Today

October 21, 2017

I can get pretty overwhelmed by what Bradley doesn’t do on a daily basis, but I can get just as overwhelmed by what he does do.  I try to hold onto the good stuff and that helps me truly enjoy all the things that he does daily and not miss when he does something that is new, and quite possibly not repeated for days, weeks, and months on end.

He’s been pulling pizza, or lunch meat out of the fridge for months now, and when he grabs the lunch meat, he also grabs the mustard and a paper plate from the pantry.  If it’s pizza, I warm it up, cut it up and he eats like a typical little boy - lots of it!  When it’s lunch meat, he helps me squeeze mustard on his bread, and lay out the meat, then he puts the mustard away and the lunch meat and we meet at the table.  This also gets pretty supervised because he hasn’t figured out that he has to take small bites.  He takes lots of bites, of various sizes that all come rushing back out at me if we aren’t careful.  He’s also been choosing between peach or strawberry yogurt.  He will either bend down and point, or he will pick them up and and show them to me; or someone, to point out which one he wants.  Lots of stuff connected to food around him, but then whether or not he eats and how much, and how well... might always be pivotal for his well being.

His development at school is also pretty important for obvious reasons.  At the beginning of the year, I have been able to watch him progress to take his lunchbox from his backpack, take it to the classroom fridge and put it away, then go to his seat.  But this past week, I have watched my son put his lunch away, then walk to his visual schedule, take the picture of work, and put it on his tab for “Right now” and then head to his seat.  I watched in such awe that he did that so nonchalantly and was told that he had started doing that more and more.  So now he does it for me, and we work on him being consistent by me handing him one of his favorite cars and kiss him goodbye, then he goes to his seat.  Pretty exciting!

So I came off that for the week.  Excited for him.  Pleased by his progress at school.  And then I got to see some wonderful stuff at home too.

We have a Keurig and my little boy watches me drink a bit of coffee.  Now, I don’t usually have a cup until after I get back from dropping the kids, and mostly on the weekends so he is busy playing so he isn’t around me too much when I am brewing, but he sees me drink it.  Perhaps he knows it’s his fault.  On days when he thinks that day should start before daybreak; perhaps I have considered how wonderful a coffee IV would be...but as yet, I don’t think they do that.  Do they?  Just kidding.  Sort of.  But anyway; the other day, he came up and actually pulled a used pod out of the Keurig and put a new one in, then tried to close the lid, but had it kind of crooked so it ddn’t quite work.  So while I adjusted it to help him and show him; he was otherwise busy, putting the old pod back into the rack.  Cracked me up.  I thanked him then quickly moved him far from the heat.

He’s been surprising us with things he remembers too.  I wear a pretty hefty knee brace when I can’t avoid it, and that’s pretty often.  So in the mornings, if he’s around and sees me put the sleeve over my knee, he hands me the brace, and tries to help me lock it in place.  This morning, he tried to hand Eric his shorts, but since he already had pants on, Eric laughed and told him he was good.  So then he grabbed a shirt for Dad, a pair of my socks...which Dad and I swapped out...and then found Dad’s shoes.  He loves to help us out.  So we constantly try to let him help.

This evening, he decided to help create a little magic.  I was sitting in the living room and I was folding laundry.  Bradley meandered to his little table behind our couch.  While I folded, I was listening to music from Sydney’s room.  Pretty good music as my talented daughter was working on teaching herself how to play piano on our keyboard.  Eric and I were both listening without letting her know that we were listening.  And I have to say, she’s coming along.  Eric looked at me and said: “Is she planning to play three instruments?”

I grinned, “Yes.  I think she is.  Isn’t it awesome?”

Meanwhile, Bradley made his way into the kitchen without me hearing him.  I realized once I heard his chair scrape and I got up and went into the kitchen.  Sure enough he had pulled a strawberry yogurt out of the fridge.  But this time it was different.  What was completely new about this?  He had pulled the lid off the yogurt, he hasn’t ever been able to take the lid off the yogurt before.  Granted they aren’t as tight as the ones on his pudding, but the same technique and that requires strong control of that pincer grasp.  Tonight, my guy got it!  I was so excited for him!!!  

He has long since gone to sleep now, he was up at 5 and ready to start his day this morning with mom running slightly behind; yeah whatever, struggling.  So it was with great joy that he made it until 7:45 (cranky little tired dude!) before he fell asleep.  I am crossing my fingers that that will translate to at least 6 possibly 7 tomorrow morning.  A mom can dream.  I have this hope that somehow, someday, some way, I will not only get my boy potty trained, but he will learn to appreciate the joy of sleeping in on a weekend.  On the good days, I believe that both of these can happen!

On the good days, I believe that if I keep talking and advocating for Bradley, others will see him for who he is and what he is worth, priceless.  The world will not dismiss him but accept him and allow him to be who he is going to be and let him be a part of this world.  That maybe, just maybe, his won’t be the last generation of those with an extra chromosome.  A mom can dream.

Today was a Good Day.  Madison is still riding her highs, Sydney is continuing her journey in music and wowing us, and little Bradley is putting one foot in front of the other, a little more confident, a little more self assured.  Really, who can ask for anything more?  Who would want too?

Happy Saturday all!  Continuing the 31 For 21 Challenge on Day 21!