For several months now I've been wanting to write down what Arthur has been accomplishing of late, but today I am compelled to put it off no longer. Today, he took a shower all by himself! I didn't tell him to do it, nor did I run the water to the right temperature as I always have done. He came out, all dressed, with towel-dried wet hair and said, "Ta da!" His arms felt cool, as if the water hadn't been too warm, but he was pleased and I exulted with him.
He's growing so strong from working out at the gym three times a week. Dennis gives him pretty free rein in there and Arthur has recently decided to become more competitive with his Dad. He's upped the weights on the machines from his old, no-challenge 20 lbs now to 60 lbs. He was always a good jumper on the trampoline in the back yard but lately his jump height has increased, as well as his endurance and just all around solidness. He was in heaven at the gym last night, his Dad having found a jogging cassette/earphone set at a yard sale so Arthur could listen to an old Donut Man cassette while he exercised. Dennis has an armband receiver with earphones that picks up the Fox TV network at the gym that had been the envy of Arthur for weeks now!
I am so thankful he is able to be with us all the time. In the mornings he takes care of himself while I do what I need to get done. He gets dressed, cleans his room, hangs up his pj's, makes his bed, brushes his teeth and washes his glasses, sometimes all by himself, sometimes with my asking him to. Then we work together on making granola or folding laundry or yard work, etc., or shop together or play basketball or take a walk together or make lunch. When he does work beyond his regular chores he gets paid and saves his dollars for DVD's or other things he wants to buy.
He gladly goes to work with me, where we eat the lunch together that we've brought to Dad. Then he sits at his desk all afternoon, just like his Dad. Occasionally, there is collating work for him to do in another room at work, which he earns money for. We come home and get ready for the gym together. I drive over and back while Dennis practices his mandolin and Arthur plays his ukelele. Home for supper, he helps with the meals and dishes often with prompts, sometimes without. He can make all the meal/snack items he likes though he prefers to set everything out in hopes I'll do it! He can open cans, microwave his nachos, grate cheese, slice bananas, pour out salsa from a giant container, etc.
He goes with us to bluegrass jams and cheerfully watches DVD's with head phones on his Dad's laptop in the same room with us. Sometimes another boy comes and watches the shows with him and makes long snakes of his markers.
Arthur plays drums with us sometimes, and sings into his mike, when we practice our songs at home. He sings, plays his guitars and prays with all of us in church, then draws with his markers while his Dad preaches. If Dad watches football or basketball on TV, Arthur watches too, down on the floor, acting out the plays with his set of rags, cheering when good plays are made. At night, before or after the ritual pajama game with Dad, we sit on the couch and Dad reads out of the Good and Evil book, a pictorial Bible. Then I brush his teeth thoroughly before bed.
This past weekend, while I was gone attending a baby shower, Dad and Arthur dug out a place up on the ledge between the tree and the shed for a small sandbox. Arthur took off his shirt to cool all his muscles while hauling up buckets of sand to fill the round plastic liner. They topped it with our old red sledding saucer to keep the cats out. When they were done, Dennis started teaching Arthur the basketball game Around the World.
Arthur asks for a girl sometimes, and we pray for a girl for him to talk to and play with when he does. He often introduces himself to others as "Peter", perhaps because Peter has the girl Wendy in his life! His drawing are at least half words these days, and the theme of Arthur/girl is often repeated. But over all, he is very content with his life. When he feels good and energetic, as he did on Sunday, he is "full of it" and loves to mimic. His speech was much more understandable than usual and more prolific. He also energetically terrorized the cats for a while!
The other day he signed in at the gym as "Arthur Freed", a name he'd found in a program. I think Arthur Freed was a Hollywood director of old, not sure exactly. But Arthur signing his name that way brought a chuckle to me! We are blessed by him and he is blessed with us and we all rejoice in his accomplishments.
Chris Beck has worked for us for 8 years. His brother Andy married Gina a few years ago. Chris and Andy's mother, Marian, has also worked for us for several years. Gina and Andy live in San Diego and are expecting a baby girl April 1st. So even though Andy and Gina are far away, their expected new baby feels like part of our work "family". This quilt top will gain a back and batting pronto, and ties of white crochet thread, to be ready for Marian and Ed to travel down to see their first grandchild. Someday we'll know the baby's name!
