Taylor has the most incredibly cute way of talking. It isn’t anything like the way she used to speak. It is kind of childlike and usually brief. The words flow out of her slowly and are drawn out. Because the physical act of speaking is labored she has a lot of one and two word answers. “Okay”, “yum”, “cool”, “later”, “a little” are some examples. She can also converse in full sentences when necessary but usually finds a way to express her thoughts more succinctly.
Because her speech is so cute sounding, she is so small, and she has such a playful fun attitude, it’s easy to fall into thinking about Taylor like a child. I see therapists doing this and Taylor is content to let them, however; occasionally Taylor shows her scholarly side when she has to comment on something technical. When she starts talking about the research she did at MIT it is a really weird because she sounds like a four year old discussing the finer points of nano-particles.
While her speech may be relearning how to sound like her old self, her intellect is already fully there. This weekend she and I listened to “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie. Taylor amazed me by figuring out much of the plot by the end of the second chapter. She even postulated the “who done it” correctly but dismissed it as not likely due to impossible curves thrown by the author.
It will be wonderful when Taylor is fully recovered but while this is happening it is a joy to be around this cute/smart beautiful person.
Hi Taylor! I’m so excited to see all of your progress. And, I love reading about all of your research and papers in James’ comment. I couldn’t be more proud and am beaming over here in Camarillo! Sending a gazillion positive vibes your way. Big hug.
– Tracy
This comment makes me proud! Way to go, T-bone. Let ’em know just how much you get the finer points. You’re a pro at this stuff.
Along these lines, I wanted you to know we’re prepping another one of the big papers you’re on. We’re writing it up for submission to a big journal; it’s Hendrik’s athero combination paper. It’s a long process from submission to acceptance, but it’ll get it in somewhere. When it does I’ll let you know asap.
Also, FYI, you should brag a bit about your Nature Nano paper. It’s the most emailed paper on the Nature Nano website right now. So your work is making a splash.
Talking about Hendrik’s paper made me remember something… do you remember the day I asked you and Yiping calculate the relative rations of the siRNAs for Hendrik’s paper? Each siRNA was at a different concentration, and needed to be put in at a certain ratio. It took me 20 minutes, and took you guys each 45 seconds. And I had a calculator!!! That really amazed me.
Anyway, I was working on another project you’re on (the high throughput one) today. I was going through your handwritten notes. They are clear, helpful, and concise. It made me proud of you.
Yiping is working hard, and you would be proud of her. We both miss you and can’t wait to hear about your incredible improvement. You have already come so far. You can ask you parents… I remember when the doctors were saying you had these odds or those odds or whatever… your parents and I agreed that those odds didn’t apply to you. Generally speaking, rules that limit people don’t seem to apply to you. Keep up the good work, and most importantly, be proud of how far you’ve come along already. We sure are.
just read this to her and she got a big smile and said she does remember that task. Thanks for the great reply.
Taylor is the cutest and she always will be! Especially her tiny little feet.