That is the basic reaction I got from my daughter this weekend. She is 7 and been deaf her entire life. We were attending a Deaf Camp that we have attending numerous times before this weekend, but my baby girl finally understood that deaf meant that she couldn't hear sounds like Mommy and Daddy do.

You see she has a best friend at Deaf Camp, a little boy that is the same age, and deaf. My daughter, Shelby, wears a Cochlear Implant, voices and signs, but her friend has no aids and only signs. I was trying to explain to her that he is deaf and you have to sign, he can't hear you. She kept telling me ok, ok, ok, but she kept talking to him. I had to take her aside and try to explain to her again that she must sign because he is deaf like you and can't hear, but deaf in her world meant that you know sign language and might wear something on your ear.

So I took off her speech processor, the external part to her Cochlear Implant, and asked her "Can you hear right now?" She said, "No, no! Give me back my processor!" Signing to her I said, "Your friend can't hear. Right now I have to sign to you because you can't hear me, that is why you have to sign to your friend. Being deaf means that you can't hear." She cried "I want the doctor's to fix my ears!" So then I cried.

I  explained that she is special because that is just the way God made her. Same reason Mommy can't see very well, you can't hear very well. God makes us each very different for His reasons. She began to smile and her friend came and found her and off they went to play. Shelby went the rest of the day with no speech processor and fit in just fine with the rest of the deaf people there. She didn't once ask me for the speech processor that day.

The next morning we got up and she wanted to watch a movie and wanted her speech processor. I gave it to her. During church that morning, she could hear the music, but for the first time she signed the music! I cried. I have never been able to get her to sign the songs during church even though I sign and two other girls always sign the songs. It was beautiful!

Once home we were talking about her being deaf again and how special she was. And she told me that I must be deaf too because I sign. So once again I had to explain to her that I could hear, but God made me different too. And I'm sure I will have to have this conversation many more times, but for now, she is ok with being deaf.