Crash, Boom, Roar!

Crash!
Boom!
Roar!
Vrooooom!

These are some of the sounds I hear daily, over and over as my toddler son plays. Boys are interesting creatures, but they are also creatures of habit. My son adores cars, and majority of the time that is all he plays with all day. In fact, he is crazy about Lightening McQueen, and Dusty Crophopper the plane. In the car, he watches Cars, and since Christmas, he watches Planes daily on our PS3. So we see and hear him playing with his character cars, racing them, and flying his Dusty plane that he received for Christmas.

He also has a ride on Lightening McQueen that he got for his first birthday, and it was love at first sight. He very quickly mastered riding it, and in a short time, learned to drift on it. Yep. Drift. I’m serious. After a year and half of watching him ride this car, his father and I still shake our heads in amazement over his racing skills on it. He is lucky our house has laminate flooring, and luckier still that he now has full access to the main floor. He goes around and around our house, zooming, vrooming, with a running commentary, that the other night I joked we should paint a race track on the floor through the house.

Wow!
Whoa!
Yay!
What’s that?!
There it is!
It goes there!

These are the words I hear when he is successful at completing a puzzle, shape sorter, finds an image in his Look & Find books, or when he plays his apps on my iPad. His sense of accomplishment and joy is infectious, so we cheer along with him, and praise him.

C’mon!
Help!
Please!
Mom!
Thank you!

I hear these all day, and he says them so clearly that lip reading is no longer required. When he needs help with a toy, a movie (Diego is his other obsession), a snack, more milk; this is how he gets my attention, and gets me to come play with him. I only wish he stayed close to the room with our wood stove, but he is so independent that he is happy playing in the two front rooms or watching Diego on his own.

Daddy!

He shouts when he sees his father is home from work and runs to him for a hug. Laughter as his father snuggles him, tickles him, plays with him, chasing him through the house playing hide and seek.

No!
No!
Waaah! As he cries…

These while it happens daily, are shortlived thankfully. Usually occurs when he doesn’t want to go to bed, get his diaper changed, or we tell him NO. Sometimes it’s fake and his father and I have a hard time suppressing our laughter as he covers his eyes and cries. He always gets over it fast thankfully, and soon it turns to:

Snuggles, kisses, and:

Night!

I’ve been taking daily pictures for a 2014 Album of things I am grateful for. This is my daily affirmation of being grateful I can hear these sounds he makes, comprehend these words, and more that is growing daily. I am grateful that the hearing aid and cochlear implant have given me these daily gifts with my toddler and his siblings. Currently we have snow removal happening on my street and I can hear the dump trucks, the bulldozer, the small dozer moving, lifting, breaking the ice, and dumping it all. I hear them idling right now and in the middle of it I am hearing my son babbling and working on his puzzles.

Hearing is taken for granted by many until it is lost. I only had a little to begin with, and I fully appreciate what I can hear around me, even as some sounds annoy others. Sounds enrich our lives, and help us make sense of the world around us. So when you listen to your kids and the sounds around you, take the time appreciate that you can hear them even when they are irritating and annoying.