Walking Aid

Evan usually doesn't care to wear his hearing aid. He humors us when he's at school, and he might leave it in for a few minutes at home...otherwise, he wants that aid out of his ear! There is one exception to this rule.

Even though Evan can walk pretty well all on his own, he still loves to "finger walk" around the kitchen table with daddy. I think it must help ground him, or provide some sort of organizational input that he just doesn't get any other way. He loves it, and every day Jeremy and Evan make umpteen laps around the table. Evan is also very particular about the chairs being pushed all the way in--whether someone is sitting there or not.

Jeremy realized that during the walking was a great time for Evan to wear his hearing aid. His hands are busy, so he can't pull it right out. Evan has made this connection, and now instead of just pulling on daddy's hands to go walking he will actually go find his hearing aid and bring it to Jeremy. It's the cutest thing, and it's so exciting to us that he has made that connection.

Even neater still, Jeremy actually saw Evan getting his hearing aid earlier today. The hearing aid was on the floor in the middle of the hall. Evan walked down the hall, saw the aid, bent over at the waist, picked it up with a pincher grasp, straightened back up without wobbling (or using anything for support), turned around, and came back to daddy.

And he has figured out that with this trick, Jeremy will reward him with even more walking around the table. We were trying to eat dinner tonight, and Evan came over and tried to give Jeremy his hearing aid. All he got that time was the "wait" sign--not at all happy about that!