A visit to the Audiologist...leads to more Dr appointments.

So Xander had his repeat visit to Audiology on Tuesday and, not surprising to me, he continues to have fluid in his ears, especially the left ear. So now we have an appointment with the ENT dr in August to discuss the possibility of tubes. I'm somewhat conflicted on this front. There is no doubt that he can hear- the question really is how well can he hear and is his lack of hearing delaying his ability to talk. The Audiologist compared it to listen to words being spoken under water. BUT he is able to hear and understand well enough to follow directions and respond to us. He is making progress with his speech therapy- slow but progress none the less. I know he is an intelligent little guy but he is very focused on motor skills so he makes himself understood well enough that maybe he doesn't feel it necessary to spend extra time working on language skills. Also we know he has some allergies (apparently he inherited a few things from his mother) so we started him on 5mg Claritin daily so it's possible that might clear up the fluid in his ears... but then again it might not. Part of me wants him to take off talking (and honestly part of me is dreading it- I can hear it now why, why, why...) and part of me is selfishly motivated by a desire to have him potty trained- which I don't feel like we can do sucessfully until he can reliable tell us he needs to go potty. Then again given his reccurent horrendous diaper rash potty traning may become a medical neccesity more than a convienance! But then again do the benefits of tubes outweigh the risks? At this point I'm not sure... I feel like if his hearing was significantly impaired then absolutely yes he should have tubes but he CAN hear according to the Audiologist so.... I guess we will wait and see if the Claritin makes a difference and what the ENT recommendation is in August.