You can count on me

Chance and his brother went camping with their dad to a camp that let the boys experience life as a civil war soldier. They were not allowed to bring any technological devices, though Chance did inform us that he would be taking his implants with him despite the rules:)

Snacks were forbidden since civil war soldiers were not wolfing down granola bars, M&M's or corn-nuts in camp.

The campers all slept in the type of tents that were used during the civil war and marched around with their "guns" doing drills as the soldiers would have done.

The leaders or dads were in one huge tent and the boys were all in another huge tent. Chance and his brother went with some boys they knew in their scout troops but they also made some friends in camp. It was Chance's first scout camp out since he just turned 11, and he was very excited. The boys were all talking excitedy and enjoying themselves and then the lights out at 10:30 call came out. When you don't have modern flashlights, it is not as fun to stay awake in a dark camp.

When the wake up call came at 6:30 in the morning, Chance's dad said that it was like the boys had all woken up in unison just before the official revelry call and were laughing and awake in the kids tent. He realized that Chance had probably missed both the wake up call and the interaction between the boys first thing in the morning.

He needn't have worried. When Chance's brother realized that the boys were all waking up, he woke up Chance and had him put his implants on so Chance was in on all of the action from the beginning.

It does my heart good as a mother to know that Chance's brother is watching out for him and helping him to be involved in the activities. I am impressed that he thought of Chance right off even when he was talking with his new friends. He could have just left Chance to sleep until the morning wake up call went out and then wake him up. But he didn't.

I really think that Chance and his brother were sent down to our family by God to be together. They are close and watch out for each other. They may have a few moments of discord every once in a while, but they are devoted and loyal to one another which does my heart good. They will have each other to lean on and confide in and that is a great thing.

No electronic devices

It is the time of year every child waits in anticipation for......year end testing in school.
Chance's class has been testing these past few weeks and some of these tests have taken place in the school library.
Before entering, the kids are admonished that NO electronic devices will be allowed and they are enumerated just in case someone forgets; no cell phones, no ipods no nothing.

The teacher that goes around with Chance's class through out the day told me that Chance made him crack up the other day as they entered the library. Chance walked up and said slyly,
"Mr. Nixon, I have electronic devices."
Then he tugged on his implants and laughed.
Indeed, Chance does have electronic devices and no one can do anything about it:)

Chance at speech fair

Chance performed at the annual Alexander Graham Bell Associations sponsored Speech Fair again this year. Only this time, he played the guitar and sang,"You Are My Sunshine". He was excited to play and even ran into school to perform the number for his guitar teacher the day before since he was not going to be able to make it to the annual event.

The Speech Fair is always a bit of a walk down memory lane for us. It is a sort of "This is Your Life" scenario where we relive the years that Chance learned to hear and talk.

First, there are the preschoolers all tiny and a little nervous to perform. Their teachers have been working with them on their pronunciation for weeks leading up to this event. Whatever they end up singing or reciting is adorable. Parents get a little weepy thinking,"My deaf child is up there singing...look what they can do!"

Then the kindergartners get up with a little more confidence than the preschoolers and perform and parents sit in awe at the progress their child has made in pronunciation in just one year.

Then the first graders get up all confident and sing practically like pros. Parents beam in their seats as they marvel at the singing and talking abilities of their blossoming deaf or hard of hearing child.

Then there are the older kids who perform by themselves singing, dancing or playing a musical instrument. It is miraculous to behold how far these kids come in just a few years.

When Chance was really little, we would watch these older kids and get emotional wondering if someday Chance would be doing as well as they were. We would sit riveted in our seats as the kids introduced themselves and talked about how they were on the dance team or soccer team at school. Watching those older kids gave us hope and faith that someday Chance would be integrated into his neighborhood school and do things like join the local cub scout group and go to church with us just like any boy his age.

That day is here. Chance is thriving and completely integrated into local activities, be it church, cub scouts, or the city league track team. And one of the most touching things for me, were the parents who came up to me and told me how well Chance was doing and how they watched him and it gave them hope for their child.

The process continues. We watched other kids and got hope for Chance's future and now other parents are watching Chance and furthering their hopes for their own children. It is truly a blessing to be a part of this process, to walk down this road with Chance and to have him in our family. We love him.

When you can't hear the jack hammer, deaf is good

We have men jackhammering through concrete in our basement. It is for a good cause in the long run, yet quite loud. The baby has not napped on the days the jack hammer has been going. I guess that is not a sound conducive to napping.

