The Princess doesn't like her hearing aids. There was a time, when she was really little, that she loved them. She was about 4 years old. She had purple aids with bright pink, glitter molds. She would show them to anyone who looked in her general direction and loved drawing any sort of attention she could get from them. Fast-forward 4 years. She is no longer a fan. The aids are now an "inconvenience" which often get forgotten in the box, left in a pocket or taken out for any number of excuses. The molds are now blue and gold swirl, to match the school uniform, but it's not enough to keep them palatable. She doesn't like to wear them. When I was swooning to the audiologist four years ago about the the Princesses love for her aids and how well she did wearing them, I was told it wouldn't last. I was told the phase of rejection would come. It comes with every hearing impaired kid. See the Princess can still hear
without her aids. Her world does not go into stone cold silence once her hearing aids are out. She just can not hear as well without them. She is unable to distinguish words and phrases, but she can hear that someone is making noises with their voice. She is an incredible lip reader, but turn your head away, and she'll not be able to catch a word of what you're saying to her.
It's hard to make hearing aids
cool to the Princess now. I guess the newness and the novelty they had when she was 4 has long since worn off. She's much more interested in "being like everyone else" than seeing the benefit in a tool that makes her life easier and better as a whole. So we were grateful to find out that
American Girl had come up with hearing aids for their dolls, I knew this was something we had to do for the Princess and her doll, Rose. On a recent trip to NYC, we took Rose to the American Girl Doll Hospital and she was fitted with bilateral hearing aids... and, at least for now, the Princess is embracing them, once again.
