Baseball Season

Clayton played his first "game" with the Conway Braves last week.  I use the term "game" loosely because to be honest, it was anything but that.  :(  I suppose we were spoiled by The Miracle League with their more organized program!  (The only reason we decided to play with the Braves is to avoid the drive to Little Rock and to play with other kids Clayton sees daily).  

Clayton spent most of his time worrying about entertaining the crowd.  He couldn't run the bases without turning around every few feet and waving or yelling to someone (my Grandmother in particular).    And when he came into home, he wouldn't move out the way!  He wanted to sit there and wave and smile at the crowd!

                   

There were some big differences between the Miracle League and the Braves.  With the Miracle League, the kids play an actual game with multiple innings.  Each kid is given a chance to hit from several pitched balls, and the parents are told to stay in the stands and watch the show.  With the Braves, we just kind of showed up, walked onto the field, and then they started letting the kids bat.  Clayton's "team" batted twice through, and then moved to the field for the other team's turn to bat.  After that it was over.  There were parents and siblings wandering around the field the whole time, so it was a bit chaotic in my mind.  Clayton had a blast, so it really shouldn't matter, but this mom likes a little organization in her extra-curricular activities.  :)  Not to mention, it would give the kids a better idea of how an actual game runs.  

Clayton's helper was super--He chased Clayton all over the field, trying to get him to go the right direction!

It doesn't matter how unorganized things are, nothing beats seeing Clayton "running" home, even if he did take several detours to get there!

Gymnast [Almost]

Jackson has been doing gymnastics for about a year and a half now.  It's no surprise that he's naturally good at it, given his Daddy's gym history;  however, I wasn't expecting him to take it so seriously.  For the last year, he has been in a preschool class, and as most preschool activities go, they do a lot of kiddie interaction to make it fun.  That fun includes a song and "dancing" every class.  Jackson will have absolutely nothing to do with the dancing.  He basically sits in the corner until the music is over and then he is up and at 'em when the serious gymnastics starts at the different stations.  The one day his teacher finally talked him into getting up and participating, he had some freak fall and fell and busted his lip, which pretty much guaranteed he was definitely not going to try it again!

At any rate, because of his serious nature about the whole thing, and because his upper body strength is so good, his teachers say that once he gets his cartwheel down (which, shall we say, needs A LOT of work!), he can move up to the invitational class, which means he can finally move past the kiddie dancing and songs which he cares nothing about anyway! 

His Happy Place

We all know that Clayton's life is a miracle.  But here's the great thing--Clayton knows it too!  He has heard us testify to God's work in his body, and God's work in our lives.  Moreover, I'll go so far to say that I think he feels it as well.  There is no denying the Holy Spirit abides in and around him.  Everywhere we go, people are caught up in his infectious happiness and genuine love for life.  The smile on his face is truly contagious.  And with this sweet spirit surrounding him,  it's no wonder that his favorite place is in God's house!  

In general, Clayton isn't very particular about which church we go to, just as long as we are going to a church.  (Every day I am asked "church?" at least a dozen times).  But like most of us, Clayton thrives the most on his home turf.  Our church has become Clayton's happy place:  when there, he is in his element.  And since the arrival of his power chair, his "social life" at church has literally blossomed.  In fact, I can't remember the last time he sat with Brian and me, or my parents for that matter!  Most services, he just sets out on his own once we arrive (he parks himself at the door to greet people first thing), and then he tracks down his favorite people to sit with as the service begins. (Notice the required hand holding for said favorite person in middle photo below).  

You can just sense the freedom he feels in his power chair . . . if people are standing, he raises his chair up so that he is "standing" as well (see first set of photos).  And if there is an altar call of any type, the first thing you hear is the beep of his chair being turned on, followed by Clayton making his way to the front.  

He often asks the people around him to "pray for me" or "pray for {insert name of person on his mind}".  But as of late, I think he is finding his niche as a budding prayer warrior!  He is seeking others out at the altar, and being quieter (not near as many "pray for's").  Maybe he is contemplating in his own mind what needs to be prayed for and having those conversations with God himself! 

 His sixth sense about what is going on around him is uncanny.  There isn't a doubt in my mind that he has had lots of dialogue with God over the years . . . maybe now he not only speaks on his own behalf, but for others as well.    

