Maddie's Moments: But they're different, Oh I'm different!

From the moment we received Maddie's diagnosis, we worked tirelessly to make sure she didn't feel alone or different. We purchased her dolls with hearing aids, and ordered generic aids for her father and I. We all wore the hearing equipment to help create a norm for Maddie. Yet, despite my best intentions she would have to interact with people that were not wearing HAs and also may not be kind about the fact that she wore them. I remember her asking me where her classmates hearing aids were and I had to explain that God made her special and that's why she had them but everyone else didn't. As she got older, the questions from her peers began. Children would ask why she wore them and she didn't know what to say. As much as we wanted to get involved this was Maddie's reality and we had to equip her on how to handle these situations. Teaching her default phrases to help others understand her uniqueness was hard yet rewarding. My alter ego wanted her to say things like, "mind your business!" and " I cant hear but you cant do math!" But the more rational side equipped her to respond in ways that helped her peers understand and asserted her own confidence. To this day she still employs phrases like "these are called hearing aids, they help me hear better and I like them." I guess my baby girl thought everyone else was different, but in a short time she realized she was the one that was different. God help me to always reinforce how its that difference that makes her absolutely beautiful and fantabulous.