Clear-er

As each day passes, new words are spoken. Those words are now becoming easier to understand, clearer. Gone are the single word sentences, now i expect 2,3,4+ words in a row. I know he can do it, that's why i expect it. He may only be 2, but when i speak to him i feel that he's listening, and understanding at least some of what i'm saying. He still talks gibberish, but that's normal for a child his age, normal hearing or not.

This past weekend we were at a 2 year olds birthday party. Evan is very quite amongst large groups of people. I attribute that to many different things, since i don't know the actual answer. I would assume that listening to 15 people talking over each other is a lot of work, it is for me at least. Maybe he just needs time to process, maybe he just wants to listen. I did notice that he talks very quietly at these types of events. It's really very cute. I don't think he really knows how to raise his voice. He knows how to scream and yell, but talk in a louder voice, not so much. I guess that's something we learn over time?!?!

I don't really mind if he doesn't want to talk, because he's doing what he wants to do, and that's fine. When i was in a quieter area of the house with only a few people around, he did speak up more.

As usual i had to explain the implants to anyone who asked. Nobody knew what they were, and they weren't expecting them. We always get the same questions, "Will he always have to wear those?", "Does he hear anything?". I guess i should be used to it, but come on, aren't those common sense? Will YOU always have to wear your glasses? Well, yes, if you want to see you will have to always wear them. Do YOU see anything? Come on, he wouldn't have magnetic coils attached to his head and a device behind each ear if he didn't hear anything. That would be like a completely blind person wearing reading glasses. You use the device because it's helping you, duh!

I don't lash out when we're asked questions. I try to teach and inform the best i can. Sometimes people just don't want to learn more then what they originally asked, and that's fine. I still try to add in some more info. I have my usual speech about how the implant works, in this weekends case it fell on "deaf" ears, no pun intended.

Then there was the 5 year old who kept asking what they were. I would explain to her in the simplest terms that Evan needs those to hear. After her last attempt at asking i compared the implants to glasses. I think she finally got it, or just grew tired of asking. Either way, this particular 5 year old was so sweet to Evan. She was playing with him, talking to him, trying to teach him things. That made me feel very good. I always worry that children won't include him because they don't understand. Unfortunately, it will happen. Everyone in life becomes excluded for one reason or another.