All of us deal with the sound in different ways. Such as not even attempting to perform a task that requires concentration and not talking on the phone. You can't hear what the person on the other end is saying anyway unless you go to the very end of the laundry room, turn off the washer and dryer and then you can hear some but not all of the converstation on the other end.

Chance we discovered however, is not bothered by such little nuances such as jackhammering when his implants are not on. This became apparent when the jackhammering started fresh and early in the morning for the rest of us, but Chance woke up and asked us as he sauntered to the kitchen,"Are the workers coming today?"

We all looked at each other in amazment.

"Don't you hear that noise?" I asked Chance as he faithfully watched my lips so he could see what I was saying.

"What noise?" Chance wanted to know.

Well then. The baby may not be able to nap through the jackhammering, but I think Chance wouldn't have a problem if he takes his implants off.

Sometimes, I kind of wish I had implants.

Chance knows his composers

We were sitting Sunday morning watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform a song for their "Music and the Spoken Word" program when Chance asked,"Is this music by George Frideric ? It sounds like his music. He used to write and conduct music for the queen of England."

"Where did you learn about George Frideric ?" I asked.

"Mr. Imler's class at school." Chance replied.

We looked up the composer and it turns out it was George Frideric Handel.

"Oh, I forgot the last part Handel." Chance replied.

Mr. Imler is the music teacher at school. Apparently, Chance has been paying attention in that class. AND hearing enough to be able to differentiate between composers to be able to know when music sounds like a certain one's work. Chance was right. The music the choir was singing was composed by George Frideric Handel. My deaf son picked that up by listening to a choir sing. I believe in miracles, and my son's hearing capabilities fall into the miracle range on days like today.

Thank goodness for miracles, Chance, and his music teacher Mr. Imler.

Things that go bump in the night...and day and midafternoon

Chance is hearing things. I mean, he has been hearing things for many years now for which we are very grateful. Lately though, he has been hearing eerie things that make him highly nervous. He has come to me several times and told me that he hears footsteps, knocking or other random noises from our basement. This sort of thing gets to a kid. I have tried to figure out what he is hearing. The basement is mostly unfinished and part of the house upstairs has wood floors so the noise carries. I had Chance go downstairs and then I ran across the wood floor and back to see if that is what he is hearing.

It wasn't.

I have gone down to check out the noises when he hears them, but the noise is gone by the time I get there.

The mystery is, what is Chance hearing? We have been in this house for several years so one would think that all of the basic daily noises such as walking across the wood floor, or the dishwasher draining, would be noises that Chance has acclimated to.

I don't want Chance to be scared that someone is in the house which he has expressed as a possibility. We have bunnies that live downstairs and sometimes they make a ruckus in their cages, but again, we have had the bunnies for years so one would think Chance would be used to those noises.

Today, Chance's friend was over and apparently they both heard the noises but when I went down to check out what they were hearing, I heard nothing. Twice.

It is a mystery. In the mean time, I noticed that the last time Chance went downstairs with his friend, he was carrying his pellet gun down by his side like policemen do in movies as they search an area for a bad guy. Normally we do not let the boys carry their pellet guns around the house and Chance is quite compliant with this rule. I think he just wanted to feel armed in case the noise was attached to a bad guy.

We need to figure this mystery out so that Chance can feel secure in his own home.

The Tower of Terror

Chance and his Mom (along with sister, far left, and brother, far right) try to save his implants.

I believe this photo right here, best describes the thoughts of Chance and me as we lunged downward in our Tower of Terror elevator. Who knew that the ride had a camera taking pictures and who could have planned for the camera to snap just as Chance's implant started to come off? Talk about perfect timing! We weren't familiar with the ride and were not sure if we should take the implants off or not. Turns out, we should have:) The implants took care of the problem themselves somewhat when one of them swung off and while Chance and I both watched in nervous anticipation landed a short distance ahead of us. It was added stomach butterflies to an already thrilling ride. Thankfully, we were able to reach the implant before the ride lurched downward again. The ride was great fun and after the implants were safely padded in my pocket, trouble free.

Living life on the edge

There are those extreme people who like to live life on the edge. They scale mountains without using harnesses, they bungee jump off of the world's tallest bridges and they zoom through the darkness of the Space Mountain ride at Disneyland not being able to see or hear, reaching speeds of 55 miles per hour. What a thrill! Talk about living on the edge.

Well, our Chance is one of those thrill seekers. During our recent trip to Disneyland, due to the fact that we have never assessed at exactly what speed will cause the implants to let go of the magnet and fly off of Chance's head, Chance takes them off when going on roller coasters. Space Mountain is unique because you are hurling through outer space which as everyone knows is extremely dark except for a few dimpled lights provided by stars.

