More Language Development from Fishy!

Skills are funny things. Kids acquire them in fits and starts, lose bits of them again, develop bad habits along with good ones, and intersperse balky moments of complete obtuseness with unexpected flashes of pure genius. Anyone who's ever tried to get their child to demonstrate a new skill on cue for camera or proud…

Fishy’s Making Language Progress!

This is really exciting. On my latest visit, after being away from several weeks, Fishy's grandma told me that he's been making much more active attempts to communicate, including increased use of pointing and signing (though he still has a limited range of signs and tends to mix a few of them up) and lots…

Comparing Fishy to a Typically Developing Child

There's an amusing anecdote I never got around to relating. One of the first times I babysat for Fishy, he had a friend over for dinner-- a petite, tow-headed, adorable little girl who I'll call Blondie. The differences between them were instant and striking. At almost 3, she was approximately the same size as nearly-4-year-old…

Fishy Goes to School

Those who know me in person know that, in general, few things short of an impending apocalypse can tempt me out of bed before 9 AM. Today I was voluntarily up by 7 and out of the house at 8... so that I could go with Fishy to his school for the day (he does…

Fishy and Autonomy/Sense of Self

I have to be very careful not to take advantage of Fishy. This is, of course, a serious risk with all children, especially young ones: adults are bigger, stronger, very convincing, and essentially the gods and absolute rulers of a child's world. To some extent, this is necessary-- it is healthy for a child to…

Fishy goes to the doctor

As noted in my previous post, I’ve taken on a part-time job as a nanny for a nearly-four-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus. We just clicked with each other instantly, and since then, his parents have remarked  on how good I am with him, how patient I am, how well I seem to understand…

A boy called Fishy

I’m generally not much for children. I don’t plan to ever have any of my own, in spite of being prone to occasional ridiculously intense baby cravings of the sort depicted here:http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws447/. Not that I mind kids—unlike many people, I’m almost never bothered by their shrillness or level of activity (even when I can’t keep…