San Francisco and Shrimp

Chance just got back from a 5 day trip to San Francisco, California for school. He ate shrimp while he was there and he really liked it.  Shrimp.  This little ocean creature would not have been added to Chance's diet had he not stayed in Hawaii for 4 weeks during the summer where he gained an appreciation for seafood.

When Chance was about 10 years old we went on a family vacation to Southern California.  We wanted to give the kids an opportunity to try some seafood since we were by the ocean and they don't get much of a chance to eat seafood at home.  We ordered a pasta dish with shrimp at a restaurant and Chance's brother gave it a try and enjoyed the new flavor.  Chance gave it a try and we had an embarrassing moment where we thought Chance was going to throw up at our table.  We were gently telling him to spit the shrimp into his napkin and to take a drink of soda pop to get the taste out of his mouth before we had an incident.

Chance's taste buds have matured, and they were further refined in Hawaii where he was exposed to several different foods including lots of seafood.  Chance has adapted to shrimp so well in fact, that he has asked us if we can add it to a Spanish dish that his dad regularly makes here at home called paella.  Paella traditionally has shrimp as an ingredient but we have left it off for many years now for the children.  Now, Chance and his brother as the oldest children are asking that we add shrimp into our diets.  Who could have guessed that would happen?

Chance had a fantastic time in San Francisco.  His brother and several of his best friends from school were able to travel together which made it even more exciting.  They all got to ride a train to California which was a 17 hour trip.  The boys did sleep a bit on the train, but there was also a lot of eating and playing card games with friends as well. Chance's younger brothers and sisters were quite jealous when we dropped the boys off at the train station.  It is not common here to travel by train to other states so this was a new experience for most of the kids headed to San Francisco. We have heard it was quite the experience and look forward to hearing more details in the days to come.

The boys were so enamored with the city that they neglected to take many photos with people in them. Chance didn't take one photo with him in it.  No selfies on this trip.

 

Chance has a style all his own

Chance's cousin got married over the holidays.  We spent the weekend with cousins, aunts and uncles celebrating with the happy couple.  Chance is close to this cousin and has enjoyed getting to know his new cousin-in-law :)

Christmas is a popular time to get married in our neck of the woods as we have several colleges nearby and Christmas break is a perfect time for couples to get married in between semesters at school.

While sitting at a table during the wedding reception, one of Chance's married cousins made an interesting observation about Chance.  He watched Chance for a minute and then said that Chance reminded him of his brother who had an attitude about him that said he was his own person, had his own style and wasn't concerned with what other people thought about him. He also said that was cool that Chance was like that.

I thought that was an interesting observation about Chance.  Chance does have his own style and he is his own person. And I hope that Chance realizes that he doesn't have to worry about what other people think of him if he is true to himself and his values. He doesn't seem to be that concerned about what other people think.  Oh he wants to make sure that his hair is in place and he has opinions about clothes and what he thinks looks good.  There is so much pressure to be like everyone else and to follow the crowd. I am glad that Chance is comfortable in his own skin and doesn't feel like he has to please everyone else around him.  Due to the fact that he wears implants, people sometimes do a double take when they seem him out in public, just kind of checking out the implants or wondering what they are, but Chance doesn't seem to be phased at all by that fact and just goes on with his life being himself.

I think it is cool that Chance is like that too.

Chance takes his implants off at the family party

Last night, we had a family Christmas party.  As part of the party we played a game using white elephant gifts.  Everyone brought a gift to exchange, and since they were white elephant gifts, many of the gifts were gag gifts or funny gifts.  For example some of the gifts last night included an empty box full of "a lifetime of air", candy with cleaver sayings, a canister of PlayDoh. Chance brought a funny framed picture of himself which he signed. There was also a blanket, a game and a puzzle etc.  The gifts are all placed in the middle of the room and there is a bowl full of numbers that everyone draws from.  When your number comes up, you pick a gift out of the center of the room.  Once you open it and see what is inside, you can either keep that gift or steal a gift you want that someone else opened.  Once a gift has been stolen twice, it cannot be stolen anymore and the 3rd person to have it gets to keep it.

