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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

How Chance spells spring.....S-O-C-C-E-R

A robin prepares a field for soccer
Chance is one of the 22 kids who made the school soccer team.  He is sooo excited.  He had to try out with the 43 kids who wanted to make the team over a 3 day trial ending with the kids doing the varsity workout the last day.
The teacher wanted to make sure those who made the team were going to be willing to work it. Chance came home that day flushed and tired, but with a smile on his face.  Chance is willing to work it for soccer.


A patch of grass yearning for a soccer ball
The ultimate joy ride for a soccer ball
They actually have one extra player on the team due to a miscommunication between Chance and the soccer coach.  Chance had felt ill one morning so he stayed home from school but felt well enough to go after the lunch break.  By the end of the day, Chance was complaining of a headache and didn't feel like he could run with the team up the hill and to a neighboring park.  Chance is a trooper so I knew if he didn't feel he could run, he should rest.  I did tell him to let the soccer coach know that he was at the school, and though he had been sick and could not run with the team, he could be in on the instruction when they got back to the field.


Chance told the coach that he was dizzy and could not run with the team.

The coach thought Chance said he was "busy" meaning he was too busy to be on the team.  Apparently a few of the students had told her that day that they were too busy to be on the team and make the twice a week games.
So the coach  took Chance off the roster and called the next kid on the list who was very very excited to learn that he would indeed be on the team after being cut.

We found out what happened the next day when Chance showed up for practice.

The teacher felt bad and said she should have emailed us to verify that he really could not be on the team.

Chance had been planning on playing soccer since he first learned there was a junior high team at school registration.  We knew that if he was cut after trying out and making the team due to a miscommunication, he would be beside himself.

The school worked it out by getting permission to have one more student on the team so Chance was able to start breathing again.

Due to the extra player, there were not enough uniform tops the first game and Chance told me with conviction that he would be wearing a girl soccer shirt that was brand new and had never been worn before. I am glad that the powers that be convinced him ahead of time that this was normal and cool.

The first game was today at the home field.  After checking cleats to make sure they are legal for play, the game got underway.

Chance headed the ball(hit the ball with his head) on a return from the goalie and would have been able to follow up except that his implant fell into the grass and he had to grab it before other players stepped on it.

We need to resurrect our trusty sports headband.  Chance has been on a soccer hiatus this winter and so we are a little rusty and behind.

Chance is going to play lots and lots and lots of soccer this spring.  We signed him up for a county league last fall that he missed out on due to his implant surgery.  That team is picking up again for the spring session and will play games on Saturday with practices on Wednesday.

Chance's school team plays games almost every Tuesday and Thursday with practices 8th period every day.

Chance is going to need to increase his caloric intake.  And we are going to need more than one headband.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

What NOT to take to a sports event

You know those lists that you can get of what you need for certain occasions?  Schools hand them out at the beginning of the year so you know what supplies your second grader or seventh grader will need for school.
You can find a list to tell you what to pack in your hospital bag when you are getting ready to have a baby and for when you are headed for an island vacation.

I would like to start a list of "what not to take" to sports events when you wear implants.

Do not take your bag with your backup implant and rechargeable battery.  Even if one of your implants is having an issue.

Why?  Because you can get to the game, get involved, realize that your implant is doing just fine, and then in the excitement of the moment forget about your spare parts bag worth thousands of dollars and just leave for home with out it.

Having a child with devices on their person every where they go worth thousands of dollars has upped the level of excitement in our lives at certain moments.

Like when Chance totally violated the" what not to take" to a sports event list.

BYU won, and Chance was very excited.  That is probably why he did not realize (or remember to make sure) that his bag with his back up implant and battery had fallen out of the pocket of his sweatshirt, and was still in the basketball arena, until he was home and getting ready for bed.

Chance's dad called Brigham Young University and told them of the dilemma (knowing that the cleaning crew was likely still cleaning up the arena).  They were wrapping up and about to leave, but the man on the other end of the phone indicated that they had found the devices, and highly suggested that something of such value not be left overnight in the lost and found, and said that he would wait, if Chance's dad could return within a half hour.

