Chance's Christmas concert

Tis the holiday season when choir classes at schools across the nation, perform the songs they have been working on for months.

Chance has been going through finals, his singing performance being part of his choir final.  As a stroke of luck, Chance was actually positioned in a spot where we could see him unlike his last concert where he was totally hidden by bigger high school kids.  It is much easier for parents to photograph and video their children if they can see them.  Otherwise, things get awkward like the summer I photographed the wrong kid coming off the slide at swim class.  We parents were all lined up by the slides trying to time things just right so that when our child came around the corner on the slide and splashed into the water, we could permanently record the moment.  I snapped a photo of a child I didn't even know. Obviously, I was off that day.  But I digress...

At the concert however, we had a decent view of Chance and were able to record him singing the songs that we had been hearing bits and pieces of as he strolled through the house during the last few weeks.

Chance did great and I am once again grateful that my boys stuck it out in choir in the early days when all of their male friends switched out of class as soon as their mothers weren't looking.  My boys like to sing and on top of their school performance, they both sang in the church choir this year.

So, here is Chance performing one of the songs from his choir concert.  We missed the first verse on video, but this is "The 12 days AFTER Christmas" - To set the stage, here's the missed first verse: "The first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight.  And so I chopped the pear tree down, and burned it just for spite.  And with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge, my true love, my true love, my true love gave to me."

Jingle Bells and other tales of the season

I was sitting in a chair reading when Chance came out, wiping sleep from his eyes and with out implants on.  His little sister ran up to him and grabbed onto his leg to greet him. She then handed him some Christmas stories that she had been looking at.  Chance pulled her down into a chair with him and began to read the stories to her.

After a few stories, Chance's sister turned to him and said,"You got to sit on Santa's lap yesterday like me!"
Chance did not respond.
His little sister then took Chance's face and turned it until he was facing her and again said,"You got to sit on Santa's lap yesterday like me!"
I heard Chance say, "Huh?"

I heard my daughter's little voice sigh in exasperation.  Chance was still looking at her trying to figure out what she was saying.

Chance is an excellent lip reader even when his implants are off.   His sister is just little enough though that she is still learning to enunciate her words and sometimes we have to have her repeat things so we know what she is saying.  Interestingly enough, apparently this transfers over into lip reading as well.  If someone does not pronunciate their words correctly, the shape of their mouth must make it more difficult to read their lips.

By now, Chance's little sister had positioned herself on his lap right in front of him so they were looking into each other's faces  I gently explained to her that Chance could not hear her because he did not have implants on yet.  Since Chance had started reading stories to her right away, I don't think it occurred to his sister that he could not hear her.

When I told Chance the same thing that his sister had been trying to tell him about Santa,  he read my lips and smiled at his sister and said,"Yep! I did see Santa!"

Then Chance suggested to his little sister that she drive little Matchbox cars on his back.  It is a wonderful sensation when someone does that, like a little rub down with pint size cars.  So right now, Chance is spread out on the floor and his little sister is driving miniature cars and trains up and down his back.  Chance looks quite content.  And he still can't hear any of us as his implants have yet to make their way to his ears this morning.

Sheesh

Every once in a while Chance does this thing where he comes out without implants,  and then proceeds to call me.

"Mom?"

"What?"

"Mom?"

"What?"

"Mom?"

"W H A T?"  I answer looking around to figure out where he is and why he keeps calling me after I have answered him each time.

Chance will be there on a chair or standing in the kitchen, with out implants on totally and completely unable to hear my answer, calling me.

Really?

Dude!  If you want to ask me something, you have to do your part and make sure you can hear me! That is what I am thinking.

I will catch his eye by waving my hands furiously like I am landing a small plane or wad up a piece of paper and throw it at him.

When he looks at me, I tell him to put his implants on.

Sheesh.

Deaf teenagers:)

Chance goes to spin class

Over Thanksgiving break when the boys were out of school, Chance and his brother came with me for the first time to spin class.

For those of you who have not experienced spin class before, you use a kind of stationary bike with a dial in front of you so that you can adjust the tension.  Turning the dial to the left, makes for easier peddling because there is less tension.  Turning the dial to the right, causes the pedaling to get harder and  the more you turn the dial to the right, the more it feels like you are climbing a giant hill.

Chance and his brother joined me during the wee morning hours before the sun was up to get an hour of exercise in for the day.

Spin class is held in a room full of bikes and after doing the warm up, most of the lights are turned out and you ride in the dark.  I don't know why.  So there all three of us were, exercising in the dark listening to our instructor give out instructions like, "Turn down the tension to level 4.....now, here comes a hill,  turn it up to level 9, here we go!"

