Parenting a special needs child

Having twin special needs toddlers can be exhausting some days and others you simply shake your head and smile. I know some of you have dealt first hand with the boys and know what I'm talking about and I've seen some of your faces when they've done something that is just insane and our reactions are grounded. But, we've learned that reacting extremely to the things they do isn't good for our health. LOL!

One story I've found myself telling a few times lately is about Matt. He's profoundly deaf, but has a cochlear implant that allows him to "hear" when it is on and attached to his head. He frequently takes it off so he can't hear you telling him not to do something and he'll avoid eye contact and not look at the signing you're using to communicate, the little stinker.

He loves to jump, on anything (trampoline, bed, couch, etc) and was outside jumping on the trampoline one afternoon. He came inside without his "ear". I asked him where it was and he ran to the trampoline, but then ran back inside clearly telling me he didn't intend to put it back on. I searched the grass and found the grey BTE (part that goes behind the ear), but couldn't find the BROWN coil (part that attaches the BTE to his head and contains a magnet). Magnet!! Brown!!!

I got a metal shovel and started passing it over the ground hoping the coil magnet would attach to it. No luck. Michael joined in the search. 15 minutes pass and still no BROWN coil. Then I start thinking about all of the metal on the trampoline and look at the posts. There is the coil about 1/3 of the way up a METAL post on the trampoline! He must have gotten too close to the sides and the magnetized coil pulled off his head and stuck to a post!!

We laughed at ourselves. "So what did you do with the kids this afternoon?" "Oh, just searched for a coil and found it on the post. Put the CI back together so the kid could hear again."