The other day, I was talking with a friend. He had come out to my home for a birthday party about a month ago, and he commented on Jacob’s growth. I live with him every day, and so I don’t always see the progress.
Jacob, for those that don’t know has quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and Cystic Fibrosis. He has very limited control of his hands, or his feet, for that matter.
So, my friend sat and with a little bit of wonder, watched Jake playing “Toontown” on the computer. Now, this is essentially an MMORPG for kids. While it’s not like Halo or WOW, it’s actually a fairly complex virtual world. And yet, he gets around and interacts in it just fine. He can’t shape his hands to use a normal mouse, but we got him a keyboard with a touchpad, and he can work it like a pro (albeit not quite as quickly).
He can’t draw a letter to save his life, but at school the other day, he sat at the computer and typed his way to a 100% score on his second-grade spelling test. He did tell me that he missed one, but got the bonus right, so he still got a hundred. That works!
Brendon got this science kit for making crystals at a yard sale, and for quite a while, he’s been bugging me to help him do it. So, I finally had the time at the same moment that he was bugging me and we set it up. It’s been sitting on the counter ever since, slowly growing sparkly blue crystals. Then, last Saturday, it snowed, and we got to talk a little bit about how snow is basically ice crystals, formed by essentially the same process as was going on in his jar on the kitchen counter. He was pretty fascinated by that thought.
They drive me nuts much of the time. But they’re still the greatest.
MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com
Sounds like you're a lucky Dad to have such amazing kids, and even luckier to realize that while you can appreciate them. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteAs a little girl my mom frequented "Robert's Health Foods Store". Robert was a quad/CP. He had a care taker to voice for him and wheel him around the aisles. I was fascinated at how she understood him so completely, and how he knew exactly what my mother wanted before she could express it. He was this tiny crumpled genius and I was in awe of him.
ReplyDeleteHe would use a strained voice to greet me and then shine his enormous grin. I never learned to decipher his language, but I knew he was excited to see me. I did learn to squeeze his hand and, for whatever reason, he allowed me to pat his head. I loved him.
Robert. He was the first person to teach me that the body you are in has nothing to do with the Spirit it surrounds.