After PipSqueak got her hearing aid, I was nervous about her wearing it at Church. It is a large group of people and there is loud music. I thought she would be overwhelmed and freak out. Surprisingly, she was fine.
Sunday night, I dropped her off in the nursery. I had taken her hearing aid off for her nap, and then woke her up when it was time to go back to church. I forget to put her hearing aid back on, or even bring it with us. I figured it did not matter. She was going to be in a small room with lots of kids. Again, I thought it would be too loud for her with the hearing aid on. She might take it off, or other kids could mess with it.
When I dropped her off in the nursery, she freaked out. I had to get her, let her sit with Duane and I until she calmed down and got board. Duane tried to drop her off again. It didn’t work. Later, I tried again and we finally got her to stay. We have never had such a hard time dropping her off in the nursery. Lately on Sunday mornings, she just waves “good-bye,” asking me to please leave.
Based entirely on those two events, I developed a theory: PipSqueak likes being able to hear.
Normally she is an introvert. When friends come over, especially if there are kids, PipSqueak gets clingy. She is more than happy to go to bed early and escape the chaos.
When you are swimming under water, you can hear people talking. But you can’t tell what their saying. It sounds like a muffled “wah, wah, wah.” If there are several kids running around, it would probably sound like thunder.
Wearing a hearing aid, not turns up the volume, but also give clarity. Instead of PipSqueak hearing a dull roar of voices, she’s able to identify, “I can hear my Mama, and I can hear my Dada, and I can hear my sister.” If she is not lost in a roar of activity and exhausting all her energy straining to hear what it going on, maybe she will be social too?
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Update (Feb 2, 2017) I tested out this theory a few times recently when we had friends over to play. Yes! PipSqueak was less clingy, and had more fun playing with her friends. When Dada went to put her night-night, she was angry! She wanted to keep playing with her friends. Maybe she’s not so extremely introvert after all. She was just overwhelmed by all the noise. PipSqueak likes being able to hear!
