Category: #blogjune

My husband is an excellent fisherman. He’s been fishing since he was knee- high to a grasshopper, and he’s very very good at it. Spending the majority of his teenage years as a local on North Stradbroke Island didn’t hurt either; there’s not much else to do over there than surf and fish. So, that being said, he is an excellent fisherman.
Enter Miss 7 into the story. She got her first fishing rod for Christmas when she was 2. Yes, 2. Years old. Okay… Six months later, she had caught her first fish. She also caught the ‘fishing bug’. She will, also, be an excellent fisher woman, I think.
Enter Miss 4. Yes, you probably guessed it; she also received a fishing rod for Christmas when she was 2. And again, had caught her first fish by 2 and a half. So the tradition was set.
Then Mr 3 was born, and Hubby got a new job. One that left me, virtually, a single mum. That was how little we saw him. Which was sad. And so Mr 3 got his fishing rod only a few months ago, for his third birthday. He’s been out with Hubby once, and he screamed so much when the boat was moving that he apparently put himself to sleep. Coping mechanism, apparently. I was horrified when I heard what had happened on their return. To think that he was *that* distressed, that to cope he had to put himself to sleep?!! Crazy! Insane!
Needless to say, they haven’t been out together again since. Sad, really. So Mr 3 is yet to catch his first fish. 🙁
On the upside though, he loves the idea of fishing, so he’ll probably get there eventually. He loves watching the fish swimming around in mine and Miss 7’s fish tanks, catching computer fish on the PS2, and if allowed to, will spend hours and hours playing with the water, the rocks, and the poor terrorized fish in the fishpond out the front of our main bedroom.
So yesterday, when I took an hour or so out of ‘work’ and visited my next-door neighbour, we sat and chatted while Miss 4 and Mr 3 played near her pool. Mr 3, with fishing rod in hand.
Very cute, in my opinion!

Mr 3 was about 18 months old when he first decided to steeple his fingers. First, he touched his thumbs together, then his index fingers, his middle fingers, his ring fingers, and then his pinkies, until all 10 fingers were touching their opposites. And he had such a look of concentration on his face! He looked just like a little old, wise professor, trying to find an answer to a difficult problem. And he had worked out how to do this, all by himself; unlike my girls who had to be shown how, at around the age of 3 1/2.
Since that age, he has continued to develop his skills in finger manipulation. By two, instead of speaking about where he wanted to go, he would point. But where most children would point with a straight arm and straight finger, Mr 3 would curve his finger to point around the corner to where he wanted to go. He would then turn his hands so that his finger would point in the next direction, if what he wanted was more complex. In this way, he would explain fairly lengthy instructions regarding which directions he wanted me to follow him.
I think that his fingers have a sensitivity which mine do not. He also used to intentionally avoids touching substances which were wet, sticky, or cold.
And just last week, he surprised me. He woke early, and walked himself into our room, and crawled up onto the bed, in between Hubby and me. I draped my arm over him in an attempt to keep him still – because he finds keeping still a *really* difficult thing to do! – but Mr 3  picked up my arm and moved it, until he was holding my hand. He then used the fingers of his hand to spread out the fingers of mine, and then squeezed gently so that our fingers were entwined together. I was in shock! He’s three! I don’t know for certain, but I’m pretty sure that Miss 7 only did that just a few months back, and Miss 4 has never done it!

Sensitive fingers? I should say so! I think I’ll go and teach him some Piano now…