A day in the life of a mother with deaf children

Today I thought I would provide some insight about what it is like living with deaf children.  Two incidents happened today, one with each of my deaf boys that I am quite sure are unique to a mother who has deaf children.

The first incident happened at the school when we went to see Ammon's sister play basketball.  On our way to the school, Ammon informed me that his hearing aid battery was dead and that he needed a new one.  I keep hearing aid batteries and cochlear implant batteries in my bag for obvious reasons so I wasn't that concerned about the hearing aid.  I figured we would just change out the battery when we got to the school.  Ammon does not like to go without hearing for any amount of time, so he was trying to tell me that he needed the battery right now.  As I was driving, through a construction zone no less, I told him that he would have to wait until we got to the school to change the battery.  He didn't really like this plan, but seeing as he couldn't reach my purse, and I couldn't hand it to him while driving through a construction zone, the situation was what it was.

While I was pulling my bag out in the parking lot, Ammon started to tell me what the difference is between hearing aid batteries and cochlear implant batteries.  He explained that the hearing aid batteries were the little ones and that the cochlear implant batteries were the bigger ones. How long have I been dealing with batteries for my deaf kids I ask you.  The answer is 9 1/2 years. I can see though that even after all of this experience, my young son doubts my ability to choose the correct battery for the situation.

Then later tonight as I sat in the living room with Chance, me in one chair and he in the other, I had an incident with my cell phone.  By incident I mean that I got a call from a number here in town twice in a row that I missed.  I wasn't sure whose number it was, so I called it back.  No one answered the phone, but my cell phone wouldn't hang up.  It kept ringing, ringing and ringing and the screen that would allow me to hang up disappeared. I could get to the screen to dial and call someone, but not the one that had the red button that ended a call.  I was gesturing with a "what in the world" sort of gesture and Chance noticed asking what was going on.  I started to answer him, then realized that Chance did not have his implants on, and furthermore, he had asked me the question and then turned away to look at the computer screen.  I am thinking that he didn't really want to know what was going on over in my chair:)

And then there is my all time favorite thing that happens when you have deaf children.  When they hear something wrong, they think you said it wrong, not that they heard it wrong.  For example, I will tell Ammon to move the chair and he will say, "Mom! You said move the hair!" Then he will laugh.  I know that I am not perfect when I speak every time, but it is interesting how your deaf kids figure that it must be you talking wrong rather than them hearing you wrong.

Last but not least, deaf children like to ask you questions when they cannot hear the answers. Big questions, how does the world work questions first thing in the morning or at bedtime, both times when hearing aids and implants are no longer on.  Here are a few of the questions I have been asked by deaf children who have no hearing device on:
How does electricity move through wire?
How do hydraulic engines work?
How come we can't see all of the planets at night?
Why did dinosaurs go extinct?
How do airplanes stay up in the air?

I am delighted that my children are curious about the world they live in. We just have to delay some answers until they can hear them:)