Chance huddles!

Chance and his friends were dashing in and out of the house like usual today. They were in between adventures and just as the three of them passed through the living room in front of my chair, Chance put an arm around each of them and pulled them into a huddle. In excited whispers, he began explaining his thoughts on what their next move should be as his friends whispered back and nodded enthusiastically.

I could not hear what the boys were planning, but I was delighted to have witnessed Chance calling them all to a huddle and whispering as any boy would.

One of the incidents that motivated us to really pursue the implant, was watching a DVD that one of Chance's friend's parents had made of Chance and two of his friends. It was really cute and Chance loved watching himself and his friends running around telling jokes etc. Chance' s dad and I were realizing that while Chance was clearly enjoying his time with his friends, there were several times when Chance was left out of the proceedings because he could not hear what was going on. For instance, when the boys huddled in a circle and whispered to each other. Chance smiled and tried to follow what was going on, but it was clear he simply could not hear what his friends were saying. At one point, Chance's friends whispered to each other and then giggling madly, dashed off to another room. Chance was left watching them trying to figure out what was going on and where they had gone. After a few seconds, he got up and followed.

After the DVD, Chance and his brother laughed and talked about various parts of the"movie" . Chance's dad and I wanted to cry. It was as if we had been given a secret glimpse into Chance's life when he was away from home. We realized that Chance needed more hearing ability if he was going to go the oral route. Could he hear more than he was? We had to find out.

Now here we are 3 years later and Chance is the one calling the whispering huddles. We have caught him huddling in the backyard whispering plans to fight the enemy which happened to be his brother and his friends who were armed with foam swords. Chance can now take command of the huddles instead of enduring them and then trying to figure out what is going on after wards.

Let's hear it for the huddle!!!