Chance's brother being an avid biker, was in his element though it was a bit weird for him to be riding on a stationary bike.  I tried to help the boys during the class to know what was going on as the first time you go, it can be little confusing to know exactly where say level 9 is because there are no numbers on the dial.  It is very individual, you learn what a level 9 is for you and turn up the tension until it feels like you are climbing a steep hill, or what level feels like a flat level road to you.

When Chance and his brother were spinning their legs really fast while the rest of us were struggling up a hill, I told them to turn up the tension.

All during the class the instructor is calling out instructions and giving encouragement as you work to get stronger and better.

At one point, I looked over next to me and found Chance with his head practically on the handle bars and his legs barely able to push the pedals.   He looked exhausted.  I tried to get his attention and tell him to turn the tension down, and he did, but he was still struggling.  I told him to turn it down some more and then it occurred to me that Chance had not been hearing all of the instructions.  He had turned up the tension and then left it there, not hearing when the instructor told us to turn it down. We had been doing a pattern of turning the dial clear down to the left, riding as fast as we could, and then turning the dial up high like we were riding a hill.  We had done that at least 3 times except for Chance had not been hearing the change in instructions so he had kept the tension high the entire time.

I took note of the loud music, the dark room and realized that Chance probably could barely hear the instructor at all.

I felt so bad and told Chance to turn down the tension and get a drink.  He asked me if he could go to the bathroom and I told him that would probably be a good idea thinking it would give him a chance to bring down his heart rate.  When he got back, he looked much better.

I don't know that spin class was all that fun for Chance. He liked riding the bike and the music, but he wasn't able to hear the instructions.  We'll have to take him back and this time be more prepared.  Chance is more familiar with how the class works now, and his brother and I would make sure to tell him each time there was a change in how we were riding.   I want him to go and have a better experience the next time.  I am amazed at Chance and the way he just kept riding even though it was really hard for a loooong time for him.

Chance is a little trooper.

Politics is like the government and stuff

Chance has been working on an assignment in history class called "Adopt a grandparent."   The assignment included Chance doing interviews with his chosen grandparent.  Chance has chosen the best grandpa in our area to interview.  He and his wife are like the foundation of our neighborhood.  They plan neighborhood events and my children actually call them grandma and grandpa.

Chance has really gotten to know some things about his adopted grandpa through these interviews.

We were talking while in the car about various things the government is involved in.  I will just end it there.  Just let it be known that the conversation was full of opinions.

Chance chuckled, "Me and grandpa had the best time talking about politics during our last interview!"

Then he laughed.

Then he paused and said, Wait, politics is like the government and stuff right?"

When I assured him that politics was like the government and stuff, he went on.
"Ya, we talked about a lot of politics because we were talking about patriotism."

It is important that Chance know just what politics are.  He'll spend his whole life being affected by politics.  And talking about politicians. And having opinions about politics. And having that one person he knows who will insist on sharing their opposite opinion with Chance on a regular basis whether he wants them to or not.
Yes, he needs to be aware of just what politics are. I'm glad we clarified the definition.

Spirit Week

This past week was spirit week at Chance's school.  That means the kids got to do various activities each day like crazy hair day, crazy leg day (I know, don't ask), and on the last day they put face paint on their faces and sprayed their hair the school colors for an assembly.

Chance went to school benign enough.  He had a few streaks of face paint on with a supply of more to add later before the assembly.

By the time I picked Chance up from school, almost his entire head of hair was sprayed in school colors.  I asked him if his friends helped him.  He said no, a teacher had helped him.  THE teacher that teaches drama and is amazing at costuming and make-up.  She helped to make sure that Chance's efforts at school spirit were not half- hearted.

Chance told me the story about how as his teacher was covering his hair with yellow color, she suddenly kind of shrieked and said, "AH!  CHANCE, I FORGOT ABOUT YOUR IMPLANTS! THEY HAVE SOME SPRAY ON THEM!"

Chance chuckled and said, "Thank goodness I had my soccer covers on my implants.  Those wash off a lot easier."

Later that night,  after I told Chance's dad the story, he replied, "Is that why I saw Chance washing his soccer covers in the sink today?"

Why yes, that is why you saw Chance washing his soccer covers at the sink honey.  They participated in spirit week by doning the appropriate colors:)

The Shadow

Halloween night, we had a little party over here at our house for Chance, his brother and a few of their friends. We have a Japanese exchange student here for the week and a day after landing in the United States, he got to experience Halloween.  There is another family in the neighborhood who has an exchange student as well and he joined us at at the party.

