Monday, July 10, 2006

'Just Visiting'

Tom takes much longer to get to sleep since he lost his hearing. We have no real way of knowing whether the two are linked although there seems to be evidence to suggest there might be (a piece of information I picked up from one of those fuddy-duddy printed publications hence the lack of link). So what's going on in his head? We don't live in a noisy neighbourhood so honking cars and gang warfare aren't the lullabies he's missing. Is he lost in his own thoughts - a toddler equivalent to compartmentalising the day's stresses - mulling over the loss of that particularly shiny Matchbox car?

Who knows whether Tom would have developed all these bedtime stalling tactics anyway? The final bottle of milk has been pushed back until he's actually in bed now and is has to be drunk in stages, several of them necessitating my return to the room after the final goodnight. This repetitive delaying strategy may also be the cause of some children's love of books - Tom always thinks there's time for just one more.

The mysterious mind

It is now only days until switch on - Tom will only have been 'silent' for three months or so - but in that time we have seen our son achieve so many things that leave me in awe. What a baby's mind is capable of...this potency really needs to be harnessed and used to achieve something. We should hook them all up while they sleep - just like that Seti at Home project. Don't think of it as cruel exploitation - babies fully approve of slavery anyway. Just ask any parent.

I'm struggling just to keep up with the signs he's learning - I blame that Mr. Tumble fellow - a few minutes in front of that and Tom is off and running. He is just so desperate to communicate and he's seized on this new method - not knowing that the rules are just about to change again. He'll cope - far better than we do I suspect. The secret is to just keep expecting more; cut through the 'lowering of expectations' crap that professionals seem to opt for these days.

As you may be able to tell, I'm still riding the emotional rollercoaster. Today has been an 'up' day.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our (deaf from birth) one takes a while to go to sleep, often filled with whoops and shrieks that would be fitting for a rainforest. It just seems to be what he does. Will have to wait and see - switchon tomorrow (Weds) - if that changes over time.

Did you really mean that Mr Tumble fellow to be the Seti@home project? Or were you intending to point to "something special" (rather than "something extraterrestrial")?

Jason said...

Tom just demands milk, juice, books then trains and rotates through them until he gives in to sleep.

Thanks for giving the blog the editorial once over - I've restored some of the original meaning!!