Top 10 Things We Have Learned in the Past Month

So, it has been a few weeks since I've written anything about how Thomas is doing in his new hearing adventure. To be honest, I've been trying to soak everything in and we've had a lot going on in other areas of our household (yes, there are other parts of our house that I don't write that much about).

Also, I have struggled with things to write about...things like audiology appointments, therapy sessions, frustrations, little joys, no change kind of days. So as my dear friend Tammy told me a few months ago, "Just post what you have written, what is on your mind." I have to admit that it is hard for me to simply post without reading, re-reading, editing, then re-reading and editing some more. Before my current stay-at-home life, I wrote things everyday. Things like press releases, sales aids, media response statements, presentations, etc. Business things that were so important at the time and yet things that I wrote decades ago.

So drum role please...I'm going to write for the first time since I started this blog, a whole whopping three posts ago, I'm going to write from my heart and not my head...this is the top 10 things that we have learned since activation exactly one month ago...

1. Baby steps are better than no steps at all.

2. The happiness of your child matters more than whether or not you get an entire contiguous hour of therapy in each day...playing with your child and giving a voice overlay is what is important.

3. Prayer and patience is more important that pressure and pain.

4. Love more that your child understands the concept of "giving a hug" than saying the word "hug."

5. Playing at the pool in August after not being able to swim for almost 7 weeks is the best treat a little kiddo can have. So, let them have their CI off for an hour while they splash around, enjoy the summer sun and breathe some fresh air, without sweating in the Texas heat.

6. If you are making dinner, putting Sesame Street on the TV for 30 minutes isn't going to set your child back months in verbal advancement.

7. Seeing your child dance during therapy with only a shirt and diaper on while he's cutting a rug on the family room coffee table is absolutely priceless. Yes, I have this on video and will post in my next blog. And yes, I plan to blackmail him with said video when he is older!

8. Taking some time for you helps your child in the long run.

9. Allowing your child to learn a new hearing instrument is what needs to happen. Just because your child knew how to play the piano a little with his hearing aids does not mean that he can pick up a cochlear implant guitar and immediately start playing. (This lesson came from our fabulous audio/verbal therapist).

10. Having the best team of people on your side makes a heck of a different..."hear" is to family, therapists, audiologists, surgeons, friends with HoH, deaf or Deaf kiddos, friends that loved you even before this miraculous child entered your life, your church family and most of all to God for giving you a beautiful child that he has trusted only unto you...and I'll slip #11 in at this point...know that God won't let you screw up your child too much before He decides to step in :-)

So, I post now...without reading, re-reading, editing or proofreading...it is from the heart and feels good to get off of my chest.