Getting "aided"

End of June (Peter 10 wks old) I met with the pediatric hearing aid specialist, and things just keep moving forward! It was a crazy morning, as I had two appointments for Peter, and when I was leaving the house to drop my older kids off for a playdate (and because they don't want loud kids running around while they are trying to fit hearing aids) I realized the appointment was a half hour EARLIER than I thought! Aaaack, I was going to be really late! I called, and luckily they could still take me. Peter screamed the whole way there- and 30 min of wailing is enough to give anyone grey hairs. He wailed when we walked in, but calmed down after he was out of the carseat. Tara, the hearing aid audiologist that works with kids, was so sweet and gentle. She explained what they thought Peter could hear, and what he might be able to hear with the hearing aids. Unfortunately, Peter's loss is such that, even with super powerful, honking' big things and fresh batteries at leat once a week, Peter probably can't hear most of the sounds of speech. But there should be some benefit to allowing stimulation of the auditory nerve, and giving Peter an awareness of sound, so we ordered the honkin big, super powerful hearing aids, in blue. Peter hated the cold goop they use to take the cast for ear molds. I felt like I was torturing my child, and paying dearly for the privilege :(. California does not require insurers to cover pediatric hearing aids, and we aren't on Medicaid (which would pay) or eligible for all those benevolent societies that would buy them for us, so...$2000...EACH...man, that is more than I paid for my first car! I hope Peter can recognize SOME speech with these expensive baubles in his ears, so I wrote down the sounds he is most likely to hear: J M D B N. NG E U and Maybe I A O R So now I hope to write and illustrate a story using mostly those sounds. I am neither an author or illustrator, but oh well ;). So far my word list is short, but I am sure my scrabble-playing friends will come through with more words using these letters/sounds!