My Virtual Child essay PDF

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B+ on paper due to improper APA formatting other than that A worthy essay....

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My Virtual Child: Brian

1. Due to risks caused by hight blood-pressure and a premature dilation of the cervex my partner, Sarah, was forced to go on Maternity leave. As a result, Brian was born 3 weeks early. Weighing in at 5 pounds, Brian was underweight but not bad considering the fact that he was born 3 weeks early. Also, Brian had an apgar score of 6 which kept him in the hospital for a couple days before being deemed healthy. This time was scary for us because Brian seemed restless compared to the other newborns and he was definitely crying more. Brian was also slow learning how to feed causing him to lose weight after birth. This issue was soon resolved and Brian left the hospital with us, a healthy baby, a week later. At the end of 3 months, Brian will stop breastfeeding and start a formula driven diet. Formula feeding allows for both of us to participate in Brian’s feedings as he continues to grow and attach to us. We think this is the best option because breastfeeding can be inconvenient and strenuous at times. Now at 8 months, Brian’s diet has diversified. Other than the occasional problem with diarrhea and indigestion, Brian is open and willing to try new foods. As a result, we will “… introduce new baby food veggies and meats one at a time and for several days in a row to see if Brian likes it, and digests it well.” After some testing and observation by Brian’s pediatrician it was determined that at 9 months “Brian is physically healthy. The doctor recommends a greater variety of baby food and

ground up fruit and vegetables.” Also, “Brian is considered advanced in his gross and fine motor skills and enjoys crawling, pulling up to stand and manipulating objects.” It is great to hear that Brian’s development is on track and that he is a healthy boy! Now approaching 12 months, Brian is showing a great interest in expanding his motor skills. In order to appease these desires we decided to construct a homemade obstacle course of sorts including: boxes to crawl through, ramps to crawl up and wheeled toys to push around. This should allow Brian to fine tune his motor skills at home while also having fun at the same time. Because Brian learned to walk early at about 9 months old and he also knows how to climb, we must teach him not to put himself in dangerous situations so we must scold him accordingly in order to teach him a lesson. Now, at 18 months, “Brian has a tremendous drive to use his motor skills. You have to keep an eye on Brian because he will quickly toddle off into the crowd at public places or even into the street!” Brian really becoming a little person and with this comes many dangers that parents must be aware of. Keeping Brian close and in sight has been big as he ages because he can quickly disappear on us! When Brian was 2 his curiosity got him in some trouble as we heard a splash in the pool at a family members house. Brian fell in but luckily did not swallow any water. After this incident we decided “to enroll Brian in toddler swimming lessons, which emphasize safety, holding your breath, swimming to the edge of the pool and holding on.” Although this may seem excessive we, as his parents, think it is necessary for Brian to gain the proper swimming and safety knowledge if he is going to be around pools. Better safe than sorry!

After an early development specialists does some tests and observations on Brian, it was concluded that, “Brian's gross motor skills are above average, for example, climbing, riding on trikes, kicking balls and playing catch…” This is a great thing considering all the efforts we have put in, in order for Brian’s motor skills and coordination to progress. In order to continue playing sports, you must also eat smart and healthy and at age 8 it seemed like Brian was eating a lot but not gaining any weight. This was something that we wanted to place an importance on thus showing Brian the “MyPlate” website. “MyPlate” showed Brian what foods are healthy and the proportion in which to eat them. We feel much better knowing that Brian is at least informed when it comes to food and a healthy diet. At age 9, Brian made the “All Stars” team for baseball so at age 10, we believed it was best to dive into baseball and enroll Brian in pitching and batting lessons and signing him up for a travel team. Since there is only a few years before high school, we decided this would be the best thing to do for Brian’s physical development as well as his physical fitness and health. Around age 12 the dentist told us Brian was going to need braces so we showed him all the reasons why it is a good idea to get your braces before high school. For instance, I got my braces in 8th grade and was able to get them off by 10th grade. Also during this time, Brian’s growth shot up as he began consuming a lot of junk food before and after school. In order to keep him in good health, we decided to buy healthier snacks to send Brian to school with. After 2 months of dating, Brian told us he was in love with his girlfriend. Although it was nerve racking to hear your 16 year old son is in love, after talking to him we decided it was okay to let Brian make his own decisions regarding his love life.

