Listen up...

One thing about the orphanage that you might have heard about but you wouldn't really expect to be so very true is this: it's eerily quiet. Walking down the hall you might not even believe that there are really bunches of children living in the building.

Maybe it has something to do with the construction techniques used in Eastern Europe. Every building I saw was built of concrete or stone. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that crying is not rewarded with attention. Theo and Zhen do not cry to get my attention. They sit quietly in their beds when they wake in the morning. Makes me a little sad.

Theo's grouppa was very quiet. Honestly, only one or two children were ever up and about at any one time. Even Zhen's grouppa was mostly silent, even with three or four children up and "playing" (sitting and staring into space). I often wondered why no music or TV programs? At least one other family has reported that educational TV programs were played for their child's grouppa. Those were different groups of children though.

Though I believe Theo has a profound hearing loss, I noticed that he lays his head on those annoying toys that have sirens and honking sounds. He lays on them and smiles. And smiles. He also calms when I sing close to his ear. He will press his head into my mouth as I sing to him.

I don't want him to live in silence. I feel like he is, in a way, still locked up if he cannot hear. In an effort to give him something more interesting to listen to than a firetruck siren I broke out some headphones tonight.

What would be good for him to listen to? How about one of the Bach Inventions? Yes! So I sat him on my lap, started the music and placed the headphones on him. Well, of course he immediately threw up on me! No biggie. Happens all the time. We finished the song before getting cleaned up. haha!

Whoa! What's that I hear? When he finds something that he can actually hear his eyes fill with wonder! I LOVE it! We will have to make this a habit for certain.

I know there are plenty of hearing impaired people who live full and happy lives. But hearing things makes Theo sooooooo happy! I can't wait until next Monday when I find out for certain how much, or little, he hears. Then we will know how to help him even more. No more living in silence.