Chandra's Journal
January 19, 2006
You would think we had brought home a different kid than the one we took to Houston a month and a half ago! He is doing remarkably well and has just grown up so much. Besides the gross motor improvements (which is still amazing – he’s climbing anything he can get a leg up on), he looks at the world in a different light. Before the transplant, he was an avid “observer”. He was content to watch other kids do things, and was entertained by such. It was fine, I guess. I never realized how much entertaining I personally was doing until recently, though. Now he would rather AFFECT his surroundings rather than take it in. It’s like he walks into a room thinking, ‘Hmm, how could I shake this place up? I could move this thing over there. Yup, that’s better. What else? Oh, I could see how loud I can say my words! CHAIR! TOTAYTO [tomato]! PEEYO [pillow]! KEEED [Creed]! Hmm, I wonder if I could put this Tupperware bowl on my head and then walk backwards from this chair all the way to the couch. NOPE! Try again!’
He’s getting the hang of replying to yes/no questions appropriately. His repertoire now consists of two basic answers, “No” and “Ee-hah, Mama [Okay, Mama]” (and occasionally “Mm-hmm.”). He has figured out how to use those most of the time.
“Do you want to go outside, Canon?”
“Ee-hah, Mama!”
“We have to put your shoes on first.”
“No!”
“Okay, now you have shoes on. Let’s go to the park!”
“Ee-hah, Mama!”
“Let’s bring Creed with us!”
He might say “Ee-hah” or he might say “No”, depending on his mood. Doesn’t matter though, he doesn’t get to decide that!
“Do we go in the street?”
“No, no, no!”
It’s really neat to see him start to communicate back and forth with us. I say ‘start’ because he does have a few phrases yet to figure out. When I drop him off at Rhonda’s house I’ve been asking him, “Are you going to be a good boy today?” And without fail he’ll answer “No-oo!” Rhonda, Dane, and Dayton get a good laugh out of that one! Then there was the time we came back from church and Canon was getting fussy after lunch. Drew asked him, “Are you worn out from yelling all through church today?” He replied very matter-of-factly, “Mm-hmm.”
Chandra Perkins