Tears

Mostly we have just gotten on with our life, with Henry and his CIs just part of our daily routine.  While I am working hard at developing his language, it too has just become a way of life.  The other day at the hairdresser I heard myself saying that my one year old baby was deaf, and it sounded so dramatic, so unusual, so serious.  And yet that’s not how it feels at all.  I almost had to check myself, are you sure?  But of course, our Henry is profoundly deaf.  And although he seems to interact with the world now like any other baby, we do celebrate his small successes with particular pride and joy.

Today, Henry has done so many amazing things, it makes my heart swell.  Starting with saying ‘woof, woof’ this morning when Grandpa took him to feed the dog, then whipping around to look for the birds in the tree he could hear chirping.  Grandma drove up in the truck and he excitedly started saying brrmmm, brrmm and waving to her.  She pointed out the goats on the hill and told him how they say maaa, mmaa.  He imitated the sound and pointed to them.  Later, while reading to him, he spontaneously said ‘ee, ee, ee’ when he saw the mouse, tried to do tsk tsk tsk for the rabbit, approximated meow for the cat and brm again for the car.  All without prompting.  He also attempted to imitate me saying ‘peekaboo’!  And then just now, as I type this while simultaneously trying to cook dinner and watch the two kids, Henry crawled towards the hot oven (I know, I know, but we can’t all be perfect mothers....) and I shouted “no! henry, uh-uh!”.  And he stopped and looked at me and burst into tears because of my harsh tone.  And my eyes welled up too, because having your baby hear you, is one of the most precious things in the world.