Employee of the Month

Well, yesterday's post was just a hint of what was to come in today's post . . . This past Tuesday was Clayton's latest venture in the performing arts.  As usual, he kept us entertained!

This semester's play was based on the television show "Undercover Boss."  The star of the show was a senior this year, and this play was his baby and creation.  Clayton was a part of the Customer Service team and was deemed "The Employee of the Month."  His first line was supposed to be him introducing himself, but he ended up saying "my tooth hurts."  And during the last scene, he just plain did his own thing!

I've pieced together his parts in the play:

Haley was his helper this year, and she should have been awarded a medal for how well she handled Clayton's random talk and driving!  She was the master at improvisation and did a fantastic job helping Clayton.  :)

It's definitely always an adventure with the ACTS, Jr. crew!!!

Preview

For the one or two blog readers I still have out there, I promise new blog material is coming . . . here is a preview of what one post might include:  

Don't abandon me yet, I have lots on my mind and a ton of photos to share . . . the trick is finding the time to write it all out!

Carry Over

Jackson is like any little brother.  He looks up to and wants to be like Clayton.  I love this about him.  He sees no disability, he just sees an older brother that he wants to emulate.  Most of the time, these things aren't an issue.  For example, at a birthday party with horses, he had to ride the horse that Clayton usually rides during lessons and had to ride with Clayton's teachers, even though he is plenty capable of riding alone.  I wish he would have done it by himself, but letting him ride like Clayton wasn't a big deal, so why not let him do like his big brother?  

But issues are developing from this little pattern.

Eating.  If we are all eating together, Jackson usually balks at eating.  I used to chalk it up to his three year old hard head, and maybe that's half of it.  The other half is "Clayton's not eating."  He has given me this excuse on more than one occasion, and I've also noticed that if we are eating without Clayton, he eats much better.  He is a smart kid, so I've explained multiple times why Clayton isn't eating and that someday he will. Not long after one of these conversations, Jackson got busy trying to hook Clayton's feeding tube up to his own belly button.  :/  

Walking.  If we are out and about, Jackson can rarely walk because his "legs hurt."  I've always attributed this up to a whiney three year old.  And most of it probably is.  But now he has decided he can't get out of the car on his own anymore.  He sees Brian and me carry Clayton in and out of the house each time, and now he has decided he can't get out without one of us carrying him.  Of course, we do our best not to encourage it and many times I've just walked in the house and left him in the van to show him I'm not going to carry him everywhere, but I can see that he wants that little bit of extra attention Clayton is getting--again, I've explained to him that Clayton would walk in a heartbeat if he could . . . it works in the moment and gets him out of the van, but the next time out, we have to go through the whole thing again. 

The "momma-waits-on-me-hand-and-foot" attitude.  I mentioned a while back that when Clayton calls, we come running.  This has come from years of him being immobile and the fact that he simply can't come to us, so we always come to him.  And we almost always bring what he requests.  This is changing to some extent with Clayton using the power chair, but he isn't the best driver in the world and sometimes it's just best for us to cover the ground instead of him.  :)  I guess Jackson has watched this for three and a half years and decided that this is the way the world works.  He will sit in one spot and call, call, and then yell for me to come running, instead of just walking through the house to find me.  "MOMMAAAAA!!!!"  His need is usually very minor and/or he just wanted to tell/ask me something.  I do my best to keep from reinforcing it, but every time I help Clayton, I do it again.  I don't want him to feel like I do more for Clayton than I do for him, but to a three year old, it probably looks like it.

I don't think there is a real answer except to keep explaining the differences to him, but in the meantime, I'm pretty much tired of him expecting the royal treatment as we all do his bidding!

In Motion

I always share plenty of still images from the events in our lives, but I'm doing my best to capture more video these days.  There's nothing like looking back on your babies in actual motion and voice to take you back to that very moment.  I didn't do a lot of video at the concert the other night, but I did capture just a snippet of Clayton as "Shoutin' Time" started and just before Dean came down to sing with him.  You can see how much Clayton enjoys the music by watching this short clip.  I only wish he had been singing along as well so you could hear his sweet voice!