What A Year!

It has been a whole year since Traxton got his little hearing aids. I can't believe it has been that long. When I think back over everything we have been through in the last year and a half, I am both so amazed and exhausted. After the initial devastation of finding out our newborn had hearing loss, we set our minds on finding out what we could do to help him. At three months old he was fitted for hearing aids. As most of you know, this was a very bitter sweet thing for me. I was so glad there was something to make it possible for him to hear me, but I also was kinda prideful and didn't want people to look differently at my little baby. The hearing aids made a night and day difference for his world. He started responding to things that he never had before. Other than all the questions and looks we got from acquaintances and complete strangers, our days were pretty easy.
One day it all changed. Our sweet little Traxton gained control of his little arms just enough to reach up to his ears, pull off the aids, and either put them in his mouth or throw them across the room. I would either dry them off or find them from their new location and place them back in his ears. This was literally repeated hundreds of times a day. We found ourselves so anxious to put him to bed at night because that meant we could have a break from the battle. Sadly, that is exactly what our days were. A battle of wills. I refused to let him win and think that if he tried to pull them off enough times I would give in, so we would go through that routine all day long.
Then it seamed like (many months later) one day he just stopped pulling them out as much. It was such a welcomed relief. He still will pull them out when he is confined somewhere, like in the car seat or highchair. I think he does it out of boredom and for attention. He will also come up to me holding onto one if it fell out so that I can put it back in. I think he is starting to realize that he can hear better with them in.

The only understandable word Traxton will say is Dad. We are really working on trying to get him to say more words. He is very vocal and has always been a little talker, but I have been getting worried and frustrated with him not saying more yet. Yesterday I was at Target and a lady stopped me to ask about his hearing aids. She said she lost her hearing as a child but didn't realize the problem until she was in her twenties. We talked for a few minutes and as she went to leave, she said goodbye to Traxton. He immediately smiled and started jabbering to her. She looked right at me and said "he talks". I told her yes, but not really words. She was shocked. She said most kids will try to talk, but no noise will come out. I really feel like I needed a complete stranger to help keep me in check with everything that I have to be grateful for. We really don't feel like he is any different. He hears most everything that goes on at our house and sometimes I actually forget that he can't hear everything. We are so grateful for this little "challenge" that our family has, but even more grateful for our little boy who is still completely perfect and wouldn't be him without his special ears.

Hearing clearly for the first time! Sep 30, 2008


**OUR DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR KEEPING HIS EARS ON.

1 Traxton pretty much spent the whole winter in this hat to prevent him from reaching his ears. He hated it and would get so upset when he couldn't reach under the flaps to pull his ears off.


2. Probably the most painful method. It looks horrible, but it did work for a while. Eventually, he was able to even pull the tape off. Poor kid!


3.The current and most effective method. They are similar to chums for glasses. They slide over the back of his hearing aid and with an elastic cord, hook to a clasp on his shirt. They won't prevent him from pulling the aids off, but if he does, they won't get lost. My anxiety level dropped drastically when we started using these bad boys.