How does your mind work, little one?
Saturday, 13 September 2008 19:16
What would the world look like when you notice numbers - almost to the exclusion of everything else - and they're so provocative that they make you shriek with delight and sometimes even stop your breath?
I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I could be in Sam's mind and look out at the world through his eyes? Would I see things differently?
This week Sam didn't want his usual bedtime story. Instead, he wanted to us to do exponents to help him drift off to sleep. He started off with 2 to the power 1, and finished off around 2 to the power 11. He did most of it by himself, with occasional guidance from me. I got to about 7 power before it started getting too much effort for my lazy brain but Sam wanted to keep going, visually adding the numbers in his head. At the power of nine he held his breath and kicked with his little feet, with too much excitement overpowering him! Then he got all the way up to the power of 11, before finally stopping (probably more due to mum). But then he started all over again with the 3's. Oh no!
It's only this week that I've worked out why Sam loves watching DVD's. He used to sit very close to the TV and I would reprimand him to sit further back. He used to complain that he couldn't see and we even took him to the optometrist. I've only realized this week that he's actually not watching the movie but the LCD numbers counting up on the DVD player. The reason he doesn't like sitting further away from the TV is because he can't see his numbers.
For a while, I was excited that Sam seemed to love photography. We would take photos on my digital camera and then look back at them. I was trying to encourage this because I thought it would be nice for him to be so interested in a hobby. But Sam doesn't care about the pictures. We've got one of those semi-professional cameras that have lots of numbers and symbols and other things on the screen and all he does is intently watch how they change! I don't think he even notices the photos.
I smile and I am very sad. I am sad because Sam doesn't share the same interests and he doesn't see the world in the same way as the little boys around him. And they don't see the world in his way. They get their shrieks and joys from different stimuli.
Just in...
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