toddlers

Along the theme of time - finding it, using it, fast, slow, in-between - I thought I'd re-run this post. I have a *lot* of experience with four little boys, one autistic, in getting things done around the kids ;-) - they help now a lot more, but sometimes this is still necessary, so I thought it might be worth rerunning my meditations on how that works. Asher will turn five this week, and Eli is ten now - and while Asher is now one of my primary aids, Eli is still sometimes a lovable hindrance, despite some improvement - but in a nice way, and we're used to it. Still, getting everything…
Minnow and I have been visiting with Brother this weekend, and we went out to dinner at a deli and salad place. Brother got the all-you-can-eat salad bar, I ordered a Ciabatta Garden, and Minnow wanted the cheese pizza. Our food had just arrived when Minnow announced, "I need to go potty. I'm pee-peeing in my chair." Instantaneously, her high chair filled with literally a gallon of pee, until it spilled over the top of her legs and made a cascade onto the ground. A trail of urine followed us to the bathroom, the soaked clothes were taken home in a carry-out box... I was horrified, Brother…
Babies can say volume without saying a single word. They can wave good-bye, point at things to indicate an interest or shake their heads to mean "No". These gestures may be very simple, but they are a sign of things to come. Year-old toddlers who use more gestures tend to have more expansive vocabularies several years later. And this link between early gesturing and future linguistic ability may partially explain by children from poorer families tend to have smaller vocabularies than those from richer ones. Vocabulary size tallies strongly with a child's academic success, so it's striking…