Testing...1, 2, 3

So Serafina's speech hasn't really taken off or exploded. She doesn't say much and what she says is hard to understand. She communicates well and for the last two nights, she has indicated to me when she had a poop in her diaper. But we have been concerned and she was seen by an Ear Nose and Throat specialist recommended by our pediatrician. When we first saw the ENT, Serafina was fresh off an ear infection, so she ordered a hearing test and follow- up appointment six weeks in the future to give her time to heal and the fluid hanging out in her middle ear to clear. I tried not to obsess or worry too much during that time, but well...it's me so, yeah, there was some anxiety. Today was finally the day for the hearing test and I woke up early with my mind racing. Since I was awake, I got up and got some chores done around the house. The sitter came to be with Leo while I took Serafina to the appointment. Testing the hearing of a 20 month old isn't a simple process. The testing room was set up with speakers and visual reinforcement (little drumming stuffed animals that lit up and kinda freak us both out). There was also some diagnostic equipment that was inserted into her ear to test pressure. She was tolerant, but squirmy and bored, and the results were affected by her level of cooperation. When the testing was complete and the audiologist gave me the results, she made it seem like there was an issue with her hearing since she tested on the borderline of normal and dipped below normal at certain frequencies. Her inner ear responses failed at some of the frequencies. She wanted to follow up in three to six months and recommended a speech and language evaluation. I thanked her and went to wait for the ENT. I had to blink back tears because though none of this information was particularly surprising, it was still hard to hear (no pun intended).
Anyway, the ENT had a totally different take on the results. She walked in the room and said, "I'm really happy with her hearing test results". Whaaa? I told her I got a different impression from the audiologist. The ENT reassured me that she is within the normal range and we shouldn't be concerned. She reiterated that it's hard to test at this age and we should wait the full six months to retest so we give her a chance to mature and participate more fully. She took a look in Serafina's ears and said she had healthy-looking ears, no fluid, no infection. But she also recommend we move forward with the speech therapy since it couldn't hurt, only help. She said, "don't worry. Just keep doing what you are doing and she's going to be fine", which is exactly what I needed to hear (oye!).

Here she is waiting for the ENT in the exam chair, wearing a fierce headband to give good access to her ears since she had a lot of things stuck in them today.