I bought these tea towels yesterday.  Not are they covered with excellent health advice, but its all scrawled out in Vernon’s Amatic font. I see his free fonts printed on unexpected surfaces all the time, but I thought this was especially symbolic: his own font is being used to tell us how to be healthy. It’s like a note to himself.

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Just looking at the suggestions, I would say the only advice he seems to be following lately is to”get enough sleep.” But we are working on the others, like “more fruit and vegetables.”  The doctor brought up the idea of feeding him smoothies. Hopefully the speech therapist will think Vernon is ready for it. He no longer likes the apple juice, which used to be such a treat, so his senses seem to be coming to life…its just those pesky throat muscles that get in the way. It would be great if he would start to gain more weight.

And even “getting enough sleep” is  a new development.  Joe says lately that Vernon has been sleeping through the night and not as often in the day. They get to sleep in though, so theirs is usually the last room to be tended to. Joe gets angry when they are not appointed their favorite, Ramona. He thinks that its cruel to Vernon to keep sending in different aids that he doesn’t completely trust. He calls her “mum” when he can’t remember her name. Joe thinks that the way Vernon starts the day is crucial to how well the rest of it goes. He lives in the same room, I guess he knows better than anyone. So he’s been fighting for Ramona, and I think today he got his request met.

This morning, however, he reportedly woke up bright and early to talk about his kids, especially Maki. He wanted to know what Joe thought about Maki. He thought they should encourage Maki to relearn his English accent so he could get some girls. Now this is based on something Joe and I teased Maki about yesterday. Vernon had been listening…and remembered some of it the next morning.  This is progress indeed.  He’s starting to remember more recent things…his connections are lasting longer.

And people are noticing.  You should have seen the look on Ramona’s face when I asked her if noticed any differences in him. I wish I had a picture. I DID get a great picture of Vernon, actually smiling a little. It takes my breath away.

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This was after some mat time this morning, a little medication, and his favorite thing: music. The Three M’s. For now, they seem to be working…and working well. It’s encouraging.

We were blessed by a visit from the musical Logie family, this time three of them.  I have been so blessed that they’ve visited so many times, in such a variety of personality and talent, each visit another grouping.  But today, I later found out, was Susan’s birthday…and she chose to spend the morning with our raggedy lot on their way to the beach. We received her gift with gratitude.  I think this next song sums up the positive vibes we’ve been feeling about Vernon lately.

I think the most significant thing I’m looking for now is that Vernon would become quickly more self-aware and able to take part in his own recovery. I do believe we are seeing more signs of that everyday.

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