- On arriving at the airport (still in his pyjamas) and passing into the departures lounge, Tom's discovery that 'airplanes' were real was a sight to behold. Glued to the window, he chanted 'Airplane!! Airplane, daddy, airplane' increasingly breathlessly, occasionally turning to check if I had perceived the miracle that is modern flight too. Indeed, the discovery that we were actually getting in the thing almost pushed him over the edge. I felt it an important public service to teach him 'wing', 'engine', 'tail' and 'cockpit' so that surrounding passengers would get a little variety during the flight.
- Nicky started her first 'I noticed you were looking at my son...' conversation with a particularly unsubtle French lady. This followed numerous quite bizarre incidents where people only a matter of yards away would peer round us to stare at Tom's implant. One may be tempted to think that the Unsubtle French Lady's confident assertion that 'we don't have them here' had some truth to it... except that we have a carefully collated list of French CI centres that we carried with us.
- Tom has never really seen the point of swimming pools. I'm not sure whether it was the temperature of the water, the communal changing or possibly the tense look on his mum's face but since being deafened things hadn't got any easier. We haven't mastered reassurance and safety instructions via signing so, once the implant is off, Tom is prone to cold feet that can't be soothed away.
I tried to show him just how much fun could be had on the campsite's water slides (repeatedly) and, after numerous brief paddles spread over a number of days, we gave the gentle slide a whirl with Tom on my lap. After that, of course, there was no going back. The inertia and friction my bulk created insured that we never reached threatening speeds but I managed to create a big splash and ensure the full water slide experience was had.
Have we returned from holiday refreshed enough to deal with what this week is bringing? We shall soon see.
6 comments:
Lovely stories. When we took my then four year old daughter on a flight to Amsterdam from East Midlands, she announced to the predominately business passengers in the waiting lounge: Look, Daddy, a flying carrot [the wind sock]. The smiles outnumbered the frowns.
Tom looks like a precious little boy! So glad to hear he is doing well and talking after his implant!
It's interesting you mentioned 'the unsubtle French woman'. I've had a couple of stares, to be honest but feel quite indifferent to it. Some of my friends at work, the technogeeks that they are (IT people never change) tell me they're fascinated how the headpiece clings to my head and can't help looking at it.
As long as it's the 'wow that's fascinating' kind of stare as opposed to the bovine 'ooh that's different' look, I'm not really bothered.
Thanks all
Ivan - we've decided to take on an 'educating' role and tell people - 'I noticed you were staring, it's a...'. Obviously, some walk away at this point because talking to strangers in the UK is just weird apparently.
I'm waiting for the first child to be steered away because its catching.
Loved the conversation with your daughter - at least it leads somewhere! Tom is more of a one topic guy.
Hello. And Bye.
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