Funny Stuff And Not So Funny Stuff
Alright, let's start with the funny stuff first because, well, it's funny! Anna is 4-months old now. She's in that stage where she's really starting to babble and make more noises. Sometimes it seems like she's trying her damndest to parrot us and hold her end of a conversation! lol I've been having full fledged conversations with her since she was born. I've done that with all three of my kids. It's good for them, and fun for me. Well, Anna's got a new friend to talk to now. We were in the office this afternoon, and I went into the kitchen for a minute to get Hannah another drink because she was "really, really thirsty and going to die at any minute" (that's an exact Hannah quote). It was either get her a drink another drink and keep reminding her to go to the damned bathroom every five minutes or strangle her for being a PITA. I chose drink and remind. After all, maybe she really was that thirsty and not just trying to drive me nuts! lol Me thinks she might have the slightest bit of drama queen in her like her mother though, since she acted like she was about to drop dead right then and there. lol Anyway, so I get her her drink and I notice that the fucking cat isn't under foot for once in the past year!
So, we go back into the office where I left Anna to play with her monkey (she has this stuffed monkey that Hannah got her for Christmas and she loves the thing), and when I go in, not only has the baby rolled herself and Felix (the monkey) half way across the room, but the cat is also in there with her. Now that's not terribly shocking. Sunshine may be afraid of her own shadow, the sound of plastic grocery bags, and a 75lb German Shepard that thinks she's a squeaky toy, but she's not afraid of a mobile baby that doesn't understand the phrases "be gentle" and "leave the cat alone" yet. I was getting Hannah set back up with her "crochet" (you know that kit at Family Dollar that' got the streatchy nylong rings and the board the kid hooks them on?) stuff when Anna launches into one of her conversations. She decided to have a convo with the cat! lol It was so funny because she was oohing and ahhing and the cat meowed in response! So she's like "ao" back at her,and the cat meowed back again. They do this from time to time and it's so funny!
She also has these conversations with Darren. He can say some words, but for the large part he's classified as non-verbal autistic since it practically requires an act of God to get actual words to come out fo his mouth. He does babble and make all sorts of noises (screaming and general fit throwing included) though, and Anna likes that. She babbles back at him all the time! lol It's like they both think that there's finally another person in the house who speaks his/her language! lol So, he babbles back at her. He may not verbalize (unless you classify screaming as verbalizing) very much at all, but he is a signing fool!
So far, he can do the signs for:
-Mom
-Dad
-Baby
-Day
-Night
-Done
-Drink
-Hungry
-Hurt
-Sleep
-Happy
-Sad
-Sorry
-Love
-Thank You
-More
-Cat
-Dog
-Spoon
-Fork
Now, onto the not so funny stuff. Wednesday was my first day of classes. I got two 15-page syllabuses dumped in my lap. We are not amused at the length. It's definitely manageable, but at first look that many pages each is kind of daunting! One good thing that's going for me with the classes is that, since they're online, it's a lot of independant study. That's the way I like it! Independant study has always been right up my alley. Just from going into the classes for the first time, interacting with people, getting the syllabus (even if I wasn't thrilled about the length), and doing the introductory assignments, I'm really looking forward to this term. I've always liked Psychology, and being in a program where I'm immered in it, particularly in the behavior analysis aspect of it, is really cool already!
I've discovered that I'm one of the few people in the classes that's actually gotten to know the Psychology field from the side of the patient/client and now the therapist. I guess that's not something that happens often. Can't say I blame people for that. I've been a casuality of enough bad therapists, that I reeally want to be one of the good ones that tries to offer constructive advice/feedback and understands (or at least attempts to) where th client is coming from and what they've been through. I've had therapists tell me that things like my eating disorder or ocd aren't real problems and just character flaws. WTF?! That's every bit as helpful as, "the rape was years ago. Don't you think it's time to get over it already?" I didn't know that someone could just get over it already! Maybe those are the ones that see people stuffing their feelings and call that getting over it. There is a huge difference between the two! IMO, therapists/psychiatrists that don't realize that really should not be practicing in the first place.