Testing 1,2

We had to take William for a hearing test yesterday. When he was born he had what looked like a pin prick on the outside of his ear. Apparently this is often a sign of deafness. It’s become apparent since he’s been at home that there is no question as to his hearing abilities. He’ll be drifting off to sleep and then jumps a mile when one of the other kids drops something! But an appointment had been made for a hearing test, and we were duty bound to attend. It turned out to be quite interesting. My memories of previous hearing tests were the expert standing behind the child and making a noise to one side, checking if they moved in that direction. Hi-tech stuff! This was far more technical. There were electrodes attached to different parts of his head and then these mini headphones were slipped over his ears. Then sounds were played through them and the electrodes measured muscle movement in the ear. He passed with flying colours and there are no more fears about his hearing ability. It does make you think about how much you take for granted. There are always risks of a baby being born with any number of conditions. On an almost daily basis we seem to get bombarded with statistics, telling you how there’s a one in so many chance of your child contracting condition X, Y or Z. Perhaps it’s a sign of optimism on my part that I never spend much time thinking of worst case scenarios, or perhaps it’s more a sign of my complacency and ignorance? I actually chuckled out loud yesterday at the news that there has been an increase in personal thefts across Britain. Now that in itself is not a reason for amusement, but the advice police have issued is comical. The reason for the increase in robberies is due to the huge increase in people carrying mobile phones, MP3 players, I-pods etc Greater Manchester Police have issued the advice that by all means carry these items, but be careful when you use them. You might not want to use the headphones on your MP3 player, to avoid advertising the fact you have one. So if you’re not going to use the MP3 player, why exactly would you want to buy one and carry it in the first place? I do wish people would realise that the term mobile phones means that the are portable telephones, rather than you have to be mobile whilst using them. People seem to enter their own little dream world talking into them, or texting whilst walking along. That classic phrase of, if you can’t walk and talk at the same time, do one or the other, never seemed more appropriate.