The job

Chance had his first training for his new job.  He will be a teacher's aid and help with swimming lessons at our local pool.

That's right, Chance who wears implants, will be spending his mornings in a pool.  Filled with water and splashing children.  Teaching children how to swim.  Chance doesn't see any boundaries to what he can do with implants and I go with him on that.  That boy can do anything he wants.

Chance's implants can take some water, but we also got him these snazzy little dohickies that fit over his implants to help protect them.  Chance will be in the pool, helping a teacher teach little kids to swim.  Some of these little kids did not come up with the idea to learn to swim on their own and are being forced to learn by their parents.  They will cry, kick, hit the water with their hands and otherwise do all sorts of things that could get implants wet.

Little dohickies

Come to think of it, Chance first learned to swim against his will, and he cried, kicked and hit the water with his hands, all while looking at me in despair and holding out his arms to me.  But Chance had to learn to swim.  Chance out of all of my children, would be able to hear me the least when we were around any kind of water.  He needed to know how to swim at least a little and not just sink like a log to the bottom of a pool.  It was a hard go, I must admit.  Chance didn't want to learn to swim at first.  Heck, he didn't even want to be in the water with his teacher.  So guess what happened?  The teacher's aid would work with Chance and help him by gently having him do what the rest of the class was doing.  She knew he was deaf, and she worked with him by demonstrating what he needed to do.

It was rather heartbreaking as Chance called out to me during swimming lessons

Now Chance will come full circle and help other hapless children who are in swim lessons against their will.  Some of the kids love swim lessons and look forward to it every day.  Chance got to the point where he loved swim lessons and looked forward to them.  It didn't happen that first year though.

I am so excited for Chance.  He is really good at working with kids and he genuinely likes them and they like him back.  I think he will do a great job and the kids will love him.  AND, we get to try out these little dohickies on Chance' implants.  He is really excited about using them.  His dream is to swim underwater and hear what the rest of us hear and see what it is like to have sound when he is swimming.

The season is over

Chance's soccer team took 4th place in the state.  Each game this week was a nail bitter and two of the games went into over time.  One game went into double over time and ended with the kick offs.  Chance's team won that one.  It was intense, and all week was like that.  Each game came down to the last minute.

One of the highlights, was when Chance kicked the assist to his best friend and then his friend made his first goal ever in a game.  It was like they knew what the other one was thinking.

They didn't loose any games until the 3rd day, and then they lost the 4th day as well, with a goal made by the other team just as the buzzer blew.

I am telling you, watching the games was incredible and there was never a dull moment.  The team is so close and they will remember this year in soccer forever. Their coach said they are the best team she has ever had. I wonder if she still feels that way since Chance arranged for a 5 gallon bucket of water to be poured over her head when the season was over:)

CHANCE GOT A JOB!!

He starts training later today and I will give a full report.  He is so excited. There were many kids that applied for this job and only 5 slots.  CHANCE WAS ONE OF THOSE 5! YIPPEE!

I will write more about Chance's job when he gets home and tells me how it went:)

Chance's team is ready to rumble

Chance's school soccer team has played well this year.  So well that they are ranked 2nd and will have tournament games all week this week.  They will have the home team advantage too since all of the games will be played at their school (until the final, assuming the 1-seed wins to that point too).

Chance's school has amazing school spirit and several teachers and parents are always found in the crowd cheering the kids on.

Chance has some amazing friends on the soccer team and they are a tight group that have each others' backs.

There is a wall at school marking each goal that has been made by the team this year and the name of the player who made the goal, along with the names of the assists, where appropriate (and remembered). Chance's name is listed on some of those papers and he has had a great season. His coaches said that he was one of the best conditioned on the team.  That made Chance very happy.  He can now kick well with his left foot as well as his right foot which he is quite excited about.

Chance's county soccer league just ended for the season and will pick up again in the fall.  As soon as the school soccer season ends, Chance will begin swim team and be getting up at 6:15 each morning to swim. There is no such thing as sleeping in for Chance through the summer.  But that is okay, he loves to swim. and stay active.

Go Chance Go!

Where are all the other players

Get the ball Chance! Chance is in the orange and yellow cleats

We are all excited for the tournament this week and wish the team all the best! Go team!

Being deaf helps keep brotherely relatioships intact

Chance and his older brother share a bedroom.  They are great buddies most of the time and have each other's back.

Chance being deaf has really helped the relationship stay on track since his brother has a habit that would drive people who can hear all through the night to the brink of madness.

With all of the technology available in this day and age, Chance's brother has yet to master the option to put music on a timer at night as you go to sleep.  Instead of music playing for 10 or 20 minutes while drifting off to sleep, Chance's brother's music sometimes PLAYS ALL NIGHT LONG.  It is still playing in the morning when he gets up for school.

This may explain why he is so tired some mornings.  We should schedule a discussion about the repercussions of ,making your brain listen to music all night long.

This glitch in Chance's brother's habits though, does not sour their relationship in the least because CHANCE CAN NOT HEAR THE MUSIC PLAYING ALL NIGHT LONG.  He just blissfully sleeps in that comatose world he enters at night where nothing disturbs him.  Except for us if we need to move him or wake him up prematurely.  Even in those moments I think we are more disturbed than he is as we shake him, lift up his arm, or manually try to lift him as he continues to sleep on.
If there is ever an emergency in the middle of the night and we have to evacuate the house,  it is not out of the realm of possibilities that two of us will be half carrying Chance out the door as he still sleeps. Forget the idea of fleeing with provisions ahead of a flood etc. we will be fleeing holding onto Chance.

I wonder how hard it is for his friends to wake him up at scout camp. I am going to start asking questions.

Yes, Chance and his brother are close and have each other's back,  and no music playing through the wee hours of the morning can change that.