Lyndel’s progress is continuing.  We remind ourselves often of where he was a year ago – could not turn or lift his head.  He could not sit or move himself.   He has come a long way.   Physically we are seeing him clearing different milestones.   His speech isn’t changing much at all, but his ability to follow commands is improving, and he is getting a bit more adept at communicating some thoughts by other means.  We believe that he is at a point that he realizes that his words don’t come out right so he isn’t trying to talk a lot right now. 

We are not getting therapy currently, but he is getting a lot of outdoor stimulation which ties in to things he did and enjoyed before the accident. 

His morning routine has been an area of improvement.  He had gotten to the point that he could shower and dress by himself.   But just in the last month he has started doing these things totally on his own without any prompting.  His walking had been awkward and slow.   But lately if he gets in his head to go somewhere, his mom can barely keep up.  His left knee still doesn’t bend very far, and is an issue when he tries to get into a vehicle or kneel for prayer. 

We had gotten a different mini-barn dog kennel to keep his dogs in.  Our hope was that he would regain interest in his pets and be able to care for them again on his own.  When we got it several months ago, we were somewhat disappointed that it didn’t seem to awaken his interest in them.  But lately he is now at the point that he goes out and feeds them mornings without being prompted.   From time to time, he just goes out to check up on them.  We are so happy to see that. 

His interest in his girlfriend has been something we have been watching.  It has been challenging for her to come up with things to do that he seems to enjoy when they are together.  A lot of noise and activity like a volleyball game or group of friends together tires him before long.  (We still do feel that being with his friends and getting out is stimulation that he greatly benefits from.)  He watches the clock and when he thinks it is time to go, he loses interest in other things.  When she came last week, he seemed genuinely happy to see her and glad to spend time with her. 

He went with me to check a new lawn mowing job our crew was starting, and I gave him a weed-eater.  He took off vertical edging with it just like he used to do.  (That was his favorite job on the lawn crew before.)  He moved a bit slowly, but I was surprised that he could maneuver his arms to get the weed-eater in the right position.  At home several times since, when other family members are mowing, he gets a weed-eater, starts it and takes off edging with it.   Even walking backwards while edging is not a problem. 

We continue working with him to understand and follow commands.  He knows numbers visually, and knows what they represent, but has difficulty understanding them as words.   If he puts something in the microwave and we tell him to press ‘one’ and ‘five’, he doesn’t know what to do.  But if we put up one finger, and then five fingers, he knows exactly what to do.   This is something that therapy had been working on and having us work on, and we see that we need to continue it.  When we had him practice counting by making tally marks on a paper, he made a strike for number one through four, and then to our surprise and without any direction from us, he made a slash through the other four marks for the fifth.

Thank you for your continued prayers and interest.