Hayden calls it as he sees it. He's got no filter between the brain and the mouth. Sometimes it's a little embarrassing, but usually it's just funny.
Here are a few of the more classic examples:
* You have no teeth - you should go back inside and put 'em on.
* You have a beard. I want to touch it.
* You drive this dumptruck to your home? You a nice man.
* That man not say hi. He's grumpy.
* Easter Bunny sounds like Santa Claus (on the phone, they sound VERY similar)
* Dad, you have no pants!
* You have a baby in your belly button (to a pregnant friend)
* Dad, you stink...I want to cough!
When he's a little older, we'll teach him about how there's a time and a place for these things, but he's too young to grasp the concept and we don't want to stifle his usage of language at this point by asking him to please stop talking for 2 minutes.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Huh?
Mom and Dad went on vacation and Nana was left in charge of Hayden. She did a great job and Hayden had a heck of a lot of fun visiting Missouri. He went to a big house of butterflies, got his face painted, drove a tractor...it was great.
Mom and Dad made sure we could use Skype to video chat with Hayden each night. The first few nights were just fine, but we began to hear words from Hayden we weren't familiar with. Most significant of these was 'huh?' and 'I don't know what you're saying!'.
When we heard those words, it kept us up at night thinking about our boy. Wondering and worrying. Are his ears going kaput? Does he have some head congestion that's making it tough for him to hear all the sounds - even WITH his hearing aids?
He did have a head cold and that wasn't helping, but when we got back we spoke with his teacher about it and she said "oh yeah - we're learning how to seek clarification now for things we don't understand or can't hear clearly."
Perfect. Sleep lost over nothing, as it turns out.
Actually, it's quite a good set of phrases for him to learn. Not everyone in his life will speak clearly or with good enunciation or even face him while talking (he's adamant that people look at him while they're talking to him...possibly an alpha-male issue, possibly an issue where he needs the visual to look at mouth shapes, but either way it's very important to him).
We got home from our trip, got Hayden over his head cold and have resumed our daily routine. Things are good now and progressing every day.
Mom and Dad made sure we could use Skype to video chat with Hayden each night. The first few nights were just fine, but we began to hear words from Hayden we weren't familiar with. Most significant of these was 'huh?' and 'I don't know what you're saying!'.
When we heard those words, it kept us up at night thinking about our boy. Wondering and worrying. Are his ears going kaput? Does he have some head congestion that's making it tough for him to hear all the sounds - even WITH his hearing aids?
He did have a head cold and that wasn't helping, but when we got back we spoke with his teacher about it and she said "oh yeah - we're learning how to seek clarification now for things we don't understand or can't hear clearly."
Perfect. Sleep lost over nothing, as it turns out.
Actually, it's quite a good set of phrases for him to learn. Not everyone in his life will speak clearly or with good enunciation or even face him while talking (he's adamant that people look at him while they're talking to him...possibly an alpha-male issue, possibly an issue where he needs the visual to look at mouth shapes, but either way it's very important to him).
We got home from our trip, got Hayden over his head cold and have resumed our daily routine. Things are good now and progressing every day.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Hayden's a Very Good Boy
Hayden likes to go to the store. He's under the impression that each time he goes to a store (any store) he gets a prize.
The only reason he thinks that is because every time we go to a store (any store) he gets a prize.
At the grocery store sometime in early March, Hayden decided he wanted a Pegasus toy. Mom said no. Hayden broke down. Mom placated him by saying that this is exactly the kind of thing the Easter Bunny likes to bring for good little boys and girls.
All of a sudden, Hayden knew the right play. Be good - just 6 short weeks, and you're MINE!!! Muwahahahah!!
So he came home and told Dad the plan. Dad was on board. We'd get a hold of the Easter Bunny and let him know about Hayden's progress in terms of being a good boy and see where that would take us. Hayden was psyched.
As Easter approached, Hayden began to get more and more impatient. We must have called the Easter Bunny 3 times just to make sure he hadn't forgotten about the Pegasus. We had to also let him know that Hayden was going to be in Wisconsin for Easter this year and Grandma and Grandpa's house...so don't bother taking Pegasus to Urbana because Hayden won't be there.
The Easter Bunny knows the drill. Not his first year on the job. Easter morning, Hayden found all kinds of tiny little eggs filled with little toys like finger lights and balloons and a flag with a big H on it. All of these led to the mother lode - the actual Easter Basket!
Dog was standing in front of it, and the 'reveal' couldn't have gone better. Dog moved and there before our little boy was a bright white Pegasus - wings splayed, rearing up on his hind legs, ready for play.
Hayden did what could only be described as a Flashdance/M.C. Hammer combination dance move. Mom got it on video. Hilarious.
He held on to that Pegasus for three days and nights (including sleep) after Easter and still has to have it near him when he's anywhere in the house. It's really sweet to see how attached he is to it.
Hayden's a very good boy.
The only reason he thinks that is because every time we go to a store (any store) he gets a prize.
At the grocery store sometime in early March, Hayden decided he wanted a Pegasus toy. Mom said no. Hayden broke down. Mom placated him by saying that this is exactly the kind of thing the Easter Bunny likes to bring for good little boys and girls.
All of a sudden, Hayden knew the right play. Be good - just 6 short weeks, and you're MINE!!! Muwahahahah!!
So he came home and told Dad the plan. Dad was on board. We'd get a hold of the Easter Bunny and let him know about Hayden's progress in terms of being a good boy and see where that would take us. Hayden was psyched.
