1. One of Alex’s new
quirks is to blurt out types of foods suddenly and randomly. He’ll be sitting
quietly, seemingly in deep thought, and suddenly say, “Mango,” or “Polish
sausage,” or “Cupcakes.” Apparently, he spends a great deal of time thinking
about food. If we ask him if he’s hungry, he’ll usually tell us that he’s not,
he’s just thinking about food. Finding this random chain of thought
interesting, I thought I’d similarly share some random things that have
occurred to me this week, most of which have nothing to do with food—I’ll leave
that to Alex.
2. The one random thing that does have to do with food is Alex’s new love of “porridge.” I had mentioned in a recent blog entry that Alex has rediscovered the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which he likes me to read to him again. I think he’s amused that I can do three different voices for the bears—Daddy Bear’s deep voice, Mommy Bear’s medium voice, and Baby Bear’s squeaky voice. Apparently wanting to emulate the bears and Goldilocks, he decided that he would like to eat porridge, which took some research on my part to find what porridge is and whether he could eat it on his gluten-free, milk-free diet. The closest approximation I could find for porridge is a gluten-free oatmeal made with water instead of milk. While I wouldn’t touch the mushy stuff with a ten-foot pole, Alex seems to think he has a real treat in porridge, one of his new favorite foods.
2. The one random thing that does have to do with food is Alex’s new love of “porridge.” I had mentioned in a recent blog entry that Alex has rediscovered the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which he likes me to read to him again. I think he’s amused that I can do three different voices for the bears—Daddy Bear’s deep voice, Mommy Bear’s medium voice, and Baby Bear’s squeaky voice. Apparently wanting to emulate the bears and Goldilocks, he decided that he would like to eat porridge, which took some research on my part to find what porridge is and whether he could eat it on his gluten-free, milk-free diet. The closest approximation I could find for porridge is a gluten-free oatmeal made with water instead of milk. While I wouldn’t touch the mushy stuff with a ten-foot pole, Alex seems to think he has a real treat in porridge, one of his new favorite foods.
3. The past few
weeks, Alex has taken up sleepwalking, which is a bit disconcerting because
awakening to a six-foot-tall, half-asleep young man prowling in the hallway in
the middle of the night is frankly creepy. Since we don’t want him tumbling down
our rather steep stairs to the main floor, Ed and I have been sleeping lighter,
listening for Alex to open his bedroom door and start his nightly jaunts.
Fortunately, he’s docile and cooperative about being led back to bed, and all
three of us are able to go back to sleep quickly afterward. We’ll just be glad
when he gets past this phase.
4. Another recent
phase is Alex’s renewed interest in the Disney movie Shrek. When he was
younger, Shrek was his favorite movie; in fact, I think Shrek is one of the few
movies, other than the Disney cartoons that he watched when he was little, that
he has watched in entirety and repeatedly. Perhaps feeling nostalgic, Alex has
watched the Shrek movie trailers on You Tube many times the past few weeks.
Every time, he finds them really funny, as if he’d never seen them or heard the
jokes before. I think it’s sweet that just watching the short clips brings a
smile to his face; how nice that something so simple makes him so happy.
5. Harkening back to
his younger days, Alex has also been asking about his childhood doctor.
Although she retired a few years ago, Alex often mentions her because he felt a
close bond with her during the nearly ten years she took care of him. Last month,
I heard the sad news that she had passed away from cancer, which was hard for
me because she had been instrumental in helping Alex deal with his various
medical conditions and supporting us as his parents. She genuinely cared about
her patients on a personal level and did everything she could to restore their
health. I wasn’t sure how Alex would take the news of her passing, but when he
asked me about her, I explained that she had gotten sick, died, and gone to
heaven. Alex seemed to mull this over, satisfied that she was in a better
place. However, he did ask if he could call her in heaven, and like Alex, I
wish we could call her to let her know we’re thinking of her, and to be
truthful, to get her medical advice occasionally.
