy there!  I have determined shopping here in Sierra Vista stinks!  We then headed to the ENT and once again when the dr came in he did a quick check of his ears and again they look great!  Tubes are in place where they should be and the fluid has drained and things look good!  We'll need to go back to the ENT in 6 months, or before we move, to just make sure the tubes are still in place where they should be.  The tubes should come out on their own around 9-12 months.  Grayson and I made the trip home with some screaming on and off during the 3 hr drive.  It was a LONG day, but we should have to be making that trip alone again for a long time!  Thank you for everyone's thoughts and prayers during this time for Grayson and his healing.  He is doing great and is his normal happy self.... most of the time! :)  He's even finally getting back to his normal 1 hr naps (instead of 30 min) and is usually sleeping through the night or at least falling back to sleep on his own if he wakes in the night.  (*knock on wood*)  More pictures will be posted soon!