Well.

Zac may have a partial hearing loss.

It's not much of a surprise, really. Runs in my family. My grandmother is pretty close to deaf; my dad is deaf in his left ear; and we've known for a few months that something is up with Zac's speech development. What it looks like is this: in his right ear, he has trouble picking up certain frequencies. In his left, however, he seems to have hyper-sensitive hearing. In fact, lately, he puts his hands over his ears on the rare occasion that Alex screams. I didn't even pick up on it. It didn't occur to me that it probably really, really hurt his ears.

random food opinion: I don't like white pepper. I think it smells like a zoo

Today was the day from hell, though. First was Zac's hearing test at Pali Momi at 9:00. Then I had to dash all the way into town to get Alex's shots, which is a day-ruining experience all on its own and it took forever. I barely got back in time to pick Katie up from school. I had just enough time to get lunch for Zac, but he was so hungry and tired that it was much too late to save him from the pissed-off meltdown that had been brewing since his test.

So the four of us get back home, and I hear a knock at my kitchen door. It's my neighbor, Annie. She had an important meeting to go to and had failed to arrange a sitter for her three-year-old son; could I pleasepleaseplease watch him? "Sure", I said. The poor kid was terrified. He stood in the dining room for fifty minutes, chanting "mommymommymommypleeease". I offered him juice and crackers; I even showed him Zac's most interesting toys. No dice. I felt so bad. When Annie finally came to get him, I think I may have been more relieved than he was.

I actually watched maybe five minutes of the Oscars. Boooooooriiiiing. I saw Hillary Swank in her dress. She looked like a mermaid in a straightjacket. But the color was gorgeous

The next step is to get a referral from Zac's pediatrician for a ear-nose-throat doctor. If he truly has a serius hearing loss, he's may have to go into a remedial day-care type program, according to the people that are working with us to correct his speech problems. And who knows? Who's to say Alex won't have it, too?

It really could have been anything that caused it, though. Heredity; his birth defect; the complications in the birth. Or maybe it's nothing. The lady who administered the hearing test noticed a bit of wax buildup. He might have a big glob of wax blocking things up. Best case scenario, they dig the stuff out and retest him and he passes with flying colors.

in the ear: the daily source code and the britpop channel on netscape radio

five things you may not know about me:

1. I am double jointed.
2. I am a huge fan of Tony Bennett. Saw him last year. He was amazing.
3. The People's Court is my favorite guilty pleasure show
4. I love German Shepherds and Rottweilers
5. scars: heel of left hand, left thigh, right knee, left wrist, and a c-section

Posted by: Beth at March 4, 2005 12:48 PM

Posted by: Jen at March 4, 2005 01:13 PM

Posted by: pam at March 7, 2005 11:11 AM

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