Chance (waving) and his brother get ready for "Blast Off" on California Screamin' Roller Coaster at California Adventure Park

I was curious to see how all of our kids liked the ride, but especially Chance who rode through the dark in silence with out hearing the nifty music or commands from mission control. Not even the screeches from other riders who give a clue as to impending dips or staggering heights on the tracks.

He loved it.

Maybe we can get him a nifty headband to hold them on, but then the microphones would be covered anyway so would that defeat the purpose?

Chance sings a solo

Chance tried out for a solo part today in music class. If you wanted a solo part, you stood up in front of the class and sang a song while the whole class listened. Quite an act of bravery I would say at age 10. Heck, that is an act of bravery at ages 7-103. Singing in front of people takes courage and confidence.
Chance got up and started to sing, and then some of the students started to laugh at him. I don't know that Chance would have told us about this incident, but the chorus teacher at the school is also Chance's guitar teacher and he told Chance's dad when we took the boys for their guitar lessons.
The teacher told the laughing students that they were being rude and and he would not tolerate it in class and that everyone was to be treated with respect. (In his words, he "came unglued!!!") Chance told us that one of the boys came over and apologized after class.
Our little Chance's confidence was a little shattered and so I went in to do some damage control.
First off, I explained to Chance that he was incredibly brave to stand up and sing in front of the class and that his dad and I were proud of him.
Then I told him that I didn't know why, but some kids are just mean and rude. They make fun of kids who don't shoot the basketball that well (Chance is a good shot and plays the game,"Speed", at recess), or kids who don't wear clothes that they like or kids who are different than them. I told him that even adults have people who are rude to them sometimes. And sometimes, kids don't realize that they are being mean.
I told him that we just have to ignore those people who laugh, and that while it can hurt our feelings when they make fun of us, to try not to worry about those few kids. There are many many more people who are not laughing and we can't let the few who are stop us from doing the things we want to do.
I acknowledged that it was hurtful that those kids were rude and laughed, but that most of the class was not laughing. Then I told Chance about the time when I was in school and I went to try out for a part in a play and I sat in the back of the room watching other kids try out in front of an audience and then I chickened out and I never tried.
"You did?" Chance asked surprised.
Then I told him,"Chance, it takes courage to stand up and sing in front of the class, and if you want to sing a solo later in the school year, I think you should get up and try out again."
Chance took this in for a minute and kind of slowly shook his head.
I think he will try out again if it is something he wants to do. I hope that is the case because I don't want him to loose his confidence. I also don't want him to get a complex about performing in front of people. He may have kids that laugh at him due to the fact that it takes him longer to learn a song and sing right on key. I want him to have the confidence to go forward anyway. These kids have no idea what a miracle Chance's hearing is and how much harder he has to work than they do to sing. I want him to be able to get past those negative kids and press forward. Chance can sing, and he is getting better and taking lessons to teach him to hear the differences in the notes and then translate that into his singing voice. And he can do it. He'll have to learn to block out the naysayers who always seem to show up.
We have been very blessed in the fact that Chance has not had a lot of ridicule from other kids due to his deafness. I don't want him to acquire a complex about it now. I'm not even sure he equates his deafness to the laughing kids. I just want him to be able to dim the noise of the naysayers and go forward to where he wants to be.

Constrained to the back of the van

After pulling into the garage after driving carpool, I heard Chance say to his little brother, "You have to get my implant back."

"Why does he have to get your implant back?" I asked.

"Because he took it and put it somewhere in the van," Chance replied, remarkably calm about the whole situation.

So I turned to my youngest son and asked,"Where is the implant?"

"Back there." He said pointing to the back of the van.

"Back there where?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"I think it is in the very back of the van." Chance replied.

Unfortunately the very back of our van which usually only has a stroller in it, had a box to go the thrift store and several play items which had not yet been removed after a week end family get together.

The search began with my youngest son at my side after I told him that he was not allowed to go into the house until we found the implant.

Chance soon joined us but we found that flat little implants can hide really well. Maybe getting a bland beige color so that it would blend in with Chance's hair better was not a good idea. Maybe we should have gone for neon green or something.

I started to imagine the reaction of the thrift workers as they came across the implant in the donated box:  "Bob, Look! I found a CIA earpiece in this here box!"

Finally, the implant was located in the bed of the stroller where it had slid down and was only visible if you actually unfolded the stroller.

Problem solved. After Chance's little brother spend a little time in his bedroom, gave Chance a big hug and promised never to do that again.:)