Tuesday, February 20, 2018

First Contact

I shared Jacob's blog with him for the first time tonight. It started with a discussion at the dinner table about Jacob's horseshoe shaped scar above his left ear. For several years now, Jacob has been getting his hair cut short, high and tightish, and although he never noticed his scar in the mirror, he could feel it when he touched his hair. He was surprised to learn that he had surgery for a boo boo in his head. Tonight's discussion was about how our puppy Athena was spayed today and that she would probably have a scar where her stitches are just like Jacob. I asked him if he would like to see pictures of his stitches and he was very excited. I opened the blog on my phone and showed him his pictures before and after surgery - bandages, breathing tube, drain, and stitches. He was fascinated. Then I showed him a few posts where I had recorded words or approximations for words he used to say. He loved hearing the pseudo words, trying to guess what they meant, and then reading what they were. I showed him pictures and a video of his constraint therapy. He was bothered by the fact that his right hand used to work and now it doesn't work so well. I explained to him that his hand didn't work so well back then but that he was so young that he did all of his exercises and made it stronger. I told him that as he got older and could talk back, he decided that his hand didn't work - but it does and it will whenever he is ready to exercise again. It was a break through. A revelation. For him not me. I have always believed that the work he did when he was very young trained his brain and his muscles to make that hand function. He willed his little body to do what it could not or should not be able to do. We stopped pushing all of the additional therapies so he would be able to just be. I hoped that when he was older he would decide to work on his hand again, as if he was in training. Maybe he will maybe he won't but tonight I saw his realization that if three year old Jacob can use his hand, then nine year old Jacob can too. Anyways, Jacob asked if I could put the pictures and videos and stories on his phone when he gets one. I explained that it was all saved for him on a website and he could read it when he's older. I am so thankful that I have this blog to share with him.

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