The grades are in

Chance (with 2 new implants) races his brother up the stairs.

To keep Chance caught up amidst the implant failure and surgery, his dad and I feel a bit like we are back in school.

This is mostly because of two things:  Chance began attending a school this year that expects a lot out of the students and Chance has missed quite a bit of class time.  And our little Chance is a perfectionist.  He wants to do it right.

Being a perfectionist is not a bad thing for Chance to be.  He has a natural drive to succeed.  He also gets stressed if he doesn't feel like he can do something right.

For instance, he came home the first week of school and said,"I only got a 92 percent on my math test!"
Then he flopped on the ground and  moaned,"I'm not going to get a 4.0 in this school."

O.K. then. It is important to note that unknown to Chance, this test ended up being a placement test to figure out what the students already knew and where they were in their knowledge of math.

We as his parents have not pushed Chance for perfection.  We were happy with the 92 percent actually. Good heavens, the boy is already taking 8th grade math in 7th grade, we as his parents are fine with his performance. Chance actually started out in 8th grade honors math, but due to the amount of school he missed due to surgery and appointments related to the surgery and the fact that his hearing was fluctuating, he was having tons of math homework to do and catch up on.  We figured he didn't need that much pressure while he was dealing with the implant failure, so he went into regular math 8.  Still a year ahead, but with some breathing room.  Math is one subject you don't want to get behind in.

Chance wants to do his best in all he does though and it bothers him to think that he won't be getting the grades he wants due to his implant surgery.  Therefore, Chance's dad and I have been staying up late and spending many hours working with him to help stay caught up.  Chance has some great teachers too, that have let him turn things in a little late when he has missed school. The school is usually really strict on turning in late homework assignments.

Chance has been working his little tail off to keep his grades up while losing hearing, gaining hearing again and getting used to a new implant.

He is my hero.

His drive to succeed seems to have paid off. .  Term grades just came out and Chance is a straight A student. In several classes he has 103-104 percent of possible points. He was very thorough in his work, usually got full points and then did extra credit.

He is happy.  We are happy.  And Chance can hear out of two ears now.

Life is good.