I hear his words and sometimes it still shocks me. Owen asked the voice-activated option on YouTube to find a cartoon and his words were very clear. Five minutes before he came to me wanting me to find a different video with the voice-activated option. I’m not sure what triggers him to ask me to find a video versus him finding it. His words and interactions feel big today. I was in the bathroom, cutting my toenail. From the other room, I hear him say, “toenail”. I didn’t tell Owen I was going in there to do and here he was knowing what I was doing. I was amazed and it felt huge. He heard the noise and knew. It also made me realize how in tune he was with his surroundings to hear that noise when he was in the middle of playing a game on his tablet. So many thoughts ran through my mind at that moment. He now calls them toenails and no longer “birthday candle”. That brought tears to my eyes thinking about it. He’s come so far and I wonder how many other words I’ve missed his connection to. I’m not sure how he got started calling his toes “birthday candle” but once I figured it out it helped tremendously. I was always worried he wouldn’t be able to tell me if he had a rock in his shoe or his socks didn’t feel right. But now he can tell me when he wants me to get the “slipper clipper cut de toenail please”, his name for “clippers”. We are starting to have conversations filled with his words and phrases and not the words that I’ve given him to fill in the blanks. It feels amazing. He came to me, showing me a game he was playing, and had to select a color. He said, “let’s do purple”. “I like pink”, I said. He said, “no we do purple”. What progress, I thought, what absolute brilliant progress. He was a little on edge tonight, obsessed with the ABC video again, but he at least let it go when I wouldn’t respond every time. His repeating of words and actions is becoming more pronounced and I’m trying to help him through those moments. It’s hard when he will not let go of something and literally repeat it for an hour. The distractions only bring it full circle at another time. For today I’m going to focus on that amazing conversation we did had and the connections that he is making. Find your joy, share your story, and know that tomorrow is a brand new day. Smiles to all and donut daze!
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