A WHOLE NEW WORLD

I'm not quite sure exactly what or how I expected the first few moments to be when Jackson heard our voices in the "normal hearing" range.  But I can tell you that it wasn't what we got.  I wish now I would have taken a picture of it.  It was heartbreaking, but it was a good thing.  He was hearing us and HE-DIDN'T-LIKE-IT...ONE BIT!  Between the crocodile tears, the nose running, the drool just dripping from his mouth and the sweat coming off of both of us, we were a soggy mess! 

This lasted for about 25 or 30 minutes as we adjusted volume levels and sweet talked him.  All to no avail...until...the receptionist ran to the office next door and brought back a DUM-DUM pop!  We had brought dum dum pops to China with us on Gotcha Day but never gave him any because we just felt like he wasn't ready for them yet.  Well, today I was ready to try anything! 

It settled him down enough to tolerate the bone conduction aid for another 30 minutes while Kathy gave me a refresher course on all of the parts and we discussed options we could try to alter the headband.  This headband CLEARLY is not going to work. It might be ok if he is sitting ABSOLUTELY still...and I can tell you...that AIN'T happenin'!  I'm thinking that silver duct tape might do the trick!  I was able to get a picture of Jackson sitting with Kathy. 

I think that by the time we left, we were both covered in a pretty sticky pink color!  He wore the hearing aid on the drive to the soccer field for about 10-15 minutes and then I had to pull over to get out and get it from the back seat since he pulled it off.  I was able to coax Jackson to wear it on the soccer field and he managed another 45 minutes with it on.  After soccer practice and dinner, we went to Wal-Mart for reinforcers...DUM-DUM pops and jelly beans.  I figured I would get the dum dums first and give him one (I know I'm not supposed to open the bag before paying for it, but we have a 2 year old here and it didn't need to be weighed).  I told Jackson that if he wanted the lollipop, that he would have to wear his hearing aid.  He pointed his finger at that bag of lollipops and I put his hearing aid on and opened up the dum dums and we were two happy campers!  I think we walked around for 30 minutes while he sucked on that pop.  I sang the "Lollipop,Lollipop" song to him while he had his BCHA on and he would just laugh and laugh and laugh!  I did manage to get a few pictures of him in Walmart!  Which will be a great reminder to NOT give him the BLUE dum-dum pops!

We'll see what tomorrow holds.  My mom will be with him all day.  We'll see how many jelly beans are left when I get home!