Sometimes people try to wrap their gift in a way that makes it look really appealing.  And sometimes, people call out and try to get you to pick certain gifts.  When it was Chance's turn, many of his cousins called out to him telling him which gift to choose.  Chance just took the magnet part of his implants off and then smiled at everyone and said, "What? I can't hear you!"

In the end, our family came home with some old fashioned candy and Play Doh among other gifts.  We got to eat good food and visit with family.  And Chance added a new twist to the game by taking off his implants when he was done hearing the suggestions of his cousins:)

Chance = sick = no implants = captions

Chance has been sick today and that means that he has spent most of the day without his implants on. When Chance gets a headache, he tends to just go without his implants.  Of course, he still talks to us and acts like he will hear our answers. He also likes to draw all of the blinds when he sick so that it is nice and dark.

We watched a devotional on television tonight and Chance still didn't want to put on his implants. There were subtitles and Chance is excellent at reading subtitles.  He really seemed to be paying attention because he was taking notes.  Taking notes and reading subtitles.....that takes skills.
Chance can also read lips extremely well.

Ammon on the other hand, does not like his implant and hearing aid off when he is sick. In fact, he gets really perturbed when his implant is off for even a few minutes.  He puts them on first thing in the morning and he doesn't take them off until he is settled for the night. I wonder if this is because he had hearing with out implants and hearing aids up until about a year and a half ago.  For Chance, being deaf is pretty natural.  He likes that he can take his implants off and have quiet.  Ammon doesn't seem to crave the quiet of not hearing. We'll have to see if it stays this way.

Have You Seen This Rechargeable Battery Pack?

We have had implants in our family now for about 9 and 1/2 years.  In all that time, we have never permanently lost a rechargeable battery pack.  Sure one would go missing every once in a while, but we always found it eventually.

That has now changed.  We lost a battery pack.  Ammon's new battery pack.  It is new because he has had an implant for less than a year now. It happened at a birthday party.  The party goers had gone to a trampoline place where kids are able to have immeasurable amounts of fun doing flips on trampolines, playing dodge ball on trampolines and jumping into foam filled pits.

Now, if you are thinking that this scenario was a disaster waiting to happen, I want you to know that I planned this all out.  I called the boy's mother and we talked about the implants and had a plan. Ammon was going to wear his implant and hearing aid to the facility, then, when the boys all started dashing off to jump, he was going to give his hearing devices to the boys mother in his little yellow hard case that would offer protection.  The case even has a strap to put around your wrist should you so desire.

The plan played out very well at first.  The kids got to the trampoline place, Ammon took off his devices and handed them to his friend's mom as he ran up a ramp leading to a trampoline. Then the kids had fun for 2 hours.

When it was time to go, Ammon got his implant and hearing aid back from the mom.  He asked her where the battery pack was.  She didn't know.  She didn't realize that the implant had two parts until that moment.

The search began.  This woman and her husband emptied her purse where the implants were, looked around couches, got down and searched under chairs and around the foam pits.  They found nothing.

Meanwhile, Ammon got home from the party and after excitedly telling me how fun it was, he went about his business.  He mentioned something about needing a battery pack, but I thought he meant his implant battery was about to die.

Then the phone rang. This poor mom asked me if Ammon had said anything about his implant at the party.  I could tell she was a little nervous, then she told me that they had lost the battery pack and had searched all over the place for it, but found nothing.  She felt really bad and responsible. I told her that it was part of the program when you have kids with implants and that we were not mad at them at all.
She said that she had accidentally left the yellow case on the kitchen counter with some other things that she was supposed to take to the party, and had wrapped the implants and hearing aid in a napkin before putting them in her purse.  She didn't realize there were two parts to the implant until Ammon asked about them after the party.  I am sure this was not a fun phone call for her to make.

So, my husband and I drove down to the trampoline place. Kind of like a date where you go searching for implant parts together.  Doesn't everybody do that?  We looked under couch cushions, under chairs, around foam pits and around the dodge ball pit.  We found nothing.  Some of the workers helped us look and they were very nice and helpful.  We left our name and number so they could call us if the battery turned up.

It has been three weeks now, and the battery has not shown up.  I think we may have to admit that the battery has moved on to another place.  That means buying a new battery (several hundred dollars), which we have not yet done.  We have been surviving on disposables hoping the rechargeable one would turn up.

