Play on Words or Hearing Trouble?

We play a lot of word games around here. That's what happens when you are blessed with children who talk non-stop. It provides a good way to keep some sense of order in the cacophony of my life.

It started last year when Connor, Helen, and I went through a mad stage of playing "woot toot" (a simple rhyming game) that goes something like this.

"What do you call it when your sister gets a cantaloupe?"
"A Helen melon!"

or...

"What do you call that blue thing up there?"
"A high sky!"

And let me just tell you, we played this at the park, in the car, but mostly, we played it in front of Ed because it provided an endless way to torment him. Because Ed? He's not really a fan of the game.

However, Ed does join me in near constant word play where we substitute a similar sounding word for one that someone said, making a joke of it. For example, as we were traveling to visit my friend last Friday, Connor said from his seat in the third row of the car (which is most definitely NOT a minivan, but rather, an oversized station wagon) "I can see Helen's mouth and nose in your mirror" and I replied "you can see a mouse on Helen's nose in my mirror?". And laughter from all parties in the car ensued because my kids find me that funny. Ed and I play this game almost subconsiously. But lately, I can't decide if Connor is playing it with us, or if he really can't hear. A couple of days ago, Ed was talking about Bluemont park and said to Connor "you know, the one where we had your birthday party with boats" and Connor replied "what birthday party with goats?". Almost all of the time Connor does this (and it's starting to be rather frequent), he's pretty funny.

I'm crossing my fingers that Connor is testing out dork humor, of which I am a master, rather than having real difficulty hearing. After all, it has taken me TEN MONTHS to get Connor to the eye doctor that his pediatrician referred him to last August after he failed the vision screen (my excuses are many). That appointment is on Tuesday morning. I'm not sure I can handle the responsibility of making another speciailist appointment. Frankly, Helen used up all that I have the ability to make in her first year of life.