Mayhem and Pandemonium

No, not really mayhem and pandemonium.  You all probably found out the same time I did that our volcano erupted Sunday night.  We were in Anchorage, so we missed all of the fun.  We were eating breakfast at our hotel on Monday morning when the news started talking about the volcano erupting.  By Monday morning, it had erupted 5 times and it is expected to erupt for several months.  Everything here is totally normal.  Everyone is going about their normal lives.  The ash has been blown north for the most part and we live east, so we have even missed out on most of that.  It is beautiful and blue skies today.

We were in Anchorage for Brenden's implant mapping and Ethan's hearing aid programming.  Ethan's right ear was previously his "good ear," but now it has dropped to be level with his left ear.  The left hearing aid wasn't re-programmed but the right was.  As soon as we put the right hearing aid back in his ear, Ethan threw a tantrum, ran his head into the table, and broke the hearing aid.  Wonderful...

Brenden is doing well and is starting to be able to decipher some sounds with his new implant.  He tells me I am being mean when I make him wear it alone, but it has to be done.  It has been a long 2 weeks since he has been required to wear it alone.  He takes advantage of the fact that I can't tell him to stop when he is being mean, and still doesn't turn when I scream his name at the top of my lungs.  The audiologist says that the implant itself is turned up almost to the level of his old one, so it is not that he isn't getting enough volume, but that he just still hasn't learned what the sound of my screaming voice means.

Doug took Brenden and Nolan out ice fishing on Saturday.  I am sure he has some great pictures, but he has his camera with him, so I will have to post them when he gets home.