Deaf kids can yodel

Well, mine can, anyway.  Almost.  As you know, Ben is Big On Music, which is putting it mildly.  I think of distances around town in terms of how many CD tracks we can get through on the journey.  It's a small town, so it's usually at most two.  From daycare to home, it's about 1.5, depending on the CD.  Yesterday when I picked Ben up, he was clearly in the mood for more than 1.5 tracks worth of John Denver, so I suggested a little drive in the country.

It was a gorgeous day -- deep blue sky, strong sunlight, the snow starting to recede in the fields.  Still cold, but a beautiful early spring day.  We were driving along, and there was Ben in the back seat, belting out John Denver songs at the top of his lungs -- and not just loudly, but joyfully, with over-the-top exuberance.  Where he's still a little unsure about the lyrics, he fakes it pretty well.  And we got to the part in Calypso where John Denver is more or less in yodel mode -- it's not quite Alpine pyrotechnics, but he changes from chest voice to head voice and dances around some pretty wide intervals.  And yes, that was my (deaf) son in the backseat, yodeling right alongside.  Not quite pitch perfect, but pretty darned close.  I looked in the mirror and saw his eyes beaming with happiness as he yodeled away, watching the countryside fly by.

He couldn't see my face, and the fact that I had tears of joy and pride streaming down my cheeks.

When we got home, I turned off the ignition but left the key in long enough for the two of us to sing all the way to the end of Take Me Home, Country Roads.  Then, still high on music, we went inside and had a snack.  Pretty good day.