Hi All- this one is for everyone who has suffered through some of my sad posts about my nephew, Nathan.
In the time since he has been living with his Dad, some amazing things have happened.
Here is a short but meaningful list.
1) Nathan uses eating utensils now most of the time and is still learning to go for a napkin before he automatically uses his shirt or pants. Not that different from most 9 year olds!
2) He has learned to respect peoples personal space much more.
3) The 'needy' vibe is way lower.
4) Nathan speaks of things other than video games and transformers. He still loves these things, but his world has gotten much bigger.
5) Nathan's vocabulary has exploded! He uses great big grown up words with tremendous regularity.
6) He is learning about what he loves and is interested in. It is amazing to watch him be a normal kid who doesn't spend all his time 'gauging' Mom's current mood. One fabulous example of this is when we took him to a local music museum. The stuff on display wasn't all that interesting for him, but something magical happened when he put on a pair of headphones in a room that houses all kinds of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia. His face lit up and he declared that "you've gotta hear this. This is really good stuff." His Dad told me that he was pretty sure that Nathan had never heard any Jimi Hendrix music before. A couple of days later, at the baseball game, Purple Haze was played in the stadium and Nathan immediately recognized that "great guitar stuff" again.
Just exactly how blessed am I to be able to witness this amazing transformation? Yup, hope springs eternal.
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Monday, August 22, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Updates For Those Who Pay Really Close Attention
Today I am going to give several quick updates to a few loose ends that exist among the archives to this blog. It's for people like me who are always wondering, "What ever happened" with this or that. I have a shockingly good memory and am always thinking things like that. If you have only stopped in once in awhile this post may be strange for you or, at best, annoying. You've been warned!
1) I saw my friend with her special needs child the other day and absolutely could not believe how well the first of many surgeries that her child will go through has turned out. If this is an indicator of the future, then God has decided to take his own hand and literally heal her. The surgeon who did this surgery noticed a small imperfection in the result right as he was about to finish and proceeded to do the entire thing over. Yeah, God is doing his thing.
2) My friend with colon cancer is getting worse. She doesn't have much energy and can't tolerate the chemo very often anymore. On the positive side, her husband finally got a job after a whole year without one. Talk about a stressful situation. I know it may sound weird, but I feel like now that he has a job and she sees that as him being O.K. she is starting to allow herself to go. I'm sad, but then I see how much she suffers.
3) My husband has decided to get himself into better shape before having any reconstructive work done. He seems pretty serious about his efforts and definitely paid special attention to the results that my friends baby got out of her surgery work. It is such a good example of how different results can be when you go into the work as a completely healthy person, instead of being on the verge of death! It gives us both a lot of hope.
4) We have also realized that barring total collapse of our plans, my husband and I should be in a warm weather place in no more than a year. Based on his work towards associate level and then fellowship in the Society Of Actuaries and the tests that he has already gotten through this year, his progress is ramping up. We are thinking that maybe one more winter is worth waiting through to be sure we end up in Texas, but are not opposed to some wonderful opportunity that arises elsewhere!
5) My nephew, Nathan, is healing up quite nicely from his bike wreck. His Dad says that the scar on his cheek is already barely visible. It does my heart good to hear this, even though I know I can't save him from all of his boyish antics. I will see him again for the Independence Day holiday. I can inspect him myself then. As a side note: I sent his teacher a great big bouquet of flowers for today- the last day of school. She has been just what we needed for Nathan this year and I know it has not been easy having him come into her class in January of this year. She has gone above and beyond the call of duty for him.
6) We are still experiencing June-uary type weather here. We have had a total of 3 days that have edged up into the low 70's. I know some of you would like some relief from your relentless heat and humidity. Until I can get an audience with whoever is in charge, we'll just have to suffer through and continue to believe the grass in greener on the other side.
7) My dog seems to have hit a nice mellow spot in his journey with dementia. The meds. are really helping and he has not had any problems with negative personality changes at all, which I have been warned can get ugly. He is continuing to stay true to his nature of always bouncing back just when you suspect that he might be headed downhill. I will be so grateful if he can just fade away quietly in his sleep one day...
I think I have hit on just about everything I can think of. So, if there's anything else- feel free to ask. I like keeping up with others and what they're up to as well.
1) I saw my friend with her special needs child the other day and absolutely could not believe how well the first of many surgeries that her child will go through has turned out. If this is an indicator of the future, then God has decided to take his own hand and literally heal her. The surgeon who did this surgery noticed a small imperfection in the result right as he was about to finish and proceeded to do the entire thing over. Yeah, God is doing his thing.
2) My friend with colon cancer is getting worse. She doesn't have much energy and can't tolerate the chemo very often anymore. On the positive side, her husband finally got a job after a whole year without one. Talk about a stressful situation. I know it may sound weird, but I feel like now that he has a job and she sees that as him being O.K. she is starting to allow herself to go. I'm sad, but then I see how much she suffers.
3) My husband has decided to get himself into better shape before having any reconstructive work done. He seems pretty serious about his efforts and definitely paid special attention to the results that my friends baby got out of her surgery work. It is such a good example of how different results can be when you go into the work as a completely healthy person, instead of being on the verge of death! It gives us both a lot of hope.
4) We have also realized that barring total collapse of our plans, my husband and I should be in a warm weather place in no more than a year. Based on his work towards associate level and then fellowship in the Society Of Actuaries and the tests that he has already gotten through this year, his progress is ramping up. We are thinking that maybe one more winter is worth waiting through to be sure we end up in Texas, but are not opposed to some wonderful opportunity that arises elsewhere!
5) My nephew, Nathan, is healing up quite nicely from his bike wreck. His Dad says that the scar on his cheek is already barely visible. It does my heart good to hear this, even though I know I can't save him from all of his boyish antics. I will see him again for the Independence Day holiday. I can inspect him myself then. As a side note: I sent his teacher a great big bouquet of flowers for today- the last day of school. She has been just what we needed for Nathan this year and I know it has not been easy having him come into her class in January of this year. She has gone above and beyond the call of duty for him.
6) We are still experiencing June-uary type weather here. We have had a total of 3 days that have edged up into the low 70's. I know some of you would like some relief from your relentless heat and humidity. Until I can get an audience with whoever is in charge, we'll just have to suffer through and continue to believe the grass in greener on the other side.
7) My dog seems to have hit a nice mellow spot in his journey with dementia. The meds. are really helping and he has not had any problems with negative personality changes at all, which I have been warned can get ugly. He is continuing to stay true to his nature of always bouncing back just when you suspect that he might be headed downhill. I will be so grateful if he can just fade away quietly in his sleep one day...
I think I have hit on just about everything I can think of. So, if there's anything else- feel free to ask. I like keeping up with others and what they're up to as well.
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