homework and tic-tac-toe...

"This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; His is my God, and I trust Him. He will cover me with His feathers. He will shelter me with his wings. His faithful promises are my armor and protection!" Ps 91:2,4

Well, since I have not been able to be apart of Ben's therapies I do sneak in some times, work with Ben on his "homework" and come up with some fun for both of us!

OT has really been working with Ben on feeding himself. He has no issue on knowing how to do this but it is getting his body (mainly his arm/shoulder) to do it with him. He gets about 5 bites down and then he gets what is called intentional tremors. Ben thinks about it so he is signaling his brain and then when he goes to get a bite his arm starts shaking. Poor guy trys so hard! I have had a few bits of food flung in my face from the tremors and be both just have fun with it! They are going to try a few more things but also might be starting him on a med that will help with his muscles and also his brain functions! Please be praying for this!
Here is a photo of his arm in a sling contraption that they are trying to get one smooth movement...



Ben gets speech "homework" from his speech therapist every once in awhile. Ben continues to be drilled in enunciating, speaking slowly and using a strong voice. He is doing really well and when he concentrates he does amazing! Ben has difficulty with his S's and T's so we are given words and sentences to say to work on these things...



Also in speech Ben has been working on reading!! He does this very well but some times if he struggles with a word Ben will replace it with another word or finish the sentance in the way that he wants to. This is not that unusual for Ben because he tended to do this before the accident. Here is just one sentence he has been working on...there are pages...



Well of course I have my own things for Ben to do but I love doing them with him! This morning before his PT session we played some tic-tac-toe. Ben played with my nephew when he was here in mid Dec but we have not played since! Ben played alot better and wrote his X's alot more clear as well! We had alot of fun and of course he won...I only had to help him like 2 times in 6 games! It is hard for both of us to lose because we are both very competative!





We will continue to work on Ben's homework but I plan on getting him going in some more interactive games!

Special moments...

Ben was watching a military show on Discovery about Special Forces training and all he kept saying was, "they are sucking, puss boots, I can do that, come on guys suck it up, and pansies!" I couldn't help but laugh...Ben's still got it!

Took Ben to get on the treadmill. I told him last time he went for 12 min so what was he going to this time and he said, "double that!" I told him ok and work hard and he said, "always!" That's one dedicated man...oh this was followed by him saying, "brain injuries suck!"

I asked Ben to hold me and he gave me a big bear hug. while he hugged me i lost it and cried into his chest and the words of sorrow yet trusting Jesus came flooding out. Ben continued to hold me and said, "its going to be alright, it's going to be alright!" Ben and the Lord knew what I needed in that moment!