Sounds of Silence

Today has been a very unusual day!

I went to visit Alison, one of my audiologists. She helped Mom and Dad put together the outside part of my cochlear implant, the part with a microphone and batteries to shock my snails into helping me hear. It took forever--we waited in the waiting room (I guess that's what they're for), we waited in an office, we waited while I wore the new gadget, and then--

--Alison left the room. What was she doing? It was getting really hot with me and Mom and my baby brother/sister inside Mom's belly and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa J and some intern (whatever that is) all cramped in that tiny office, and I was getting really bored with the cups of little plastic clowns and the Mr. Potato Head with eyes and ears too big for his body and--

--then something happened in my brain. A funny tingling, jingling, clangy sort of thing. Alison was standing at the door waving a metal cup on a handle, and inside the cup a metal ball was banging against the cup. It wasn't a cup. It was a bell. AND I HEARD IT. At least that's what I think was going on!

Suddenly, I realized that everything around me--this colorful row of wooden blocks Mom called a xylophone, the clowns in their cups, all of the people, their hands when they clap, I mean just about everything was making a sound. I didn't cry, but it was a lot to handle at once.

Still, have I heard things before? Maybe in a dream once. I just don't know. It seems right, it feels comfortable.

Okay, actually the wacky piece of plastic that I have to wear isn't comfortable at all. It's irritating and certainly throws off my feng shui (whatever that is). But hearing, well, I'm really glad that I can now!

When my device falls off, all of the sounds disappear, and I'm back in my old oh-so-quiet world. Mom and Dad put the device back on, and with it returns all of the noise. I'm living in two worlds now, and they're both so different. Dad says I'm lucky; some people spend their entire lives looking for silence and never find it. I have it with one quick tug behind my ear.

I'm very happy that the big cut on my head worked and my snails are doing their job again! The big cut has healed enough that I can go back to Fisher Learning Center tomorrow and play with all my new friends! I wonder what they all sound like?

Walk Like an Egyptian!

Two days ago I was walking back and forth between Mom, Grandma J and Dad. Really, it was pretty easy, because they never got to far away.

So I decided, why can't I do this myself? And I did! I took a couple of steps from the couch to the divan (whatever that is) and Grandma J almost jumped three feet straight into the air!

Mom says that I walk like an Egyptian because it's some song by The Bangles. Dad says I walk like an Egyptian because I still don't bend my knees much and move like a mummy. I think Dad is silly, because Mom isn't all wrapped up in bandages and she bends her knees all the time. Plus I don't think she's ever been to Egypt.

Now I'll walk almost anywhere! Sometimes I start to tip in one direction and just walk that way instead, and other times I have to run and grab onto something before I fall, but I'm already figuring out how to slow down and stand still. It's not as hard as I thought! I can walk from one end of the house to the other without help, but Mom and Dad and Grandma J stay close just in case I start to lose my balance!

Dad says that his back is really excited!