As Easter approached, Hayden began to get more and more impatient. We must have called the Easter Bunny 3 times just to make sure he hadn't forgotten about the Pegasus. We had to also let him know that Hayden was going to be in Wisconsin for Easter this year and Grandma and Grandpa's house...so don't bother taking Pegasus to Urbana because Hayden won't be there.
The Easter Bunny knows the drill. Not his first year on the job. Easter morning, Hayden found all kinds of tiny little eggs filled with little toys like finger lights and balloons and a flag with a big H on it. All of these led to the mother lode - the actual Easter Basket!
Dog was standing in front of it, and the 'reveal' couldn't have gone better. Dog moved and there before our little boy was a bright white Pegasus - wings splayed, rearing up on his hind legs, ready for play.
Hayden did what could only be described as a Flashdance/M.C. Hammer combination dance move. Mom got it on video. Hilarious.
He held on to that Pegasus for three days and nights (including sleep) after Easter and still has to have it near him when he's anywhere in the house. It's really sweet to see how attached he is to it.
Hayden's a very good boy.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Rhyming All The Timing
In school, they're beginning to learn about rhyming. It's fantastic that they're doing this at the age when most kids would simply be in daycare messing with play-doh and 'structured play'.
Sure, Hayden's ears don't work so well, but with his hearing aids he's able to hear and participate in absolutely everything the other kids do and at school they're helping him to listen and study the language in order to better understand it. Playing with it (rhyming) is just one of those tools that help us navigate English and other languages.
Months ago, Hayden would mess with us. "Hayden - look at that! It's a water tower" "No, mommy - it's a water SHOWER"
We initially thought there was a problem with his hearing aids and the translation of tower/shower. Turns out he was just screwing with us.
Now they're starting to do it with purpose in school. On a recent trip up to visit grandparents in Wisconsin, we talked about rhyming. BIG mistake. For like 20 minutes it was "two - blue...HEY! that's a rhyme!! three - tree...HEY! THAT'S a rhyme!!"
Good stuff.
All of these things, as temporarily exasperating as they may be, will ultimately make Hayden a stronger user of language - whether it's with his voice or with his hands or even with a computer. And if we (ok, if Dad) have to endure a little crazy chatter now and then while we drive 7 hours in the car one way, so be it.
Or as mom puts it (to Dad): Suck it up, buttercup.
Sure, Hayden's ears don't work so well, but with his hearing aids he's able to hear and participate in absolutely everything the other kids do and at school they're helping him to listen and study the language in order to better understand it. Playing with it (rhyming) is just one of those tools that help us navigate English and other languages.
Months ago, Hayden would mess with us. "Hayden - look at that! It's a water tower" "No, mommy - it's a water SHOWER"
We initially thought there was a problem with his hearing aids and the translation of tower/shower. Turns out he was just screwing with us.
Now they're starting to do it with purpose in school. On a recent trip up to visit grandparents in Wisconsin, we talked about rhyming. BIG mistake. For like 20 minutes it was "two - blue...HEY! that's a rhyme!! three - tree...HEY! THAT'S a rhyme!!"
Good stuff.
All of these things, as temporarily exasperating as they may be, will ultimately make Hayden a stronger user of language - whether it's with his voice or with his hands or even with a computer. And if we (ok, if Dad) have to endure a little crazy chatter now and then while we drive 7 hours in the car one way, so be it.
Or as mom puts it (to Dad): Suck it up, buttercup.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
I Already Did
Ok - he's 3 1/2. Too early for backtalk.
Or so we thought.
In school they've been learning time classifiers like 'I already did'. This lesson is quickly blossoming into a spectacular failure. Oh, he gets it just fine - he understands the usage and the meaning of it perfectly. The thing is that he's using it against us and that's just not very nice.
'Not very nice' is another one they've learned.
A few months back they were going through the 'nice'/'not nice' lessons. Those are really quite black and white, so they've been looking at 'really' and 'very' and 'not very' as classifiers for 'nice'. Before Hayden had classifiers, he would get absolutely irate with us when we would tell him his behavior wasn't nice.
"Hayden - throwing food is not nice"
"NO! I'm nice...YOU'RE NOT NICE!!!!"
It's very difficult to express how loud he'd get when he said this, but suffice it to say that it was really loud!
Loud or not, nice or not, Hayden's learning great things at school and the time and patience that we're able to show as he learns how to use language will ultimately help all of us deal with his hearing loss better in the future.
That's nice.
Or so we thought.
In school they've been learning time classifiers like 'I already did'. This lesson is quickly blossoming into a spectacular failure. Oh, he gets it just fine - he understands the usage and the meaning of it perfectly. The thing is that he's using it against us and that's just not very nice.
'Not very nice' is another one they've learned.
A few months back they were going through the 'nice'/'not nice' lessons. Those are really quite black and white, so they've been looking at 'really' and 'very' and 'not very' as classifiers for 'nice'. Before Hayden had classifiers, he would get absolutely irate with us when we would tell him his behavior wasn't nice.
"Hayden - throwing food is not nice"
"NO! I'm nice...YOU'RE NOT NICE!!!!"
It's very difficult to express how loud he'd get when he said this, but suffice it to say that it was really loud!
Loud or not, nice or not, Hayden's learning great things at school and the time and patience that we're able to show as he learns how to use language will ultimately help all of us deal with his hearing loss better in the future.
That's nice.
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