Day 449 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

At the clinic today, Grayson worked on following three-step verbal instructions as well as on decreasing his rate of speech with three-syllable words. Both of these are areas I work on with him at home on a daily basis.

In physical therapy he kicked and passed a soccer ball with weights on his ankles and wrists. Following this was a period of stair climbing.

In occupational therapy the focus was on coordination – specifically fine motor coordination with coins and on gross motor coordination utilizing the practical skill of wiping tables. Usually when I have Grayson wipe the table, he uses small strokes somewhat inefficiently swiping AT the table. Tonight he took the sponge, reached across the whole table wiped quite effectively. He followed that by completely drying it with a dry towel. There is certainly something to be said about reinforcing in the evening what he practices at the clinic during the day.

Following dinner and cleanup, Grayson expressed a desire to watch TV. I explained that he could watch a new episode of House at 8:00 and gave him several options for activities to fill the time until then. He helped me put new sheets on his bed, put in a load of laundry, changed clothes, brushed teeth, and then read until 8:00. At the end of the episode, I asked if he knew what time it was. His response was, "Time for bed". He said goodnight to Austin and Xixi (who were making rice cakes downstairs) and headed straight to bed.

About six days in a row of improved alertness and verbalizing. I'll take every minute of it with gratitude.

Grace and peace to you,

Regina

Day 448 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

On Friday, Grayson danced with me at my brother's birthday party, asked my sister Rita to dance and then did the twist with cousin Kimberly. He stayed engaged for three hours and was able to handle a lively Elks Club banquet hall with about 50 guests talking, eating, laughing, and dancing - all the while with an amplified singer. This was amazing.

On Saturday, as I was walking down the stairs, I overheard a conversation between Grayson and Brant. Not just Brant asking questions or a running one sided conversation, but both of their voices coming from the kitchen. What a wonderful sound.

Today, during our church service, Grayson joined me in singing (with encouragement), "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us". Not just a word but all three repetitions.

He communicated to me when he was hungry, when he needed to use the restroom, and when he wanted to watch TV. Granted he started by either pointing to his mouth (or the TV) or by walking out of the room to the restroom. When I asked him to use his words he was able to verbally communicate his desires.

Day by day, the inches add up.

With thanks to God, I lift up these simple joys.

Grace and peace to each of you,

Regina

Day 447 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Lauren watched Grayson while we were teaching Cub Scout leaders songs this morning. Lauren did a fine job and Grayson had a good morning with his sister.

Grayson's recent improvements are still with us. It was like a step function increase last week rather than a gradual improvement, but the gains have stuck for several days. These changes in Grayson do not evenly remotely indicate a return to independent functionality, but they do represent the potential for an slight improvement in his quality of life. We pray that these improvements stick and that many more tiny steps are in his future!

Pax!

Brant

Day 446 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

I'll be very brief this evening, as Regina and I will be up in just a few hours to teach Cub Scout leaders how to lead songs!

Grayson had yet another good day. He awoke bright eyed and was quite alert at a birthday party for Regina's brother, Howie. He danced with several ladies after dinner, and he remembered who was at the party when we returned home.

All good signs!

Pax!

Brant

Day 445 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson had another bright eyed day! The highlight for me was just before dinner. Regina and I were talking about our Songs class that we teach annually at a Cub Scout leader training event and we started doing a few of the silly song favorites that have become our trademark. Grayson remembered the songs and started doing the silly hand motions with us. Then I said, "Who's on second?" Grayson responded, "Who's on first!" Regina and I howled! We played with it a bit more and all laughed. For some of you, you may have seen Grayson and me do that skit together when he was younger. We learned it when Grayson was in fifth grade and performed at a bunch of Scout campfires over the next several years. He was so good and always a crowd pleaser – and it was especially fun to watch this young kid act out the skit! If you are not familiar with this old Abbott and Costello skit, you need to see it. Google it and watch!

Grayson was also especially helpful making his bed this evening. His dexterity and patience usually gets the better of him when doing chores like this, but tonight he did a great job working with Regina to get everything tucked in just right!

Another good day!

Pax!

Brant

Day 444 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson again woke up bright eyed this morning. While not quite as alert as yesterday, he was much more articulate and vocal than he is typically. With prompting he was attempting five word sentences, and he was doing three word sentences without prompting.

Encouraging signs continue!

Pax!

Brant

Day 443 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Today was one of those days – those good days!

Grayson was alert from the time he woke up until he went to bed, and perhaps a bit beyond that. (The bedroom alarm just went off, meaning that he walked out of his room!) He was talking more today than we have seen in close to a year. Early on in his recovery he spoke a lot but most of it was intelligible. At one point he just stopped trying. We are guessing that he was not being understood and just sort of gave up after being asked to repeat everything three or four times. Most of his verbal communication of the past year has been one or two word answers. Tonight it was easy to prompt him to use sentences of three to five words.

Quite a fun and encouraging evening!

Pax!

Brant