Why, why, why why.

It has not been that long since we had the first implant turned on, but I am already having deja-vu. Chance always has questions about things, but now he has taken the why questions to a new level. After the first implant, Chance asked me ‘Why’ about all sorts of things and now his favorite word is ‘why’ again. Why am I talking to Jaden? When I point out a police car at an accident, Chance asks me why the policeman is there. Who am I talking to on the phone he wants to know...and why. What is his sister doing, he wants to know. Where is his brother?

It is not lost on us that Chance being able to ask so many questions is indeed a blessing and we are very grateful to have a talking deaf child. We have learned new levels of patience as we answer what seems like 5,000 questions a day. Chance's younger sister has started asking why a lot too. So now, there are 10,000 why questions a day. "What are you doing?” “Where are you going?” and “What is that?” Are all popular questions with Chance also. But Chance is a smart little cookie and is just taking everything all in. He is trying to merge information that he already has stored with all of the new vocabulary and language that he is acquiring. He continues to utter new phrases and use new words that wow us. And he picks up on his teachers and friends common phrases:) I really like that his first pre school teacher taught him to say "Oh man!" That has now become a family phrase and Chance still uses that phrase on a regular basis.

Last night, Chance's cousins were all telling "scary" Halloween stories to each other. After a while, they all decided to come out and tell their stories to the adults. As the other kids told their stories, Chance came up and told me that he wanted to tell a story too. I thought this was a good sign as he was brave enough to tell the story in front of a room full of people. I could see Chance concentrating as he waited for his turn. He was thinking hard about his story. When Chance's turn came, he proceeded to make up a story about Skeletons, ghosts, haunted houses, bats, cats, and pumpkins. He had good voice inflection, and used his inflection to set the mood of the story. He would get quiet and whisper when he was building up to a big "Boo!" And his voice would get louder as he told us about the BIG monster that lived in the haunted house. We were so thrilled that Chance was brave enough to tell his story in front of everyone. And he did a great job. Chance’s confidence is growing and he is putting himself out in the world more and more instead of holding back as much. He has things to say and he is ready to start saying them!

As for progress with the second implant: Last week, one week after activation, Chance’s Dad did some sentence tests (from behind him, so he couldn't read facial cues) with only the second implant. Chance was able to identify most of the common phrases: "Where is ___?" "Who loves you?" "Where did you go today?" For "Where is the table?" he heard "Where is the temple?" For an uncommon sentence ("The elephant has big feet.") Chance had no idea what his Dad said. We wouldn’t have expected him to at this point, but had to test none-the-less. However, it was quite encouraging that Chance was able to identify some of the common sentences (even though not perfect) - it shows that his ear and brain are already starting to “accept” the implant.