What Does a Cow Say?

If you ask Alison, she'll say moo. If you ask her about a sheep, she'll say baaa. And if you ask her to be an elephant, she'll purse her lips and blow, trying to make the trumpeting sound of an elephant, but only succeeding in getting you all wet (if you happen to be facing her).

I know all kids get to the point where they do this, and there's probably a lot of kids who have been doing it for quite some time, but I'm a first time mom. And I have a child with hydrocephalus. It's tough not knowing to what extent it's affecting her brain development, if it's affecting it at all. I think, for the most part, that she's meeting all her developmental milestones, at least the cognitive and verbal ones. Motor skills, at least gross motor, are another story.

Who knows what the future will hold for Alison. As much as we try to treat her like a normal child, she's not a normal child. We don't have a lot of expectations for her, but we do have lots of hopes for her. So for now, I will watch her and marvel at what she's learned so far, read to her, play games, sing songs, do puzzles and laugh at her when she makes an elephant sound.