Having Options

Wednesday night we had a CRAZY thunderstorm. It is very rare that storms wake me, but this one was intense. I have never seen lightening that looked like a strobe light before, but this lightening was almost constant with very little time lapse between each flash. The thunder that accompanied was not much different. I lay in bed listening to the craziness and before I really thought about it, I turned to my husband and said, "Thank goodness E is deaf." I was grateful that E does not wear his hearing devices when he sleeps and was completely undisturbed by the noise of the storm. This got me thinking about how awesome it is that E has the option to hear when he wants or to embrace the quiet when it suits him.

When E gets up in the morning, he likes to have a little down time before he is ready to "put on his ears." E wakes up like his Daddy...very slowly. It typically takes about 30 minutes before he is ready to face the day. During this time, he wants a lap to cuddle, a sippy cup of milk, and quiet. There are other times that E chooses the quiet as well. Because we use sign language as a family, E doesn't miss out on anything whether he chooses sound or not. It would actually be pretty nice if I could have a choice to "turn off my ears" when I needed some peace and quiet.

Some of these things are a little tongue in cheek, but others are true advantages of E being deaf:

• We can make all the noise we want after he goes to bed
• Storms, barking dogs, fireworks, etc do not disturb a good night's sleep
• E will never have to worry about a spouse that snores
• Need peace and quiet in your dorm to study? No problem for E
• Had all you can take of someone whining? Turn off your ears
• Need to tell someone something, but it's too loud in the crowd? Sign it!
• Want to communicate underwater? ASL to the rescue!

Think about it...how nice would it be to have an escape from the audio pollution from time to time?

Now that I've shared that bit of info, here's a picture of E since that's why you are REALLY visiting the blog ;-)

Daddy came home the other night and took off his hat and sunglasses. E picked them up and put them on. The paci completes the ensemble. This is our E and he makes me smile and laugh constantly. I cannot describe the joy this little cuddle bug brings to our lives!