Friday 26^th

As part of the Cochlea implant assessment Mummy & Daddy took Charlotte to Southampton Hospital for 3 appts at the Eye Unit. Premature babies with hearing loss can also develop serious eyesight problems.

Firstly she saw an Orthoptist,(who is specially trained in testing Children's eyes for the presence of a squint or vision problem). Secondly a "vision Scientist" who test the function of the retina and optic nerves using special electrodiagnostic tests. Thirdly an Optometrist who examines the insdie of the eyes.

The good news is she does not have any serious issues but does have a squint in the left eye and will need to wear glasses and possibly cosmetic surgery in the future. We struggle to keep her hearing aids on for more than a minute at a time so we will need a miracle to keep her glasses on. The results of the tests wil be sent to the Cochlea Implant Centre in Southampton.

Tuesday 9^th

An "Educational Psychologist" was at Nursery today observing Charlotte from 2.30-4 pm and had a meeting with Mum to discuss her findings 4-5pm.

If she had been born around her due date in October then she would not be expected to start until Sept 2012 but as it is she is expected to start Sept 2011. Even taking her Cerebral Palsy and Deafness into account she was judged to have significant developmental delays and thus will require a Special Needs School next year. She may be 4 next year but she is more like a 12-18 month old, and is only really just starting to show levels of understanding.

Friday 5^th

There was much excitement at nursery today. Charlotte is 3 years,3 months ,3 weeks & 1 day old today and managed to stand unaided for the first time, It was only for about 20 seconds but it is a start.

She has been trying so hard every day at Nursery and it is really brilliant news. She still has a really long road ahead but we hope by this time next year she may take her first steps without having to use her walking frame, and who knows maybe even doing some talking.

Thursday 21^st

Happy Homecoming Anniversary. 3 years ago today she came home from Frimley Park Hospital weighing 5lbs 8oz. We weighed her a few days ago at 26 1/2 lbs and is almost 3 feet tall.

Friday 8^th

Mum took Charlotte to see her Speech Therapist at Aldershot Health Centre this morning and she was really pleased with her progress.

She said she had never heard charlotte "talk" as much , she is vocalising so much more and has nowhere near the number of tantrums she used to have. We think this is because she is now trying to communicate with us and thinks we can understand her. She is also understanding objects more and has started matching pictures to objects.

Monday 4^th

Charlotte may still only be saying 2 or 3 words but, being a Greedy Piglet,food has always been a great motivator in her life and she never seems to stop eating. We recently discovered that she has been demanding breakfast at Nursery, by repeatedly using her favourite word,"more", until they give in.

We have also been giving her a full breakfast of cereal before leaving the house in the morning and have now stopped this in light of this shocking discovery. We have tried giving her dinner in the evening first and she generally eats of all of it but then when we sit down to dinner she launches herself at whoevers plates is nearest with the words "more, more".We have decided to eat at the same time now, as it is safer. Below is a summary of what Piglet munched her way through today.

• 8.40am - 3 Weetabix
• 9.30am - Half a banana
• 11.30am - Vegetable Pasta Bake followed by Sponge and Custard (ate all).
• 3.30pm - beans on Toast followed by 2 helpings of melon (ate all.)
• 6.30pm - Chinese chicken stir Fry followed by Jelly and fruit. (ate all)

Thursday 22^nd

Charlotte had an Audiology appointment at Basingstoke today. They just tested her right ear, there is not much point testing the left as she has virutally no hearing at all in that ear.

She got her best results yet with a hearing aid on, and the chart showed her having a level now good enough to hear most but not all high frequency letters. It is an indication that the new hearing aid is working at trying to amplify high frequency sounds into the low frequency range. They also remarked on how her babbling is now a sign of her really trying to communicate.

Thursday 16^th

Charlotte was visited at Nursery today by Liz,(a special teacher for hearing impaired children). Liz had not seen her for around 7 weeks and really saw a difference in Charlotte. She is babbling a lot more and was more focussed on the activity of playing with a dolls house. It took a while but charlotte demonstrated her use of "more" which she actually uses all the time now. Jo, her nursery nurse also mentioned that she is convinced that Charlotte has also now started to say "yeah".

We have really noticed her start to babble a lot since she had her new corrected right hearing aid last month, it may sound like Klingon to us and we still have a long road ahead but it is a really encouraging development. The other kids at Nursery know she is special being the only one not walking and talking but they do talk to her now she "talks" back albeit in her own special language.

Charlotte has finally been promoted to big bath upstairs, she was getting to big for the bath in her changing station. It was about time but we now have a bigger problem. Once in the bath she doesn't want to get out and we get tears and tantrums every time we take her out of it".

Her Blue disabled car badge arrived today which will make shopping trips much easier as we will no longer have to carry her a distance to the shopping trolleys. The parent and child spaces are almost always taken, often by parents with an older child who can easily walk, selfishly oblivious to the large picture of a parent and pushchair cleared marked on the space.

Sunday 30^th

Charlotte can say da-da-da , aro (hello) , and says more all the time, food has always been her best motivator. Today she managed to say faah for the first time. Being able to hear and say and "F" is a really big step and an indicator that the new hearing aid may be working in converting high frequency sounds (p,h,g,s,c,h,k,f,s) electronically into the low frequency range which she can hear. If she can now hear an F then hopefully the other letters will follow.

Tuesday 3^rd

It is 9.20 pm and we have all just got back from an evening spent at the A&E at Frimley Park Hospital, Charlotte's second Hospital visit today.

C first went to Basingstoke to have her new funky purple hearing aids fitted. They are more advanced and try to push high frequency words which she cannot hear into the low frequency range. In her right ear she can hear all vowels and some consonants,(which are low frequency)and the audiologist spent over an hour tuning it based on her audiology results. They hope it will enable her to hear most if not all letters of the alphabet in her right ear, although she will still not hear sounds in the high frequency range. Her hearing is too bad in the left ear for a hearing aid to make any difference at either range.

When mum collected c from Nursery they mentioned one of her hearing aid batteries was missing. They assured us she could not have swallowed it but had not managed to find it. If swallowed certain types of battery can, if they leak, at worst cause permanent damage to internal organs and even be fatal. Signs of this can be fever and vomiting. When she was sick twice in ten minutes just after 6.30 pm we decided we must take her to A&E at Frimley Park.

She was examined and had X-Rays taken but there was no sign of a battery in her ears, throat or tummy which was a relief. After we got back she was so over tired it took us until midnight to get her to sleep.

Friday 23^rd

Charlotte had a visit from her physio this morning, she is not planning any further appointments at the moment as Charlotte is doing well. Her standing and posture have improved but she is now holding herself back as she is too stubborn to accept help with the walking frame. She will be walking but it is down to her how soon that is.

Friday 16^th

The SOECIC (Cochlea Implant Institute) at Southampton University rang today. They received the latest Audiology results from Basingstoke Hosp and have decided it would be beneficial to continue with the assessment process in order to gather more information to help them make an informed decision as to whether she may benefit from a cochlear implant on her Left side. As part of this process Charlotte will be referred for scans (under anaesthetic) and ABR testing.

Thursday 15^th

Happy Birthday Charlotte

Mum has been ill in bed all week and is on antibiotics so we are postponing any celebrations until she is better. We had hoped she would be walking and talking by now, but she will achieve both in her home time. Looking at Charlotte now it is hard to believe how far she has come, ..