6. Speaking of phone
calls, in my blog entry a few weeks ago “Woman’s Day Magazine,” I discussed how
talking on the phone with the writer of the article, Marjorie Ingall, was
amazingly easy, even though we’d never met. This week I read Marjorie’s blog
entry “pam and alex” [To read her blog, click here.], in which she shares that
she felt a similar comfort level in chatting with me. As she points, out, even
though we differ in some key areas, we found these differences didn’t matter.
We liked each other and enjoyed talking to one another. I had to laugh at her
description of my blog as having “a whole lotta Jesus going on” and had to
agree that I, like she, “felt comfortable instantaneously, two seconds into our
first conversation.” And, Marjorie, if you’re reading this, you rock, too.
7. One of the
surprise benefits of having our family featured in the November issue of
Woman’s Day magazine in the article “Caring for Alex” was that a close friend
of mine from junior high who now lives in California saw the article and
contacted me. Even though we haven’t been in touch for more than thirty years,
we found common ground in our shared past and in our present day as mothers
trying to do what’s best for our children. Guided by our faith and shaped by
the difficulties our children face, we can now support each other through
prayer and renewed friendship. We’re
both certain that God brought us together again; no randomness was involved
here.
8. This week, we were
uncertain as to how Alex would react to Halloween and trick- or-treaters coming
to our door. When he was little, Alex loved Halloween, dressing up in costumes
I made for him, decorating pumpkins, and going trick-or-treating. As he got
older, he enjoyed watching kids come to our house for treats. Since Ed had to
teach on Halloween night, Alex and I were left to give out the goodies. Right
before the designated trick-or-treat time, Alex suddenly had an anxiety attack
and started saying repeatedly that he wanted “to be one, two, or three again.”
I suppose he wished he were little enough to dress up and go trick-or-treating
himself. Fortunately, he was able to pull himself together fairly quickly and
then seemed to enjoy watching kids come to our door. It’s hard to be a little
kid trapped in a young man’s body.
9. On the other hand,
Alex, who will turn twenty-one next month, participated in a rite of passage
that delighted him as he voted for the President for the first time. With his
interest in politics and Presidents, Alex has taken voting seriously and has
participated in every Election Day since he turned eighteen and became of legal
voting age. However, he had to wait until this year to have his chance to vote
for the President. Watching his delight and pride in voting was truly a special
event that made Ed and me proud as parents. With Election Day on Tuesday, we’ll
see if his candidate wins, which will make his first Presidential election even
more special.
10. This week, we
also encountered another calendar milestone that Alex usually anticipates
happily—the change from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time. With the
changing of the clocks back one hour, we’re never certain how this will impact
Alex’s sleep patterns. I always debate as to whether we should try to keep him
awake longer or not. Fortunately, he made the decision for me, as he wound up
staying up later because while he was waiting for Ed to come home from the
Valparaiso University basketball game, he developed hiccups that kept him
awake. He seemed not to be bothered by the hiccups, which was good, and Ed and
I were surprised when he clearly asked a question (especially since lately he
has limited his speech to only a few words often said quietly), “What was the
score of the basketball game?” Maybe hiccups jolted his brain so that he could
verbalize his thoughts better, or maybe he’s more alert when he stays up a
little later. Whatever the reason, hearing him ask a good question was pleasant
for us.
11. And finally, this
week, we found out that enrollment in the day program where we’re hoping to
place Alex seems to be on hold even longer. Originally, we were told that they
wanted a behavioral assessment and behavior plan in place prior to enrolling
him. Now that the assessment and plan are nearly complete, we have been told
that the day program currently has no openings.
While we still believe that this program will be good for Alex, Ed and I
are convinced that the delay has a purpose to give Alex time to get
better so that he’ll be successful once he gets there. I recently saw a quote
that has helped me deal with my tendency to become impatient when I have to
wait for things: “Faith is not just trusting God, but also trusting His timing.”
I’m sure God has a plan, and we just wait for the right time.
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for
the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for
them.” Romans 8:28
