SNAP Wednesdays | Failure to thrive

Today, J didn't come to class. "At least he talked to you. Some helpers, he didn't even look at." I breathed a sigh of disappointment. It hurts to feel like you've failed.

The director paired me with another boy, also named J. J is nearly 4 years old, but looks like a tiny baby. He wears Blue's Clues diapers. He is the size of a 4-month old and can be cradled in my arms. He's adorable! And he cried the entire hour.

Since Berkeley Warm Pool is cohabited by elderly folks doing water exercises, they occasionally waded over to give me advice about calming down J's wailing.

"Keep talking to him," they said, "Gently pat him on the back," they said.

So I held him over my shoulder, and walked back and forth in the shallow end. I told J all about what I ate for breakfast (peanut butter sandwich, is anyone surprised?), how my day went (pretty well, since one of my post-midterm classes was canceled), what I think being a baby is like (obviously this was a desperate attempt at making small talk). Other times, I just hummed and murmured into his ear. I forsook the actual therapy portion of SNAP, and just played babysitter.

His mom came at the end of the hour, and explained to me his condition. Failure to thrive is a medical diagnosis that refers to poor physical and/or mental growth, especially in children.

It's odd how we take things like growth for granted. I just assume that when I am a certain age, I will look and act like I am a certain age. As cute as he is, or as "normal" as he looks, J may not.

I need to remember that I share into not just the time that I'm in the pool with the children, but that my thoughts and prayers can extend further to the parents and siblings.