End of June

Hello

A few weeks ago, I let you know about our new adventures with “Jello Boy”. It’s been a very challenging time, but look! We’re surviving!!! The tough part has been remaining consistent in our follow through in what we say to Mason and expect of him. Gradually he is cooperating a little more again . . . some of the time. Here are a few big highlights in the last week or two:

• Tonight is the fourth evening in a row that Mason has gone to sleep on his own. Due to the anxiety he’s had since surgery, he would get quite hysterical if he was left alone in his room. We’ve been tucking him in and leaving the room with his door open. He can hear us, and we say something to him occasionally to reassure him we’re still here. Before surgery, I always felt that even if it had been a seizure/behavior day from ____, at least he went to bed so easy. I have now been reminded how that changes the whole dynamics of the rest of the evening!! It’s much more relaxing again.
  
• A few nights ago he slept through the WHOLE NIGHT!
  
• Last week Mason said his first 3 word sentence! Ma ree boon. (there were distinct thoughtful pauses between each word) Mommy read Goodnight Moon. His favorite book. He loves books!!!
  
• He has started speech therapy, and he is doing soooo well. His second time there, he would not get out of the car. Finally, I hauled him out, and when we got closer to the door, I told him to ring the doorbell, knowing that it would get him to the door. He pressed that button, yelled, ”Awdone! (all done)” and he zipped around and RAN to the car.”
  
• Sydney played “The Sound of Music” at her piano recital without a single mistake. She started taking lessons in February this year. She had to learn 10 different cords – including minors, and flats. She also won an award from her teacher for “Most Promising Student” That, together with a few other good things happening in school has been amazing in boosting her self esteem in recent months. It had been declining prior to that, due in part to a false perception of herself!
  
• Asia wrote and recorded a song and has a CD! Although getting her to practice her electric guitar is difficult at times, she too, has musical talent. Next year she also wants to take drum lessons. I think we may need to double up the door to the bonus room upstairs!!
  
  Only two weeks of school left. I am not as nervous about this summer as last year. Mason is much easier behavior-wise, and the worries over the seizures and all that entailed are gone. (helmet, injuries, seizures that would go on for hours, etc) It’s good for me to check back on the blog to last year to be reminded how good it is now. Having some mild seizures at night, occasionally extra mild ones during the day is a picnic.
  
  We co-own a trailer with my parents (Marge and Dick) an hour across the border since mid-last summer. It has become a favorite vacation hotspot for us. It’s an oldie, with a sunroom add-on, sitting on a large gravel lot, backing onto green-belt, in a complex with a great swimming pool. It’s easy to bring Mason there, he loves digging in the gravel, campfires, swimming (at least he did last year), and going for walks to the play ground. I find he gets bored in on place too long, so we’ll be sending a few days there, a few days home and go back and forth like that all summer. The girls love biking through the (security gated) campground, have made friends with a really nice Christian family two spots over, and we have the friends that “introduced” us to Whatcom Meadows last year, very nearby. Hotels are extremely difficult for Mason, so this is the best option for our family as a whole. The kids all love roasting hotdogs and marshmallows nearly every night we’re down here. I let Mason roast one (with my help sort of) last time. Flambé. When I wouldn’t let him do more, he went over to the table, took a couple of mm’s out of the bag and tossed them straight into the fire! Skip the stick!
  
  Well, it’s the end of Father’s Day. Daryl had a nice relaxing day today, well deserved!
  
  G’night