Day 619 –Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

Today was filled with sparklers.

Grayson has a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I don't mean simply the "let me sleep a little longer" hard time we all experience rather he can't actually initiate getting himself out of bed. If I swing his feet over the edge of the bed and help him to a sitting position, he can be encouraged to stand up.

For the last few months, I have been letting him sleep a little longer and when I do go in to get him going in the morning, I stand next to his bed and ring a good old fashion alarm clock bell. The alarm clock was a gift from my sister to Grayson years ago and is an extra large version of an old fashion, round, black edged clock with a white face, large numbers and sweep hand. On top are two large bells with a striker between them. I manually keep ringing the bell, all the while talking him through the steps required to get him to a standing position. When he is fully vertical the ringing (mercifully) stops and I make a big deal of this reward. Today, the only verbal cue I gave him was "you know what to do". He got himself all the way out of bed without my having to put hands on him at all. This is a first.

This afternoon he accepted my challenge to "race" me down the sidewalk to a signpost. As we started off I suggested we jog. He actually jogged the entire way without giving up. Very unusual for him.

Later this afternoon he helped me take trash to the barrel in front of the house and he dropped a crumpled paper towel on the ground. Usually he leaves what he drops and walks away. Without any reminder, he bent down and picked it up, dropped it again, picked it up again and finally put it successfully into the trash barrel.

This evening he walked to his bedroom, sat down at his desk, turned on his monitor, grabbed the mouse, and tried entering his password to log onto his computer.

While getting ready for bed, he brushed his teeth for a full 40 seconds before quitting and handing the toothbrush to me to finish.

Each one of these is a spark of improvement. Each one represents hope to me that pathways may be rebuilding. Each one shows a spark of initiation blended with the memory value of repetition.

After my feeling a bit depressed yesterday, God found a way to lift me up today.

Thanks be to God and to each of you for the encouraging comments.

Regina