At 18 years old Brian has grown into quite the young man! So physically gifted, Brian has all the tools he needs as he continues on his journey into adulthood.

2. After his week of observation, Brian was considered healthy and fit to go home. Now at 3 months old, “Brian is able to focus his eyes on you. He spends a lot of time studying your face and the faces of anyone who comes close to him.” We think this is good stimulation for Brian as well as an opportunity to develop an attachment to us as his parents. Brian also showed an intense interest for his surroundings, smiling at familiar people and toys. This shows us that Brian is developing and retaining memories about certain things. Even though it is unlikely that Brian can understand us, we still see fit to talk to him a lot. In our opinion talking to Brian will get him interested and curious about speaking thus promoting language development. He is still young but at 8 months Brian does well with the object permanence test. He was able to find the hidden object as long as we didn't wait too long or distract him. At this age, Brian also showed comfort in new situations and when meeting new people. For this reason, we always encourage social interaction as long as Brian is interested. After Brian’s 9 month mark, the pediatrician told us the following “Brian has typical emotional reactions for his age, such as fear of total strangers, separation anxiety and a quick, loud cry when upset or in pain.” To us, this is totally normal for young kids and Brian is on pace with others his age.

Now 12 months old, Brian is able to imitate new words and actions so we have been modeling new behaviors and whenever Brian is able to imitate us he gets a reward. “At twelve months old, Brian now clearly understands a couple of dozen words. In fact, Brian just recently pronounced his first clear word and pointed at the object in question….It was a dog.” This was very exciting for us as a baby first word is always so memorable. Approaching 15 months, Brian got the hang of the object permanence test as we were unable to trick him most of the time and he kept wanting to play again. The steady improvement in this area implicates good things for Brian’s cognitive development going forward. At 18 months, Brian is beginning to develop a sense of self awareness. He is now realizing that he is his own person and that he can make some of his own decisions. For this reason we must really enforce our rules. He has also shown to be very chatty as he now has over 50 words in his vocabulary. We are now working on the addition of descriptive words in order to better Brian’s sentence making ability. At 19 months Brian is able to imitate words or actions from days before. His memory is getting better! Brian was in good standing considering his age in almost all categories of the developmental assessment. Brian has shown good progress in his social skills and language development! Areas of improvement include insecurity/clinginess and moodiness/irritability. Brian is now 2 years old and he has begun to show some new emotions such as a shy smile during a photo, looking guilty after breaking something and embarrassment after an accident. These are all signs of a positive progression in Brian’s self awareness.

Inviting a baby sister to the world, Brian shows great affection towards the new addition to our family. He brags about her, feeds her and even imitates her actions. The only downside is that Brian has shown some regression and has become more demanding and whiny. This is completely normal for kids and it is our job to show both of them the attention they require. At 3 years old, Brian has begun to lie occasionally. In order to show Brian that this is not okay we wait to catch him in the act and then explain why lying is bad and can hurt people’s feelings. Another formal assessment before starting kindergarten has shown that Brian has a good sense of phonological awareness, vocabulary, counting skills and a real knack for art. The teacher recommended that Brian engage in self management in order to get him ready for kindergarten. Brian’s first grade report card brought up some areas that need improvement. For example Brian must get better about working cooperatively in groups he must also work on overreacting in stressful situations. Encouragement always helps. Lastly, Brian was considered “developmentally appropriate” in the areas of speaking, listening and math while demonstrating strength in spatial understanding and visual arts. Now, after wrapping up 5th grade, it has become a trend that Brian get upset in stressful situations. Although this seems normal, it is something we clearly need to work on as becoming anxious and moody in class is never a good thing. Brian was of appropriate grade level for better for all other cognitive developments. Brian got all A’s and B’s on his 7th grade report card. The one thing that his teacher recommended we work on is time management. Brian has struggled with completing his assignments on time in class.

At 17 years old, Brian’s social anxiety is still somewhat of a problem. He has a couple good friends and in our opinion thats all he needs as we will leave decisions about friendships and relationships up to him. In order to help him with these issues Brian enrolled in a psychology class senior year. I think the class definitely helped improve our relationship! Although Brian’s cognitive development has been for the most part average or above, his SAT scores were not high enough to land him in any of his desired 4 year universities. Brian will start at a community college as he continue to work hard towards his ultimate goal of attending a 4 year university!...