Everything Batman!

Lest you believe that my kids are obsessed with batman (and batgirl) I am here to tell you that they are not. I wonder where you would ever get an idea like that? First of all, Brennen picked his costume this year. He wasn't seeking out to be batman, but that costume was at the store, it was his size, it was the right price for mom, and it was kind of cool. Maeve on the other hand did her shopping online. I believe that she had her costume down to a top 20 list. She finally picked batgirl after a little pressure from mom to hurry up and decide. I always wanted the kids to "match" on Halloween and this time, I didn't have anything to do with it!

We celebrated Brennen's birthday with a friend this weekend. His real birthday was like three months ago. The family did celebrate but we never had a "party." It was a bit hectic over here b/c both kids were starting school, mom was starting school, and dad was transferring offices. We meant to have a party, but it just never happened.

So finally, Brennen agreed to be satisfied with a sleep over and his best friend, Michael. Dad took him to the store to pick out a cake, and this is what they came home with. Again, I had nothing to do with it. You would think that we are up to our eyeballs in batman videos and toys but we are not. These seemed to just be three separate but coincidental happenings!

They Said Something About Cookies

Here's a picture of an audiogram showing a "cookie-bite" hearing loss. Apparently, this is something I have. I was participating in a study a the University of Kansas. They were testing otoacoustic emissions (sounds generated by the inner ear). These are important because these are how one can test the hearing of a newborn. Anyway, I was a research participant and to get started, they tested my hearing. Technically, I don't have a "hearing loss." Technically, the student who tested me isn't an audiologist anyway. According to her test results, I am within normal range. I am however on the borderline for a mild hearing loss around the frequencies of 1000Hz. My audiogram makes a shape like this one. It looks as if someone took a bite out of a cookie. Usually, the audiograms will be sloping or a rising line. It would be straight across (at the top) for someone with no hearing loss. You can see from the audiogram with cartoons drawn in how different sounds are at different levels of frequencies (Hz) and noise levels (dB). So now the question is, do I go and get my hearing tested? What? Did you say something? I can't hear you.