Tuesday, April 24, 2007

How I Know He Ain’t Deaf

Sometimes, I find myself wondering if Captain Adventure actually does have a hearing problem. You know, like, maybe he’s deaf or something. Because you say things to him, and he just…looks at you.

And doesn’t respond appropriately.

“Come here.” {Backs up until he runs into a corner}

“Don’t you throw that!” {Better duck}

“Pick that up! Pick. It. Up. Captain Adventure! Stop! You come here and pick that…argh!” {Yeah, you know exactly what happened there.}

The way he babbles. The way he says “daddy” and it doesn’t mean, you know, daddy. That he won’t say ‘juice’ or ‘up’ or ‘help’, no matter how much he wants or needs any of those things. Sometimes, I start saying to myself, “Well, maybe he does have a hearing problem! Maybe he doesn’t hear clearly! Maybe he needs hearing aids!”

Because seriously – sometimes even when he really is thirsty, he won’t respond to the word ‘juice’ in any way. He’ll just stand there and look at you, giving you absolutely no clue about what he thinks of the idea of juice…

So just now, I was asking if he wanted a snack. “Do you want snack? Captain Adventure want snack, now? Snack? Do. You. Want. SNACK?”

And he’s looking at me with the blankest expression. Almost imbecilic. (Yeah. The kid who yesterday built a town out of blocks that I swear my five year old could not have duplicated.)

We stared at each other. Then I turned my back to him and said, very quietly and with no particular emphasis, “Would Captain Adventure like a cookie?”

“YEAH!” And off he charged for the kitchen, where he stood before the cookie jar quivering with glee. He pointed at the cookie jar and grinned at me and clapped his hands.

Ay-yup.

I’m gonna call that a negative on the hearing loss thing…

8 comments:

Jen said...

Precious! Absolutely precious! LOL

froggiemeanie said...

I am soooo glad to know that someone else out there is repeating herself a hundred thousand times. I told DH that I am so sick of hearing myself say the word "Claire" that I feel like changing the child's name.

Kris said...

LOL, what a challenge that CA is sot stubborn!

Very Herodotus said...

Would he talk for a cookie? Have you ever tried signing with him?

Amy Lane said...

Yeah...we call that the Cave Troll's "Potato Face"--he's all eyes... (and his first complete sentence? "Chocolate Milk mama--I like Chocolate Milk. Chocolate milk is Nummy!" He didn't say anything else like a complete sentence for another 8 months. If it hadn't been for that sentence, we would have had him in learning assessment...)

Kate (Kiss My Frog) said...

Yeah. As the mother of two of the creatures, I can assure you that's not hearing thing; it's a BOY thing. Get used to it.

Anonymous said...

Have you taken him to a speech pathologist (especially since his hearing is fine - btw, has he had a hearing test?)?

Anonymous said...

If he is communicating with you in sign language or some other form, even if it is not actual "words", then he's probably just a late bloomer. The thing that would send me to get my child checked by a specialist, is where "daddy" doesn't mean daddy, etc. I don't know your child and don't have any information except the blog... but if he is over 24 months and does not say two word meaningful phrases (without copying/repeating), such as "want juice", you need to get him tested by a specialist.