Part of the festivities was a scavenger hunt that I arranged placing items at various houses throughout the neighborhood for the boys to find and bring home.  Then I handed them a map with the proper houses marked with an X.

Chance led one team and his brother the other.  The teams took off into the night and we passed out candy to pint size trick or treaters.  Chance's brother's team won.  They all came in panting and the Japanese exchange students crashed onto the floor leaning against the couch to rest. They had run at break neck speeds through the neighborhood while still adjusting to a different time zone.  They are awesome.  The boys had made good time dashing around the streets near our house to locate the items.

Now the boys had to carve or decorate a pumpkin using the items they collected on the scavenger hunt.  It didn't matter if they carved the pumpkin or just managed to stick stuff onto it, they just had to use all of the items.  I thought it would give the Japanese students an opportunity to decorate a pumpkin.  In the past our exchange students have been rather fascinated with carving pumpkins.  Chance and his team arrived not long after his brother's team.

When the boys sat down with their pumpkins to begin decorating them,  it soon became clear that Chance's team did not have all of the items.  When this was pointed out, Chance exclaimed in exasperation,"I didn't know we had to go to all of the houses!"

I told Chance that I had explained that when all of the boys were sitting in the living room before they left.
 Chance looked around a little confused and then said." I didn't hear that! I am deaf you know." Chance likes to know what the plan is, and he felt he didn't have that information in this case.  Chance also rarely brings up his deafness in contexts like this.  There was actually another deaf boy on Chance's team and he didn't realize that they were supposed to go to all of the house's either.

So I loaded up Chance and took him back to the two houses he missed to gather the items.

All the boys ended up carving the pumpkins and then incorporating the items into their design.  The Japanese students pulled the pumpkin guts out with their bare hands.  They worked together with a look of both unbelief and wonder as the seeds and stringy goo never seemed to end.

It is worth noting that this year Chance and his brother dressed up as Peter Pan and his Shadow.  Chance was the shadow.  They had a great time hamming this situation up at school as Chance would steal his brother's hat and his brother would chase after him.  Apparently, Peter Pan also tried to sew his shadow on a few times as well.  They kept the student body amused.

At one point during their dad's trick or treat parade at his work, Chance wrote up an imaginary declaration of independence and handed it to Peter Pan.  His brother refused to accept it and tore the imaginary document into shreds.


Our family always has a theme we dress up like for Halloween.  This year, Chance's youngest brother and sister held heavy sway over our theme.  They chose Peter Pan.  So, Chance was Peter Pan's Shadow, his brother was Peter Pan,  his sister was  pirate, his brother was Captain Hook and his littlest sister was Wendy.  She wanted to be little Wendy and me to be big Wendy.  So we were both Wendy with matching blue dresses and bows in our hair.  Chance's dad was Mr. Smee.  A pointed request from Chance's little sister...she wanted her dad to be Mr. Smee.  It worked out quite well and everyone looked great.  I think Chance's little sister pulled off being Wendy better than I did, but one really can't compete with someone who is that cute.

Chance, Chance, are you there?

Chance has been in a choir performance at school all week.  The choir sang for a performance of three classic musicals that the school put on.  Students acted out scenes from these musicals and Chance and his fellow choir students sang and enhanced the performances of,"Phantom of the Opera," Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde," and "Wicked."

I knew Chance was in the show, I saw him and his brother perform on Monday night with the entire family.  It took us a while to find Chance that night as he was hidden from view behind some taller high school students.  We didn't have a camera that night, but consoled ourselves with the thought that we would bring the camera to one of the other performances as the boys sang several times through out the week.

I attended again solo on Saturday night and was ready and waiting on the front row to capture marvelous photos of both Chance and his brother to permanently record this moment of their junior high and high school years.  I found Chance's brother, he was kind of hidden in a corner, but by zooming the camera in and stretching, I managed to get some pictures of him.  Then I waited after the intermission when Chance would be on stage to capture him on film.  I looked as the choir stood to sing and could not see him.  Then I searched the stage when the choir sat down but could not find my boy for the life of me.  I began to doubt Chance.  Chance had brought a good friend to the performance and I could not find him in the audience either.  I started to wonder if Chance had missed the curtain call because he was with his friend and had not been where he was supposed to be.  Then my mind wandered to how Chance's grade would be affected by missing his concert.  Choir only has one way to have a term final, and that is to sing.  I could not see Chance singing and envisioned him failing choir because he  missed a curtain call and then could not get out on the stage to sing his term final in choir. In a desperate thought, I wondered if I could get Chance's brother's attention and begin a signing dialogue that would have gone something like this:

'Where is your brother?"

