Tom being Tom.


Tom as a Baby
Thomas Frederick Boxall

Tom is our little Wizard. He's always been different to other children. He didn't talk until he was 3 and he's still hard to understand at 6, but there's no flies on Tom. His brain is amazing. He learned to use a computer at 2 1/2, and then we helped him learn to talk by teaching him to read. He could soon write his name and can now spell a number of words that are phonetic without any help. He can design and animate pictures on the computer and program his own simple games. We think he was so busy thinking that he wasn't bothered with communicating. He is quite social etc and introduces himself formally to people he meets. He has an imagination second to none and will either be an author, or a doctor because he also obsessed with the workings of the human body. This is probably because he's had so much medical attention. He sees a chiropractor weekly as he has a spinal and sternum deformity called pectus excavatum . His sternum (breastbone) is sunken in which has pulled his spine out of line, and it is almost totally straight. Gradually we are seeing an improvement in the curve of his spine, but he may still need surgery in time if the compression of the sternum on his lungs and heart causes problems. He has a number of other peculiarities, and has recently had X-Rays to see if his adenoids were responsible for his permanently blocked nose. (He snores VERY loud). He also has permanently enlarged but not infected tonsils. We have tried anti-histamine without success to see if allergies are at work, but we have now been referred to a patholgical speech therapist to get to the bottom of his nose and throat and speech problems. He has been getting speech therapy at school. He gets most of his care from alternative practitioners, and he has a LOT of herbs. He has been very sick at times, and we really thought we were going to lose him Winter 1996 when he lost 10lbs in weight, and couldn't find the energy to stand up, but our naturopath brought him back for us. Tom is an adorable child, with a wicked sense of humour, lots of hugs, and long convoluted stories. He has wild dreams which he loves to share during which he kills dragons and finds buried treasure. He also loves fishing and baseball. He loves school but can be quite a challenge to the staff there. He's rather conceited about his intellect, and plays pranks on people all the time. Despite his skinny appearance he has a big appetite and is known for his capacity for bananas.
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