From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary

As I get closer and closer to my due date - one more week exactly left, I am left thinking about how life will change soon. Someone wrote a few months ago on a blog (or was it a book? I forget) that I read about how ordinary, or common activities can be made extraordinary.

A number of activities that I can think of are:
-Laundry
-Making meals
-Cleaning the house
-Driving my car
-Having silly conversations with my 2 year old
-Growing a baby

All of these sound pretty tedious, if not boring. I beg to differ. In my opinion, doing laundry means that I have a reminder that I'm able to clothe my family. Making meals means there's enough food (and money) in the house to keep us healthy. Growing a baby is common, women have been doing this for thousands of years, but yet it's a very deep, profound experience.

Given that, I also feel my hearing loss is an ordinary event. Millions of people in the world suffer from some form of hearing loss - mild to moderate to severe to profound. I choose to take on the extraordinary perspective that my hearing loss has made me a more efficient communicator with the rest of the world. It has helped me see the world from a different lens (though I would not wish hearing loss on anyone else if necessary!). Anyone who knows me personally knows that I prefer to communicate via the spoken word. While I don't have anything against other modes of communication, I just prefer actually talking for myself than having someone talk for me.

Wooooooo!!!

On the plus side, it's pretty cool to have verbal conversations with my toddler, who I swear is becoming into a threenager. Having a child with normal hearing has made me an advocate for strong language acquisition in the early years - reading books, listening to music, etc. Since she knows that I have a hearing loss and often mishear stuff, she has developed a 'politically incorrect' personality - correcting me whenever possible. 

Priceless conversation pieces include:

-Her grandparents' (my mom and dad) home is not a 'house', it is a 'condo'.
-"The baby's name is Mortimer, or something else." (otherwise, she'll just say that we'll find out the baby's name when the baby arrives)
-"Let me think" (fingers pointing at me)
-"Mommy, I will have boobies one day and be able to feed babies" Obviously she's been listening in on my breastfeeding plans.
-"Do you remember the names of the animals from Madagascar?"  This is every day at breakfast.
- *she even sings to Johnny Cash - the following is her favorite part from I walk the line* 

"I find it very, very easy to be true
I find myself alone when each day is through
Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you
Because you're mine, I walk the line"

All this, and more is why I value being part of the auditory world, even though it's not perfect from my end. For most 'hearing' people, this is a normal, everyday occurrence. But for the hard of hearing mommy, it's a source of great joy to be able to participate fully in my daughter's life.