Thanksgiving and stuff

This is a little delayed I know... but things have been crazy over the last few days..

First things first. Thanksgiving this year is a no brainer. We are thankful for seizure freedom, A normal EEG, and a developing happy 3 year old little boy. God has done a wonderful miracle and words can't even begin to describe how thankful we are.

We have spent the last couple of days with family eating wonderful food and tons of it ( tis the season right) Which leads me to the next thing I am thankful for. We have the most amazing family and support group here. Allison and I are both so lucky to have our parents living so close to us. They have been God sends to us. They watch the Dawson during the day while we work so we don't have the added expense of childcare. They have done so much for us and we are truly thankful for the amazing family we have!!

Dawson continues to do very well. Being seizure free has opened up an entire new world for him. Changes are happening so quickly for him as it seems his little brain is in " catch up as quickly as I can" mode.. Some of the things we are seeing are very interesting. For example, he has all of a sudden become afraid of heights. Not too long ago you would find him perched in all sorts of places where he had climbed to ( most of them dangerous) and now he is so very much more aware that he is in danger.

He used to love being picked up and spun around the room, turned upside down, so on and so forth. Now it freaks him out if you try to turn him upside down. I look at these things as positive developmental goodies..

His newest thing.... He has become VERY shy around people. Even people he knows!! He goes into complete lock down mode. Grabs me or allison around the neck and just will not turn loose. I admit, his " shyness" seems to be on the very extreme end right now, but once again to me it means his brain is working, and he's trying to figure out some social things that maybe before he was completely unaware of.. Its just so cool to watch him learn.

Language skills continue to develop. He is still not anywhere close to where he should be for his age... but hes getting there. He is able to sing songs ( can't understand ALL the words but hes singing them) and his little sentences are getting longer. Every night him and I play the " night night " game. We say night night to everything we can think of.. He says night night moon,
night night stars, night night trees, night night nose, night night whatever he can think of... We are certainly headed in a very good direction!!! Its hard to get used to this new norm.. I still find myself wanting to scream to the whole world " THIS KID HAD INFANTILE SPASMS.... ONE OF THE RAREST MOST CATASTROPHIC FORMS OF EPILEPSY...... LOOK AT HIM!!!!! HES WINNING!!!"

But the truth is, most people just don't understand. Most people ( thank God) have not been exposed to this kind of stuff... For those of you who have, you know exactly what I'm talking about. For those of you who have... you KNOW what a miracle this is to be able to defeat Infantile Spasms.. So yeah, I'M going to brag and boast as much as I can.. Dawson can't say it yet so I will say it for him...

" I beat the seizure monster!! I fought through thousands of seizures, Ive endured surgery, being put to sleep multiple times, needles, having things super glued to my head more times than I can count. Ive endured multiple meds being dumped into my body, all of which made me feel completely out of sorts. Ive endured lengthy hospital stays and spinal taps. Ive endured feelings of rage and being out of control. Ive been afraid and I have been scared out of my mind. Ive endured the frustration of wanting to talk, but being help prisoner in my own brain by the seizure monster. Ive even endured watching my parents cry as I fought through seizures.
But, I have seen Jesus.. He's been with me the entire time and with his help, the seizure monster has been silenced. My mind is now free and I am happier than I have ever been. Thank you God!! "

Yeah, Id say were very thankful!!