9 months old.

Amichai is 9 months old today. I remember thinking to myself last month....when Amichai turns 8 months old, it will be the day AFTER his surgery. That was a relieving thought then...you can't imagine how relieving it is to know we are a month past that day now.

Our boy is in an amazing place. He is so mobile now, getting all over the place and getting there fast! He crawls when he feels like it, but mostly still rolls and drags and wiggles to where he wants to go. He lifts himself up to standing on his own and is starting to cruise across the couch, etc. All he wants to do is walk. He is eating up a storm these days, rockin' a good milk and food combo, finally. He's suddenly taking much longer naps, more energy expended I am guessing. And yes, as nine months have hit, so has some separation anxiety with a splash of stranger danger. Not a lot in either regard, but still quite a noticeable change in our little flirty extrovert. It's pretty crazy.

On Monday, Amichai will have had active cochlear implants for three weeks. It is astounding how far he has come in such a short time. Once the surgery was completed and he had recovered, there was no longer any anxiety for us regarding how he would do with the implants in terms of his hearing....the scary part about all of this for us was the possibility that this new input would be overwhelming for him, that it would change his calm and well adjusted personality. And now, a month later, we are at ease in this regard as well. Like with everything else, Amichai has again proven his incredible resilience and his adaptability. He has taken to wearing his implants amazingly, hardly ever takes them off, and is clearly enjoying the sounds he hears. He is turning to all kinds of things in his environment and recognizing speech sounds as well. He is in great shape along the trajectory that he will journey over these next months. We are SO excited and relieved and blessed.

Life has been crazy, and we have not been taking so many videos of the journey...taking it in ourselves without being behind the camera for awhile. But promise you that I will take video at his next mapping appointment on May 30th so you all can have a visual sense of his auditory progress :)

Tomorrow, we are off to Missouri to visit 2 of 6 grandparents. I told Amichai's speech therapist that they are going to have to work on fixing his southern accent when we return. From one journey to the next in this family! :)


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