Signing

I have been waiting to post this because I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a fluke.  It seems to be real though!  Hudson, for the past few days, has been signing please!  It is amazing to see.  He is just so darn cute.

His favorite toy right now is a pill crusher, yes...you read that right.  Huddy loves to put anything with ridges straight into his mouth, and the pill crusher has a ridged edge.  There it is, except ours is blue, and crushes things much better than those red ones.  Anyways, I digress.

He always reaches for it whenever I'm doing all his meds, and I always tell him to say please, and then show him the please sign, which is basically just moving your hand in a small circle on your chest.  We have been doing sign language with Hudson for over a year now, and have never seen him do any back to us.  He has gotten to the point recently where he will reach for my hand and wait for ME to do the sign, but had never done any by himself.

Well, one morning, when I told him to say please, he sort of thumped his hand to his chest, and then looked at me, like OK Mom, I did it, give me my toy!  I was shocked, and so happy.  Of course I had to do it again like 10 times, but he did it inconsistently, which was why I wasn't sure if it was purposeful.  Since that day though he does it every time you tell him to say please.  His therapists and I are so so happy.  We have worked a long time to get to this day.

This is a huge step for him I think.  Hudson is non verbal, he does babble, but no speech.  He will be 4 in March, and so many times I've been asked when he'll talk, or why he doesn't talk.  And the answer is...shockingly, like so many other things associated with mito, we just don't know.  He is cognitively delayed, and I think this of course plays into his ability to speak and even sign to us.  We don't know if or when he will talk, although I hold out so much hope that one day we will hear his beautiful voice speak to us.  For now though, signing please shows me that he is making connections, and that he is beginning to recognize words and understand, hey you move your hand this way when she says that.  It is truly exciting, and I can't wait to see what he will "say" next.

We see GI tomorrow, the tummy drama continues.  Let's hope we can come up with some solutions for this tomorrow.

I was reminded, in a very powerful way this week, of just how good God is.  He knows every single detail, 100% of the time.  I was able to see over a year's worth of His planning, in the lives of two completely separate families, come together in the most beautiful and perfect way.  It was a blessing and an amazing reminder that He truly is always looking out for us.