Memorial Day Parade

Hadley and her fabulous Girl Scout troop marched in our town's Memorial Day parade this morning. This is the third year that Hadley has participated, so she knows the drill. Today was complicated by the fact that she has an infection in one ear, preventing her from wearing that hearing aid. She assured me, however, that it just made things easier when the honor guard did the gun salute, as she'd only have to turn off one hearing aid instead of two. I had to laugh at myself when I alerted her to turn her aid back on so she could hear Taps being played. It's not a new experience for her, it's something that she's bound to repeat several more times in her future, her hearing was already further compromised today...but alerting her to special and important sounds is so automatic for us, I did it without thinking. Those principles of auditory-verbal therapy are firmly ingrained in all we do!

One aid or two, Hadley still had a great time marching with her friends. It's great to see her speak up when she needs something repeated and use her coping skills to figure out what has been said. However, it's a tough reminder to see how much harder she has to work with just one hearing aid and how much she does miss. As Hadley's friends get older and know her better, they are more capable of providing the extra support that she needs in these situations, something she relied on quite a bit today.

We don't have many pictures of Hadley where you can see her entire ear; it's very strange to see her without her colorful molds (currently green and white swirled) and purple hearing aids. Hopefully, she'll be sporting two aids in the next day or two!