Chance's brother would glance around the stage, and not seeing his brother either, would shrug his shoulders at me as he started to wonder as I did if Chance would now fail his choir class.

I restrained myself from using such communications and did not cause a scene.

At the very end of the show, when the actors and actresses came out to bow, I SAW CHANCE.

He was wedged behind some highs school students in the bass section and could only be seen when everyone on stage started to move around and shift their positions. In a desperate attempt to capture him on film, I was able to get one picture to prove he was there.  One.  Then the ranks closed in again and Chance once more became invisible.

So, here is Chance in his term choir concert.

I love the fact that Chance has learned songs from these musicals and has fallen in love with a few of them.  At least I can hear him sing around the house, since I could not hear or see him in concert at the school.

For the term final concert, I am sending Chance with a stool.  That way I may be able to see him perform.

Chance doesn't believe he can't do it

They had a career day at school this past week.  In the morning the kids took tests, then in the afternoon, they got to talk to various people who were visiting the school talking about possible career options.
It was during this little career investigation that Chance came across a career that he was told he would not be able to do because he is deaf.

A marine came to one of Chance's classes and was telling the kids about being a marine. One of Chance's best friends from school raised his hand and asked if Chance would be able to join the marines with his implants.

The marine asked what kind of implants they were.  Chance's friend replied they helped Chance to hear. The marine then said that you could not be in the marines with poor hearing.

This did not set well with Chance.  I asked Chance if he had asked his friend to ask the question about the implants and he said no he didn't.

On the way home from school, Chance was telling me that, "these people don't know what they are talking about!  I can hear just fine!"

I think this may be the first time that Chance has been told that he can not do something because he is deaf. Obviously, Chance does not agree that this would hinder him in being a marine.

Most times if Chance was told that he could not do something because he was deaf, I would be right there with Chance telling him that he could do anything he wanted to do and he didn't need to worry about the opinion of others.

I understand though how being a marine and being deaf could be problematic. If Chance's implants come off in combat or for any other reason, he can not hear.  And sending in an interpreter with him into battle to sign for him all the commands that are issued is not really feasible.

Technology as it stands now for deaf and hard of hearing people would not do well in the marines where you are put in some of the most dangerous situations in the world.  When you can't hear or there is the possibility that your "ears" can fall off (or be blown off), this can cause problems for you and for the men and women who are serving with you.  Not because as a deaf person you are not capable. It is the nature of the communication between troops and the noise and chaos that ensues in some situations the marines are involved in.  You have to be able to communicate with your team.

So, for now with the present technology, I can see how being deaf in the marines would be a problem.  I don't rule out future technology and other possibilities though.  Chance does not feel he is held back at all by being deaf, so he'd be open to other possibilities.

Who knows, maybe in a few years, there will be a technology advancement that makes it possible for Chance to be a marine while being deaf.

I never rule out any possibilities with that kid.

Chance's implant goes SPLAT

I got a call from the school last week.  It was Chance's brother calling. He informed me that he, Chance and a teacher had just picked up the pieces of Chance's implant off of the gymnasium floor.

"Pieces?"  I asked.

"The hook part of the implant isn't there anymore and it is in pieces."

"How is Chance? Does he need me to bring his backup implant?"

"Chance, do you want mom to bring your back up implant?" My son called out to Chance who was standing nearby.

I heard Chance in the background say that he would be alright for the last two periods of the day.

"Chance just wanted you to know so that you could order another one right away." My son informed me.


Flash forward a few hours later.



Chance presents me with a baggie containing his implant.  In various pieces.

"WHAT HAPPENED?"  I asked since I could not fathom how the implant could have broken that way.

Chance then demonstrated what happened in P.E. class that day.  He and a friend were goofing off in the gym and Chance put his arm around his friends neck/shoulders.  His friend reached back behind his head to grab Chance and hit one of the implants with his arm, causing it to fly off and crash onto the gymnasium floor.  Where it kind of went splat.

Chance then went and got his brother in class so he could come help him recover the implant pieces.  When your brother is deaf and his hearing device splatters across the floor, it counts as a valid excuse to leave class.
Needless to say, that implant has retired and a new recruit is en route to our house through the mail as we speak.

Chance on his way back for his second implant surgery.

Who knew THAT could happen?(Chance 7 years ago)

Wow. Who knew THAT could happen?

This is why we have insurance on those babies.