Matteo had a successful surgery on September 22, taking out his tonsils, adenoids, and draining the liquid in his ears. On Nov. 11 he will have another surgery (I'll just say that it is a more private area). We've tested his hearing again after the surgery and he does have permenant hearing loss. The doctor wants to repeat one of the tests again on Nov.9 and then I can go straight to the ear/nose/throat doctor with the results. He should then recommend a hearing aid. I am anxious to get this all done...seems like we are just waisting precious hearing time at this point. He can hear loud noises (hand clapping, dogs barking, whistling, etc.) but isn't hearing conversational tones. But all in all, he is doing really well. We are still struggling with his reluctance to chew food...I'm not sure what kind of doctor to see about that! He CAN chew, but does so only with those foods he really, really likes. Otherwise he sits at the dinner table for over an hour to eat a small plate of food because he prefers to just hold the food in his mouth. It can drive me plum crazy some days! We are trying all sorts of tactics...let me know if you have any ideas. :)
Michael and Maira are doing great. We are very excited about another alternative to getting a class in Portuguese next year. Michael never has come to the point of "liking" the Brazilian school that he goes to twice a week and it has in fact become a major stress in his life. We are looking at taking them to a SIL school here in town twice a week when they have a Brazilian lady giving Portuguese class. The school currently has 4 children and will have 6 children next year. Then they would also participate in PE and a craft time once or twice a week with the SIL kids at a local after school program for Brazilian children. This set-up will also be MUCH cheaper!
Here are some cute pictures of Matteo discovering shaving cream with Daddy...