I don't think you can hawk implants on the black market, but still, who knows what could happen to them if they stayed in the stadium overnight.

So Chance's dad got back in the car and headed back to BYU as the polite man on the phone said they would wait for him if he hurried. On the way he had the opportunity of being pulled over by a nice policeman for having a broken headlight.

It was a nice policeman because when it was explained to him that Chance's dad had to get to the arena to get a medical device worth thousands of dollars before the maintenance crew left, he sent the car on its way with a warning instead of a ticket.

Thank you nice policeman!(We fixed the headlight just like you told us to:)

Thank you cleaning crew member for waiting for us to return!

The world really is full of great people.  We'll have to pass on the love when we get the opportunity.

In the meantime,  Chance should read the "what not to take" list before he goes to the next game.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Chance is chosen as the bully

In one of Chance's classes, the kids made anti-bullying skits.  The kids were divided into groups and came up with their own ideas on an anti-bullying message.

We heard about this assignment not from Chance, but from a teacher, after the fact.  She said that as the kids assessed who would play the bully and who would play the victim, Chance was chosen as the bully.

She was using this to demonstrate that Chance isn't held back by his implants, and his peers just seem to take it in stride that he wears them.

Chance would have been an easy person to choose as the victim because in real life, the kids who are different in any way, are prime victims for other kids to bully.

But Chance's peers didn't see Chance as the victim.  They just saw him as another kid in the group and chose him to be the bully.

I don't think that Chance will be able to avoid all rude kids who may take aim at the fact that he wears implants, but his situation right now in school  is very good.  He has many friends.  He knows kids from all different grades and when I walk down the hall with him at school,  I hear many,"Hey Chance!" or "Hi!"

This does a lot of good for a mother's heart.  Chance feels safe and valued at school and I am grateful.

Sunday, March 03, 2013

Loud is relative

Many moons ago, Chance went swimming in a kiddy pool with a deaf friend.  When the two of them took off their implants to swim......the noise was incredible.

They squealed and giggled at decibels that could have been hazardous to hearing people's health.

It was amazing to witness.  Two deaf kids running around without abandon punctuating their glee with noise.  Lots of noise.

That they could not hear.

Flash forward many years, and tonight at 10:45, Chance and a deaf friend again took off their implants to play in a backyard.  This time it was our backyard and it wasn't a kiddy pool, but a trampoline that caused the two kids to call out in glee.

Chance's Mom and younger siblings enjoy the new trampoline,
seconds after assembly was completed.
We got  a trampoline for Christmas but have not been able to set it up due to the cold and snowy conditions here in our state.

Today, the weather flirted with us, displaying a touch of spring like weather. We took the bait and set up the trampoline.  We reasoned that spring is closer now than winter, so it is alright to start preparing to play outside.

Although it is Saturday, Chance and his brother attended an all day sing off at school ending in a concert this evening.  More about what a sing off is later.

Chance had a friend over for what we call a "late night".  In lieu of a sleep over, sometimes our kids have late nights where they have friends over to play, watch movies, or play games with the family until the later hours.

Chance had no idea that we had set up the trampoline in his absence,  and when he got home, it beckoned him to come and jump.

The jumping was going very well.  I had dozed off on a bed with Chance's young sister and was awakened to giggles and shouts of glee.

Chance and his friend were LOUD.

Perhaps at 3:00 in the afternoon it would not have been noticeable or even worthy of discussion.  But at 10:45 at night, with neighbors who go to bed early, the noise came with an exclamation mark.

Chance's dad went out and told the boys that they needed to come in and engage in a less audible activity, to which Chance and his friend replied that,"We were not being loud!"

Uh huh.  Two deaf kids, minus implants are not convincing witnesses of how loud an activity is or is not.

It was pretty amusing to both see their joy and unabandoned expression, and the level of noise they produced when they could not hear themselves or anything else.

Now, all that is left is to apologize to the neighbors tomorrow for exceeding normal decibel levels late at night.

Chance is just going to have to take our word for it that it was loud:)