Boys off to school, kitchen all cleaned up and the dog's toys back in the bucket. Plus I did spend about 1.5 hours on research. My daughter is a family medicine practitioner as well as hospitalist as well as staffing the emergency room at the small hospital here on rotation (for the last two). There are never really enough family doctors in these small towns in Northern Ontario. Hallowe'en I was somewhat shocked to be asked how long I was staying - it seemed a strange question to ask someone you just met especially someone dressed in an elephant's costume! I do hope to split my time between my two daughters just to help them out in their busy lives. I go to bed just after 9 so getting up at 5 to 6 is not really difficult for me although I will be tired by the end of this day for sure.
On rethinking the query though perhaps it was a heartfelt desire to see their doctor's mother stay for awhile. The doctors are very very busy in this town and likely in every town/city in Canada but especially in the North medicine is very understaffed. Off to do my 40 minute run (although I may shorten that a bit to a 20 minute run and a 20 minute walk if I find that exhaustion is setting in!
Growing up in a city I probably will never get used to small town or country life. I tend to keep to myself and that is unusual in small towns I expect. I did however actually walk down the street and back again a couple of days ago but really prefer running in the basement and walking around the yard. My oldest grandson and I were playing soccer the last couple of nights whilst the pleasant weather holds. He is quite good and I am not especially so; it is a long time since I played soccer. It is fun to see him enjoy doing that.
Managed 36 minutes running and walked 9 minutes so a good exercise period. My youngest grandson is autistic. At 18 months he just suddenly stopped talking and quick (but very expensive) intervention has brought him to six years and he does talk but in his own way. I have been reading up on some research being done on autism and there is a thought that for these children who have speech difficulties there seems to be a longer synapse in the brain creating a longer space of time between events which may account for this reduced tendency to talk. His mind is racing far ahead of his ability to communicate in a meaningful way. He is reading well ahead of his age level. Very good in spelling and is learning mathematics and is very good with numbers. He continues in his therapy (very expensive) two days a week which is why we go to my house for the three days and then he is in regular school for three days a week. The waiting period for autism treatment funded by the province is too long; intervention is needed at a young age so if you want your child to have it you need to pay for it yourself.
I do have conversations with my youngest grandson. They are short and to the point which closely resembles his grandmother's way of talking. He is very good on his Ipad and does a lot of good work on there as well as playing computer games. But the road ahead for him will be full of a different kind of learning activity as he negotiates personal interactions. The speech is really the problem but he does write stories. I would like to teach him to type and perhaps my next time with him when the winter snows are deep we can start in on that. It will probably be faster for him to express himself in writing although speech is also important; our world runs on oral communication for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment