Hearing aid envy, was Newbie . . .

[Guest guest]

Our sons have worn hearing aids since before our dd was born. Even though

our older son was late ID'd at 4½yo, she doesn't remember them without

hearing aids. When she was little, she wanted hearing aids too. She was

their little sister, and didn't want to be left out of anything. She wanted

pink hearing aids, since the boys had red and blue hearing aids, " boy

colors " by her description. We had an empty shell of a hearing aid, and she

would wear it hooked over her ear once in a while.

Once, my mom was visiting, and telling them they would have to eat good food

before they could have snack food. My oldest defiantly reached up and

turned his hearing aids off. My next son liked that idea, and turned his

off as well. My dd yelled " I wish I had hearing aids so I could turn you

off too! "

We never told dd she couldn't have hearing aids. As far as I was concerned,

it was normal for her to want to be like her big brothers. She has figured

out she doesn't need them, but we still mention how nice it would be to be

able to turn off our hearing at will. They see ear molds being used by swim

teams, TV reporters, and my sil, an anesthesiologist, uses one.

----- Original Message -----

And while we parents were coming to terms with things, and Ian was learning

to accept his progressive loss, our daughter had what I can only call

" hearing-aid-envy. " They were colorful and people noticed them (much better

than

barrettes!), and Ian had a special box for them, and they looked like fun.

So

she would make pretend ones out of playdough or pipe cleaners or

wicki-sticks or

colored paper, combination of all four. Thankfully she never stuck a pipe

cleaner in her ear. But there were a few occasions when I was pulling hot

pink

playdough out of her ears in the bathtub. And I just had to laugh because

her blatant envy of those aids clearly showed me that it really is all about

our perceptions.

Best -- Jill

PS: And now that was joined the swim team, she is BEGGING me to take

her to get swim molds. I am teasing her that she just joined the swim team

so

that she could finally have her own ear molds. LOL

[Guest guest]

That's so funny, - I've often wondered if I'd had more kids than

the two I have (who both are deaf), how that would be, particularly if

they could hear! Our family's loss is an x-linked recessive loss so any

daughters I might have had would have been able to hear - that sure

would be different!

Barbara

P wrote:

> Our sons have worn hearing aids since before our dd was born. Even though

> our older son was late ID'd at 4½yo, she doesn't remember them without

> hearing aids. When she was little, she wanted hearing aids too. She was

> their little sister, and didn't want to be left out of anything. She wanted

> pink hearing aids, since the boys had red and blue hearing aids, " boy

> colors " by her description. We had an empty shell of a hearing aid, and she

> would wear it hooked over her ear once in a while.

>

> Once, my mom was visiting, and telling them they would have to eat good food

> before they could have snack food. My oldest defiantly reached up and

> turned his hearing aids off. My next son liked that idea, and turned his

> off as well. My dd yelled " I wish I had hearing aids so I could turn you

> off too! "

>

> We never told dd she couldn't have hearing aids. As far as I was concerned,

> it was normal for her to want to be like her big brothers. She has figured

> out she doesn't need them, but we still mention how nice it would be to be

> able to turn off our hearing at will. They see ear molds being used by swim

> teams, TV reporters, and my sil, an anesthesiologist, uses one.

>

>

>

>

> ----- Original Message -----

>

>

> And while we parents were coming to terms with things, and Ian was learning

> to accept his progressive loss, our daughter had what I can only call

> " hearing-aid-envy. " They were colorful and people noticed them (much better

> than

> barrettes!), and Ian had a special box for them, and they looked like fun.

> So

> she would make pretend ones out of playdough or pipe cleaners or

> wicki-sticks or

> colored paper, combination of all four. Thankfully she never stuck a pipe

> cleaner in her ear. But there were a few occasions when I was pulling hot

> pink

> playdough out of her ears in the bathtub. And I just had to laugh because

> her blatant envy of those aids clearly showed me that it really is all about

> our perceptions.

>

> Best -- Jill

>

> PS: And now that was joined the swim team, she is BEGGING me to take

> her to get swim molds. I am teasing her that she just joined the swim team

> so

> that she could finally have her own ear molds. LOL

>

>

>

>

>

> All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is

the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright

restrictions.

>

[Guest guest]

Maggie's best friend had serious hearing aid envy. Which led to some unexpected

results. One day they were playing ENT (because that's where you get hearing

aids) and actually inserted a piece of plastic into Maggie's ear through the

Play otoscope from a play doctor kit. Of course no one said anything at the

time, but when Maggie got an angry outer ear infection, the pediatrician said

" Oh, her ear tube is just coming out. " I said she doesn't have tubes. But there

was a nice little piece of aqua colored plastic in her ear canal. As I recall,

we had to flush it out after getting some of the inflammation down.

So kids playing " doctor " can get in all sorts of trouble, not just what you

expect when kids play doctor. Next they played veterinarian, and did

C-Sections on each other to remove their puppies or kittens (beanie babies).

They'd then lie down on the bed and line the puppies/kittens up to nurse! It

was always something with those two!