I guess it was bound to happen eventually when you have two kids with implants in the family.  By the way, if you should find this battery pack, we are looking for it.

Movies and Treats

Halloween was on a weekend this year which meant more opportunities to party.  And we partied all day long.  We started out with Ammon's birthday party, which involved a pinata, games and donuts.  Then we headed off to Chance's last soccer game of the season. It was a BEAUTIFUL day to be playing soccer.

As the sun set, we headed over to a friend's house for dinner and then started trick or treating through the neighborhood.  The weather was so nice that it was delightful to be out and about.  The kids ran from door to door saying, "Trick or Treat!"  We saw people we knew on our journey and chatted with folks as we made our rounds around the neighborhood. There was no chilly wind or rain or freezing temperatures this year.  Instead, we could hear crispy leaves blowing down the road,  and enjoy the walk from house to house. Naturally we had our annual theme going on which this year was Hawaiian.  Since Chance studied in Hawaii this past summer, the theme only seemed appropriate.

After the trick or treating, the teenagers in the house had a party.  We had rootbeer with dry ice, chips and salsa and of course candy.  The kids all brought a bag of candy to share. The little kids watched "A Charlie Brown Halloween," while counting their Halloween spoils.  All was going as planned.

But then, Chance and his party downstairs started to watch a movie.  Chance and his deaf friend came upstairs and said they needed captioning.  BUT, Ammon was upstairs using the device that supplied the captioning for his Charlie Brown movie.

We love captioning at our house.

Thankfully the Charlie Brown movie was not long so everyone got a piece of the captioning to make the night complete.

The power of hearing

This time last year, I was scrambling to find motivation for Ammon to wear his hearing aids.  It was not uncommon for us to arrive at a store or at grandma's house and find that Ammon had not brought his hearing aids.  I was constantly checking that boy's head to see if he had them on.  He did not like to wear them and he often avoided wearing them until we made him put them on.

Last Halloween, a dear friend of mine who goes all out when decorating for Halloween offered to have Ammon come to her house to help put up Halloween decorations as a reward for wearing his hearing aids consistently.  It was a great plan as Ammon LOVES Halloween and loves to decorate.

Flash forward to this year and more specifically tonight at bedtime. Halloween is only a few days away but things are a little different now.  Ammon thought that his hearing aid batteries were all gone as the ones in the case he has been using have all been used. I thought we had more but since I wasn't sure where they were, we told Ammon that we would get some hearing aid batteries first thing tomorrow morning. That brought on much anxiety for Ammon along with some weeping and wailing.  He told us in no uncertain terms that he could not wait until morning to get his batteries because if the battery currently in his hearing aid went dead, he would not be able to hear when he got up.  Nothing we could say would console him.  He wanted hearing aid batteries and he wanted them now.  He was really upset so I told him to go lay down on his bed and I would look in one more place that could have batteries. That place was my purse.  Mom's purses are equipped with all sorts of life saving devices.

I walked back to Ammon on the bed and showed him the case full of batteries from my purse. It is difficult to have a conversation with your deaf child in the dark when their implants and hearing aids are off, but I could see that he was visibly relieved and would now be able to settle down enough to sleep.

What an amazing turn of events.  Last year I was bribing Ammon to wear his hearing aids and tonight he could not rest until he knew he would not have to go without them even for a few minutes in the morning. Our boy likes to hear and he now sees that his hearing aid is a vital part of that process.

Chance and his mountain bike

Chance bought a new mountain bike.  His brother found one in a pawn shop and it was in great shape so Chance pulled some of his money from his bank account and got himself a bike.  Chance has wanted a bike for a while, especially one that can help him keep up with his brother when they go mountain biking.

Chance took his bike into a local bike shop to get it tuned up and has taken his bike out for a test drive. The bike is apparently working well. Chance headed up a mountain by his grandma's house  with his brother and a friend. His friend broke his brake handle, but in the end everyone returned home okay and in one piece.  There are few things that can match the beauty of the mountains in the fall when the leaves are changing colors.  Riding through the  fall trees on a mountain bike is exquisite.

