Well it is the morning after. Cole and Cale came for the day yesterday and they were two balls of energy.

Marcia made breakfast for them and the scoffed it down and then wanted to take a bath of all things. So they splished and splashed in the tub for about thirty minutes. Both attempting to dog paddle in the 3 inch deep water. Cole loves to put his head underwater. Which is a bit scary but he always pops up after 10 or 15 seconds. Of course Marcia and I both got a good shower in the process.

Let the water out and got them both out. While in the process of drying Cole off I looked around to find Cale had climbed back and was turning on the water. That one loves to climb everything.

We moved outside as it was becoming a beautiful Saturday morning. Cole got into his little push car and made a few trips up and down the drive before he remembered the swings. I had hung two swings on the carport and had took the swings down after the fire but had bundled the chains around the hooks to get them out of the way.

Cole pulled his car up under the chains and pointed upward. "Swing, Pappy, swing. So our morning activity was set. I gathered up the swings and re-hung them. Cole jumped in and buckled himself in like it was just yesterday he had his last swinging session. Cale did as well. Both yelled "yeah...." as the pushed the locks in on the straps, clapping and bouncing up and down.

Cole told me to "push, Pappy" I did and then he said, "higher pappy". At that point he told me, "down, Pappy, I want down." I was a little perplexed that he was tired of swinging so quickly. I took him out and he went over to Cale's swing. "Cale out, Cale out". Cale just like me not knowing what was going on but wanting to do what ever his big brother was going to do said "yep, I 'ont down".

Well as soon as Cale was out of the swing Cole jumped in and began to lock himself in. Then I knew. Cole loves to kick at the ceiling fan on the carport and he couldn't do it from the other swing. So after the exchange of swings we spent the next hour swinging and aggravating Granny(Marcia) everytime he would go high enough to hit the fan blade with his foot. But even she fell victim to his infectious laugh every time would do it.

Cale on he other hand was content to just go back and forth and sing his little songs in that "alien" language.

We made it to lunch and then went on a ride to T'ville. They both laughed and carried on. Cale sang "paddycake" and Cole talked about his favorite thing, "Thomas and Friends". Back home about an hour later and back into the swings for another hour or so. Both are learning to propel themselves but I think they are holding back because they had rather their "Pappy" push them.

Once back inside for hopefully a nap Cale brought a pillow to the center of the den floor and signaled for me to once again become the human trampoline. For the next 30 minutes the jump, roll over and ride on me as I lie on the floor. Cole calls out between each attack on my anatomy, "Cale's turn, me turn". Amazingly they wait for the other to make their dive bomb attack before making their own run.

Cole and Cale show now jealousy. After the session on the floor I climbed bruised and battered into my recliner. Cole soon climbs in too with his Thomas book. "Read Thomas, Pappy". Then he calls, "Cale, Pappy lap" and Cale climbs in as well. Cole turns the pages and we read. Cale loses interest and climbs down to play with his blocks. Cole continues to turn the pages and point out and name all the characters and animals.

They are both making progress with their speech and communications. Cale talks constantly and he is more understandble. Cole is using more and more short sentences to ask for things and to tell you what he wants. Cole is a long ways from where he was just a year ago. Cale is catching up in a hurry as well.

Oh, we got a small tv with a built in DVD player. Cole was rough on the little DVD players. Taking the DVDs in and out all the time he would break the tray. We thought that the hidden slot for the DVDs would be just the cure for this. Well, I made the mistake of putting the DVD in the slot with him sitting in front of the TV.
Low and behold I come back in the den and he has the the DVD out trying to put another one in the slot. So what the heck, I showed him how to do it, he had alread figured out which button to push so the cat was out of the bag anyway.

It was a great day with our two grandsons and could have only been better if Andrew was there as well.

On another note, I just discovered this week that I can see how many times this blog is veiwed. Over a 1000 veiws, thank each of you for your interest in Cole and in Fragile X. I hope that my little reports will remain interesting as I try to tell about Cole's progress and how he much he adds to our lives.

Fragile X is a genetic disorder that can become a part of your life. Like so many other things that affect our health and the health of our loved ones there is seldom a warning. It is here and we must deal with it. Some will have a bigger burden than others but each will find the need to make sacrifices to provide the support their child or grandchild will need. No matter what the malady may be, they all need support from those who have not been touched, yet. It is easy to gravitate toward support of deseases and disorders that affect children and especially those that are crippling or terminal.

Fragile X Syndrome is not necessarily crippling nor is it terminal in the normal terms. Fragile X can be seriously dibilitating and it is terminal in the fact that the child will become an adult and will have the disorder till death. The fact is this disorder will allow that the child will outlive his parents but still be in need of support, not only finacial but physical and emotional support. This is another plea to those touched, untouched or removed from Fragile X syndrome to consider supporting National Fragile X Foundation which offers support to families, FRAX which funds research into treatments and cures or Easter Seals which offers therapies and services. These are their websites.

fragilex.org
fraxa.org
easterseals.com

Thanks Again.