gps boy
5 05 2008Twice this week, we were approaching an intersection near the home of friends. In both cases, we visited the two different house only once, and neither visit was terribly recent. We met & had a playdate at Ethan’s house about 6 weeks ago. Ethan’s mother is a very old friend of Kathy from their Long Island days in the 1970s. Peter’s classmate Matthew had a birthday party at his house back in March that Peter attended.
We were nearing the intersection at which we would turn at to get to Ethan’s house, but from the complete opposite direction that we approached to go to his house weeks ago. I pointed to the left and asked Peter who lived down this way. Without hesitation, he excitedly shouted “Ethan!” He was right - and I was shocked. He had been there once - and never from that direction.
Remembering this last week, we neared the traffic light close to Matthew’s house - again from the opposite direction we would normally come. “Peter, who lives down here?”, I asked. “Matthew!” he shouted.
When an old (and brilliant father of 4) family friend met Peter for the first time a few months ago, and was told that Peter had developmental delays, he was surprised. He paused, looked at Peter in the eyes, and emphatically told us that this child is processing everything.
Until this week, I didn’t realize it, but Peter knows EXACTLY where he is at all times. Processing, indeed!
This is another story familiar to me from my own son. To par a phrase (little joke there) Developmental delays is as developmental delays does. I think he knows a lot of things that aren’t on the test.