17/12/13 - speech woes

Most of the time I'm ok with Ellie not being able to talk. She is missing an important part of the hardwaref or talking, and she can say more than I expected her to be able to say in the beginning. But as she gets older, and as we're facing the very real possibility that she won't gt this repair done in January either, I'm more and more aware of just how delayed she's becoming. 

Most kids in Australia have their palate repair done by 9 months. Ellie is now 11 mons, and still has to have the surgery and then the recovery time. She has a long way to go before speech is really going to be a possibility for her. Meanwhile though, we're surrounded by other talking babies. Even other cleft bubs, who haven't had their palate repaired yet, are saying more than Ellie. 

It just gets me down sometimes. She didn't do anything to deserve all of this carp that she has to deal with every day, so why can't she just catch a break?