Day 265 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson had a good but quiet day today. He did his grocery shopping in the morning and completed it successfully with no behavior problems. He was tired today because he had a late night last night, so when his afternoon residential assistant (RA) arrived he was sleeping in the recliner. After he woke up, he started on his checklist and did his cleaning tasks.

He made dinner and after clean-up spent some quiet chuckle time on the couch with his xkcd comic book. He had his evening snack at 7:30, then started getting ready for bed. He was listening to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy when I called around 9:00. I told him that we would see him tomorrow and he sounded happy about that.

Another good day!

Pax!

Brant

Day 264 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

It's Friday night – movie night! Grayson went to see The Other Guys with his roommate, another patient, their residential assistants (RA) and the activity director. All three patients are around the same age, and about equally functional, so it was a good homogeneous group. The movie started at 8:10, so I am sure that I won't be talking to Grayson tonight. By the time he gets home, he will be well past his normal bedtime.

The fact that he was still out when I called is a good sign – that there were no issues that required bringing Grayson back to the residence. Woo hoo once again!

Pax!

Brant

Day 263 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

Unfortunately (only for us) Grayson's residential assistant (RA) was allowed to go home early this evening so we were unable to get any first hand observations.

According to the supervisor who was filling in, Grayson participated in art therapy in the recreation center this evening. When I spoke with him he remembered that he had participated in the activity but couldn't remember what he had worked on. It was only a little after 8:00 and Grayson was in bed listening to the audio book Hitchhiker's Guide. He was unable to divert his attention from the book for more than a couple of seconds and simply stopped answering my questions. I wished him sweet dreams and he said "bye".

Good night sweet prince.

Peace to each of you. Thank you for caring enough to still be following his story.

Regina

Day 262 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

According to Grayson's residential assistant (RA), today was a "really good day". Grayson has made very good progress over the past month in behavior and cooperation, and today was no exception. The morning staff commented today that Grayson required very little cueing to complete his morning tasks (something that we hear little about simply because of timing). Likewise this evening, he required little cueing to complete his evening chores. The progress we are seeing is encouraging, but needs to be tempered with the fact that he will require waking hour supervision like a small child for the next several years. As long as his cooperation and behavior remain good, supervision will at least be something that we can hire.

I visited one of our Boeing production facilities today, and I saw the sections of an aircraft produced at a facility I had some responsibility for last year. It was really cool to see them installed on an aircraft on that production line. I can't wait to share that story with Grayson when I see him again this weekend.

Pax!

Brant

Day 261 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson has a new residential assistant (RA) working with him, and this evening, she and I played phone tag and never connected. I did speak with Grayson, though at 8:00 he was very sleepy. Grayson did get a full dose of "normal" today – therapeutic home program (THP), cleaning task (sweep and mop the floors), walk in the park, dinner prep and clean-up. He also had no behavior problems, which continues to be good news.

Grayson's room and bathroom at our home is now ready for a construction crew to descend upon it in the morning. They will be doing some plaster patching, general repair, painting, and installation of new carpet in the bedroom and grab bars in the bathroom. We still have lots of stuff to go through, as many of the things from his room are now in other rooms of the house. Progress continues to be made as we prepare for an overnight visit soon.

Pax!

Brant

Day 260 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson had another good day today. I find that I usually say that when there is no report of negative behavior, and today is no exception! Grayson had a new residential assistant (RA) today, and Grayson did well with him. He did much of the usual – a cleaning chore (the bathroom) made dinner and cleaned up afterward, checked the mail (he got a card today!), took out the trash and took a walk afterward.

When I called to talk to him and get the evening report, Grayson was watching a movie on the TV – a special treat. I chose not to interrupt the movie, and called back 30 minutes later. By then he was in bed, but we had a nice, albeit short, chat.

Another good day!

Pax!

Brant

Day 259 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Today was a quiet and low key day for Grayson. Compared to a full day of "normal" activity yesterday, today was a sleep-in-and-relax day for the man. He did sleep in (until 8:00) then when his afternoon residential assistant (RA) come on shift, he took a 30 minute nap. He got to work on his checklist at 4:00 then cleaned the bathroom, made dinner, did his therapeutic home program (THP), took out the trash, hung out for a bit at the rec center, then headed back to the apartment too brush teeth and get ready for bed. I spoke with him at 8:00 and he was in bed listening to an audio book.

Let's hear it for sleep-in-and-relax days!

Pax!

Brant