What did you say?

"What did you say?" or "What did he say?" These are two of Chance's favorite questions right now. And boy are we grateful!!! Chance is becoming more and more aware of the words around him. He is even picking out individual words we say and trying to create a context for what we are talking about. Chance gave his grandpa a picture of a dog that he colored him for Father's Day. His grandpa asked him "Is it a horse?" Chance paused for a moment, smiled and said no. "Is it an elephant?" Grandpa asked. Chance smiled and said no. He was able to differentiate between the names of the different animals. Chance was standing right next to his grandpa while they had this conversation which helped. Chance is really doing well and continues to progress every day.
Chance is, as stated earlier, a little more sensitive in general. Just more huggy. He frequently comes over to his mom or dad for hugs and kisses. We don't mind a bit though. Chance will sometimes get frustrated if we do not understand him. He would get frustrated with his hearing aids too, but with the implant being new, he seems to be extra insulted or hurt when we don't get what he is saying or if he feels we don't understand the situation (such as when he has an issue with a sibling).
Chance is very motivated though to learn and to hear. We are so grateful for that and admire his strong little spirit.
Last week in church we had an orientation of sorts about Chance's cochlear implant in primary (the children's class at church). It went really well and the kids asked some really good questions. I encouraged the kids to continue to talk to Chance even if he seemed not to hear or understand them. I told them that Chance was learning to hear and so what he might not understand one week, he may understand in a few weeks. I told the kids that they were welcome to ask me or Chance's brother any questions they may have. We are confident that eventually, Chance can explain his own implant to other kids. Chance came up to the front of the room and showed all of the kids his implant. There were many ooohhhs! and ahhhhs!, when I told the kids that Chance had a magnet in his head and then Chance showed the kids how the magent stuck to his head. We welcome questions about Chance's implant. We have found that kids respond really well when you just explain to them that Chance's ears don't work just right and so he needs an implant(or hearing aids), just as some people need glasses to see. Kids are just curious as we all are when we see something different that we don't know much about. So many of the kids are friendly to Chance and include him in their activities. Chance seems to be able to piece together (even before the implant) enough about things that are going on around him to get involved with some things. Sometimes he plays off by himself while the other kids play, but I think with time, he will be able to understand more and more of what the other kids are talking about and be in on the games etc. Chance certainly has the desire to hear and to go on with life as usual! We are appreciating this trait more and more as time goes on.