Day 715 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Happy Halloween, or All-Hallows'-Eve as this day is known in Christendom – the night before All Saints' Day. We had the usual number of Trick-or-Treat visitors at our house tonight – zero! There are simply too many stairs to the houses in our neighborhood to be visited by kids. The first year we lived in this house, we took Grayson around Trick-or-Treating. He made it to three houses before he was exhausted and done for the night. Here is a picture of Grayson from one of those early Halloweens.

Today Grayson was low energy and rather unfocused. He had difficulty staying in his seat during dinner. When we put him to bed he couldn't seem to stay there and kept walking out of his room. I'm not sure that he is down for the night yet! Tonight is one of those nights!

Pax!

Brant

Day 714 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Today was Reformation Sunday and so we were up and out of the house early for church to celebrate this Festival Day. We heard wonderful messages at church today – the children's sermon, the Homily and the stewardship talk – all awesome messages and great reminders of why we so enjoy being a part of the church family at Salem Lutheran.

Grayson was a happy camper today – warm sunshine, warm friends at church, interesting shopping at the home improvement store after lunch, and the warm love of family for dinner.

This evening we had a wonderful pre-All-Hallows'-Eve dinner at Rita and Richard's. Grayson was there and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He indulged in Rita's chili then overindulged in her Halloween candy – he is just like a child again!

In some ways, don't you wish that we could all be so carefree and childlike like Grayson?

Pax!

Brant

Day 713 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Sleep-in Saturday! Today we decided to enjoy our awesome Southern California Saturday by getting out of the house for several hours today. It may have been 43° last night, but it was 83° today! Yep. I love living in Southern California.

Tonight we watched our brave Trojans play the Trees in the Pac 12 battle of the private schools. It was a wild contest and it came down to triple overtime before Stanford finally came out on top. The underdog Trojans made a game out of what was supposed to be a romp by Stanford. I am proud of their effort in spite of my desire for a different outcome. The Trojans made us all proud.

Grayson has been alert all day. Wearing his USC T-Shirt he was with us as we watched the game on TV this evening. He sat and patiently watched the game, but Grayson has never been a big sports fan. In spite of this he always wants his old school to win. I hope all of the cheers and noise we made this evening didn't disturb him too much!

Pax!

Brant

Day 712 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Today Grayson was up and out of the house early. I had to go in for a routine medical test that required someone to drive me home, so we were all up and out – much earlier than Grayson is used to getting up. He did well in spite of the lack of sleep. After my test we all went out to lunch – a real treat for me since I hadn't eaten since Wednesday!

Grayson did fairly well today – not particularly verbal and a lot of head scratching, but still pretty alert. I was surprised that he watched a movie with us until 11:30 and was still alert after his early morning. He just went to bed and I hope his long day has him so tired that he is down for the night. I'm certainly ready to call it a day!

Pax!

Brant

Day 711 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson was alert again today but we started to notice the early signs of a downward cycle. He had trouble staying seated at dinner and has a little trouble staying in bed tonight. The head scratching was starting to get a bit more vigorous and he was very non verbal. We're probably due for a few days of down as he has been quite alert for several days in a row.

These up and down cycles start to sound a little like a weather report – "Grayson will be alert with a chance of scattered unexplained movement." We will enjoy the ride!

Pax!

Brant

Day 710 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson was quite alert today. He was active and bright-eyed from the moment we got him up. In spite of this he was very non-verbal all day.

I'll take bright-eyed any day!

Pax!

Brant

Day 709 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson was in fine spirits today. Regina worked his fanny off on a walk today. (I was inspired to hop on the treadmill after work myself!) Grayson was alert and active all evening, and he went to bed tonight without a problem.

Why is he alert and focused some days and not on others? Only God knows.

Pax!

Brant