Tuesday, March 27, 2012

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008

It’s been a while since I’ve written. Sorry about that! Things have been really busy and quite wonderful, though often hectic, as Rhett and I have started our new jobs.


Stupid Human Tricks: I know this sounds crazy, but Daniel has taken up saying what sounds like a first word. We talk to him all the time, and sometimes I run out of things to say, so quite often I am reduced to saying “Hi!” over and over again in various versions of an animated voice. Not surprisingly, Daniel often mimics the sounds her hears us make. Most of the ones he repeats are nonsense syllables, but lately he has taken up saying “Hi!” At first it was just when he mimicked me, but recently he’s taken up saying it without provocation. He often says it to strangers whom he meets at the office or out and about. We know better than to think it means anything, of course. It’s not possible that an 11 week old baby is actually saying “his first word,” but when he says it to strangers it never fails to get a lot of “oohs” and “ahhs.” I think we should take him to Letterman to be the star of his “Stupid Human Tricks” segment.


How to Accomplish Much While on Baby Duty: Daniel is awake more and more these days, and that is wonderful, but it’s becoming a bit of a chore to get our work done on the computer. It’s the end of the month, so monthly reports are due on clients, Person Centered Plans (don’t ask) have been recently due on two of my clients, and notes are due on everyone by midnight. There has been a great need for uninterrupted (or rarely interrupted) computer time these last few days. This morning, Rhett is at the Durham office and I am at home with the munchkin. I’m getting creative in figuring out how to entertain my sweet little man while also getting my work done. Remember how not long ago I figured out that Daniel would kick his right foot in order to make the play gym toys dance for him? Well, now he can do it on his own. I tied one end of a satin ribbon to his foot, and tied the other end to the link of the play gym that holds his favorite toy (the cardinal) and a rattle. Then I moved his foot a couple of times to let him see the toys dance, and I came back to the computer. That’s where I am now, and Daniel is kicking merrily away and flirting with a stuffed bird. It’s so cute I have to stop for a moment to photograph it. Look!




Thoughts on Work: I’m working with a family that has a 5 month old. It looks to me like the 5 month old is beginning to develop positional plagiocephaly. In and of itself, that’s not a big deal, but it points to how little attention and stimulation the baby is getting. I’ve talked with the mom some about it and how important it is to pick the baby up a lot; I even got her a front carrier through our agency, but I don’t think she’s using it all that much. It makes me really sad. I hear the baby cry a lot when I’m there, but these parents have a different philosophy on baby crying than I do. They don’t mind just letting him cry it out – but it seems like he’s always crying. It certainly doesn’t meet the statutory criteria for maltreatment, but it’s clear that parenting is really too hard for this family and that they don’t have the knowledge or support they need to be able to do the job that I believe children deserve. My rapport with the family is great, though, and their other (most critical) symptoms are improving rapidly, so I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to revisit this issue. Anyway, it’s interesting to note how hard it is for me to observe the far-from-ideal treatment of this baby. My skin used to be thicker. I used to be able to say “well, at least they aren’t…” I can still sort of do that, but I left them yesterday with a heaviness in my chest; a sad sort of helplessness came over me that it took a while to identify. I came home and picked up Daniel and just held and held him. It is going to be important for me to deal well with those sad feelings well as I continue to observe the parenting effects of this broken world.
POSTED BY EMILIE BROWN AT 1:25 PM

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