The sounds of the ocean...or a torrential rain that threatens us all

The sounds of the ocean  and streams gurgling can be soothing and relaxing.  Which is why I was listening to various options to see which calming music I wanted to download onto my tablet.

Suddenly, I became aware that Chance, who was in a chair in the living room was swiveling his head looking over in the direction of the window and keenly checking outside, and then looking in the direction of the kitchen.

He was obviously looking around to find something, and soon he got up out of the chair with a look of urgency on his face.

"'WHERE IS THE WATER COMING FROM?"  Chance was a bit panicked now and was gearing up to help bail out the torrents of water that he was certain were going to flood our home.

I listened too, wondering if I should be concerned about a faucet that was left running or something.

Then I realized that the relaxing sound of rain coming out of the computer speaker and relaxing me, was working Chance into a panic, as he couldn't tell where the sound of running water was coming from.

When I told Chance that I had turned the sound of rain onto the computer, he came closer, listened for a minute, and then looked at me like I was crazy for putting on the sound of running water.

It was relaxing running water, rain falling, ocean waves and such.  Apparently, Chance and I have different ideas of what sounds are relaxing:)

Sing No More

Chance and I were in the car after I picked him up from school, when something he said reminded me of the movie, "Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang."  This movie was known as "Putta, Putta" in our family for a long time because that is what Chance called it when he was little.  He started asking me to watch, "Putta, Putta" one day and I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.  I remember standing in the family room completely confused as Chance repeated over and over again, Putta! Putta!  Obviously Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Putta Putta sound almost exactly alike so I don't know why it took me so long to catch on to what he was saying:)

That movie was one of Chance's favorites when he was little, so I started to sing one of the songs from that show with the lyrics, "Truly Scrumptious, you're truly truly scrumptious...."  Kind of catchy isn't it?

There in the car, Chance looked at me with a weird expression as I serenaded him with a song from his favorite childhood show.

"Remember this song?"  I asked in between stanzas.

Then Chance smiled a crooked little smile and said, "Are you sure you are singing that song right?"

"Putta, Putta!"  I said giving him a hint.

Chance told me that he remembered the song(we had just watched the movie again, I am sure that helped).

"Are you sure you are singing that song right?"  Chance asked again.

I emphasized the words for Chance to make sure he heard the lyrics.

"No, I mean is your voice supposed to sound like that when you sing, all high and squeaky like that?"

I looked at Chance for a second and then reminded him that HE was the one that was hard of hearing and couldn't hear things quite right and if there was a problem with my singing it must be his issue not mine.

He laughed.  And I quit singing.

Chance hears only what he wants to hear

Yesterday we went to Chance's brothers regional swim meet.  For those of you who have not experienced these events, they are LOUD.  You have hoards of teenagers from several different  high schools milling around a pool waiting their turn to compete.  There are many different events, the back stroke, the breast stroke,  the 50 yard freestyle, the 100 yard freestyle etc. etc.   There are several heats of each stroke and then there are girls races and boys races.

Big cavernous rooms with swimming pools have interesting sound dynamics.  Everything is echoey and the sound carries.  All this sound was not a problem for Chance.  It was a problem for his little brother though. When we left the swim meet, his brother started to hold his head and cry.  A lot.  We could do nothing to comfort him in the car so we just tried to be quiet as each noise brought fresh tears of pain since his head hurt so bad.  He seemed to have a massive headache.

While the rest of us sat without music and without talking that much, listening to the crying, Chance tapped me on the shoulder.  He was smiling and holding his implants in his hands.

"Oh, this is so peaceful and quiet!"

Indeed, it would be nice to be able to take one's ears off at times.

As a mom, I need to hear the crying to make sure that everyone is alright and Chance's poor brother was alright once we got him home, snuggled him, and gave him a bit of medication.

But at times, it would be nice to have the option of taking my ears off like Chance.