Happy Hearing Day!

November 5, 2009.  Happy Hearing Day, David!  This is the beginning of a new chapter in your life, where anything is possible, where your discovery of this noisy world begins, where your story begins.  You have made us so proud and happy already, but we know that now you will really start to soar.  You already have such a wonderfully happy personality, but we just can't wait to see how you change and interact with your new world.  We wish you all the joy, love and success that such a sweet little boy deserves, and we hope that you always remain curious about the world around you.  

Okay, enough with the mushy stuff...

I was hoping to do this post a little while ago, but I was waiting to put the video of David's activation on YouTube to share.  Turns out a video that is about an hour long will take at least that long to upload.  We need to figure out how to edit the video and then I'll post it. 

Activation Day went off without a hitch.  All of David's electrodes were working properly and like a good little boy, he responded to most of the sounds sent to the implant from the audiologist's computer.  After hearing the first sound (a tone burst) he even smiled and got a little excited!  He turned to the little dancing piggy when he was supposed to, and he didn't seem too upset by the new sensation of hearing.  He kept taking the processor off his ear, but no big deal, I just kept putting it back on his little head.  That is until the processor was switched to hearing speech, and then David just started crying and refused to put the processor back on.  Usually nothing fazes David - he's not scared of other adults or kids, dogs, heights, new places - nothing really scares him.  But he was truly scared by hearing us speaking to him.  I had heard stories and seen videos of other kids' activations, and most kids gets pretty scared and start crying, so I knew it was completely normal.  But for some reason I had this fantasy that David would just turn to me with a big smile on his face and say "Oh, thank you Mom for getting me this cochlear implant.  I love to hear.  I love you!"  Well, not really, but I did think that David would react differently than other kids, that he would be a superstar and just be totally okay and happy at that first moment of hearing.  I think Steve and I were a little disappointed that the moment was kind of anti-climactic.  We were hoping for something very dramatic - well, it was dramatic for David - but it just wasn't as we had imagined.  No, David didn't start speaking at that moment and he wasn't happy at those first sounds, but he certainly has shown us that he is a superstar.  He adapted very quickly to hearing and to wearing his processor and has started babbling (take a look at the new sounds on the sidebar), playing with his toys, clapping and generally is just a happier kid.  I thought he had a great personality to begin with, but now there's a real joy in his eyes, like he realizes he was missing out on something and is so happy to be experiencing it now.  We are so happy you are too baby boy!