Chance went out for a ride again this weekend and came back with some battle wounds from falling off his bike while coming down a challenging mountain trail.   He got right back up on the bike and told us when he got home that the fall was worth it.  The mountains were beautiful and he was having a great time with his brother and a friend.

I think Chance is quite happy with his mountain bike purchase.  And it is a great way to enjoy the fall weather and mountain colors.

Costco crisis

I took Chance's brother Ammon shopping with me to Costco along with his younger sister.  All was well on our shopping trip and we were almost done.  We were on the very last isle at the back of the store, the furthest spot from the front door, when  Ammon told me in a panicked voice that his implant battery was dying.  He then informed me that we were going to have to go out to the car to get a new one.

I told him that we only had two more isles to shop and then we were done so we would get the battery when we got back out to the car.

Ammon didn't have his hearing aid in, so when the implant died, he wasn't hearing.  And he didn't like it one bit.  Three separate times as we made our way to the front of the store to pay for our goods, Ammon yelled,"We have to go get a battery right now mom!" or "Mom! We have to go NOW!" and "I am leaving right now mom even if you don't come!"

Ammon of course couldn't hear my responses and since Ammon is deaf and all, he was louder than your average shopper and he is 9.  To the typical shopper at Costco, he looked like a rather snotty child who was telling me what to do. He was telling me what to do but that is because he was panicked at not being able to hear.  This is why I am very careful about judging other parents in stores or anywhere else for that matter.  You just really never know what is going on.

One special thing that deaf children can do when they can't hear you, is look away so they can't see you either.  This effectivlely cuts off all communication.  With your hearing kids they have to hear you even if they don't want to.  It is their curse.  Deaf children can block you out by looking the other way and that is what Ammon did.

I thought to myself that it had been a long time since I had a meltdown by a deaf child that couldn't hear me in a store.  What parent wouldn't want to experience that again?

I ended up putting my arms on Ammon's shoulders as he leaned against some crates of books.  He looked away, but I put my mouth right next to his right ear and told him he would be able to hear soon, and he needed to stop yelling.  Then I told him a little private joke that he and I share.  I don't even know what he heard of what I said, but he tried not to laugh and accidentally made eye contact with me again.

We made it through the store and as soon as we were in the car, his implant was full of juice again and my happy boy was back.

Wow, he doesn't like not being able to hear.  I can't blame him, he has heard all of his life until the last year.  I think he is attached to this being able to hear thing.

Being in the booth with Chance

Ahhhh, Chance and I got to spend time in the sound booth again last week.  We have been doing this for years now.  Actually, I have not been in a booth with Chance for a while as he is old enough to listen to the beeps on his own.  I went in this last week though just to see how he was doing.

I love implants, I really do.  They have done so much for my children and opened up a whole new world to them.  They are amazing and I am so grateful for the man who invented them and for the companies who make them.

Implant hearing is amazing but Chance is still deaf and does not hear as well as I do.  When we sat in the booth together, we were having a great time.  Chance would tease me about things and I would tease him back.  Then it was time to be quiet and listen.  The audiologist did the sentence test with background noise where a man says a sentence with people talking in the background and Chance repeats what he hears.  The voices in the background start out low and then get louder as the sentences go on.

The sentence may be something like, "She said she will come by tomorrow."  It sounds as if there is a party going on and you are listening to someone speak as several other people at the party are having their own conversations in the background.

Chance did really well.  He was hearing much of what was said at first. As the background noise got louder I could hear all of the sentences. Chance could not.  At one point at the end, Chance just looked at the audiologist and said, " I have no idea."

Experiences like this make me appreciate Chance and his efforts to hear even more.  He lives in a world full of sound, and attends school where there is continual background noise, yet Chance just plugs along and doesn't let his hearing loss hinder him from what he wants to do.

At one point during the hearing test, Chance plopped his shoe up on my lap.  I couldn't say anything since it was supposed to be quiet in the booth, so I just looked at him and shrugged.  He nodded back at me and I looked down to study his shoe and figure out what he was trying to get me to do.  One of the tongues of his shoes was twisted and needed to be pulled back up.  I adjusted that wayward tongue and then Chance smiled at me and took his foot down.  Apparently that was what I was supposed to do.

Who says you can't communicate in the sound booth and have fun?