The other night my 10 year old was being her normal self. She had a flip out because I told her that she had to...wait for it...go to bed at 10 pm. I know, I am like, the worst mom ever. She brushed her teeth and stomped into her room. I followed her to tuck her in.
I leaned in to give her a kiss on her forehead and she frowned at me and turned away. "Why do you hate me so much?" I asked.
She turned to me, frustrated, and said, "I don't hate you. I'm just displeased with you right now."
I tried to hold it in but it was too much. I laughed out loud. What 10 year old says the word displeased?
This just pissed her off even more. She shouted: "STOP LAUGHING AT MY VOCABULARY!"
That made me laugh even harder. "JUST LEAVE ME!!!" I kissed her on the back of her head. "Good night, I love you," I said. I thought, I hope you stop being crazy soon...
I went to kiss my 12 year old goodnight. "Get to bed. We have to leave for your ENT appointment at 8:20 in the morning." She nodded.
My oldest has some hearing loss in the right ear. She does really well and you wouldn't even notice unless you knew. We have her hearing checked annually just to make sure it doesn't get worse.
I woke up early the next morning. I went in my daughter's room at 7:30. "We need to leave in about an hour. It's time to get up."
She groaned, "Just 10 more minutes."
I went back at 7:45. "Get up, we need to leave in about half an hour."
She groaned and mumbled, "Ok."
Lo and behold, at 8:05 am this child was still not up. I was tired of being nice.
I went into her room started singing to her - LOUDLY. "IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP. WE NEED TO LEAVE IN 15 MINUTES. GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BEEEEEEDDDDD!" Then I played air piano on her. Really intense air piano. Like, Elton John playing Philadelphia Freedom style air piano.
I know this is off topic, but when I was a kid I legit thought that Elton John was from Philadelphia because of Philadelphia Freedom. I grew up outside of Philly so I thought he was one of us. I was very upset when I found out as an adult that, not only is he not from Philadelphia - he is not even American. It blew my mind. I still haven't gotten over it fully.
Anyway, back to playing air piano on my kid. She was so mad. She flung her comforter off the bed and stood up. "I hate you," she snarled.
Good. "Well, maybe if you got up the first 2 times I asked you to, I would not have to resort to such extreme measures."
She was ready to go at 8:15. I packed her breakfast to eat in the car. She didn't speak to me. Story of my life.
We got to the appointment and they called her back for her hearing screening. She's a pro at this by now. The audiologist came out and gave us the results. She hasn't had any changes. I expected that.
Then we saw the ENT. He was great. He discussed all of these tests we could do to determine what caused her hearing loss. He mentioned that we might want to do a genetic test in the future when she thinks about having kids in case they have the same problem. That was weird to hear. I was like, Oh yeah! My kids might have kids someday. I declined because it won't change the treatment plan. Maybe when she's older.
We talked about how sometimes if you are talking to her from a long distance she can't hear you well or if she is in a group and there is a lot of surrounding noise she might have difficulty. He doesn't feel like she needs a hearing aid at this time since it's only a frequency that she can't hear.
Her left ear overcompensates for her right ear. He recommended that she sit in the front of the class to the right so that her left side is facing the teacher at the center of the room. "Can I get that recommendation in writing?"
"What school does she go to? Not only will I put it in writing but I'll fax it directly to the school."
He is awesome. My daughter was not happy. She crossed her arms and scowled. "What's wrong?"
"I don't want to sit at the front of the class."
"Why?"
"Because what if none of my friends sit up front?"
"This is school, not social hour."
She had tears in her eyes. "It's not fair. You are the WORST."
I'm the worst. You know, because I want my kid to sit in the front of the class so she can HEAR her teachers clearly. Horrible mother. I pray she can forgive me someday.
I know that she doesn't want to be different than other kids and that she doesn't want anyone to know about it. We definitely try our best to not make it a big deal. I've always explained to her that it's just like people with poor eyesight. Some people just have better vision than other people and some have better hearing. It's not bad, it just is what IS.
If anything, she should be proud. She is a good student, she is in excellent musician and singer, she never had any delays in spite of the fact that she has this issue. That is a miraculous thing. I am so damn proud of her. I think she's perfect exactly like she is and I wouldn't change a thing. Okay, maybe her attitude. But besides that, I wouldn't change a thing.
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