It is me again. I have been thinking about all of you reading my ramblings about my two youngest grandsons. Last month over 340 people veiwed this page. I hope they all read the last entry and some of the earlier ones also. I hope that all the visitors take away something that will make them smile, but mostly something to remind them of those children who need special attention. Not just my grandchildren, but all children with physical and/or mental deficiencies.

For the parents and family of Fragile X children I hope they something for the stories I try to tell be it solice in, inspiration from, amusement or anticipation just as I do in theirs when I read their post in Fantastically Fragile X.

We had a visit from Cole, Cake and big sister, Erin. They came for an overnight on Thursday and statyed until Brandi picked them Friday evening.

Thursday evening we played in the sand, in the swings, on the trikes and in the cars just like every other visit. This time though Cole began to get the idea about the pedals on the trike. He actually pedaled for a few feet before deciding it was easier to use the "Fred Flintstone" method. Poor little Cale is so short he can't reach the pedals yet. But Cole is really beginning to grow. His little short "Baker legs" are stretching out. Both Cale and Cole have big feet and hands like their Dad and his Great GrandDad, C.B. Grimes. Anyone that knew Mister CB, knew he was a gentle giant, still standing over 6'4" in his late 70s.

Cole's vocabulary and the use of it continues to grow by leaps. His new phrase this week was "I wanna do it myself". He is becoming more independent. Taking off and putting on his shoes, dressing him self and attempting to pour his on "coke" and "ketchup" and "ranch".

I put those words in quotes because he uses them. He will tell you immediately when you serve him any dish, "I want Ranch and Ketchp". And of course, "coke".

I am going to purchase a "youtube" ready video camera. I must so you can see Cole balance on the rim of the plastic blow up pool, bounce up and off it like a diving board doing a cannonball. Splashing his siblings and his Granny. He seen to never get tired of climbing out and doing it over and over.

Cale on the other hand does not like to be splashed. He stands in own little kiddie pool and puts on a show of indignation when the cold water hits him. He is such a little actor. He can feign displeasure with such vigor all the while impishly smiling awaiting the attention he knows is coming.

Soon after we went in side Cale pulled the pillows from the sofa and dragged me out of my chair and on to the floor for a round of wrestling and bouncing off Pappy. He is so full of energy and runs endlessly to somewhere he never seems to get.

Not to leave Erin out. She helped Marcia cook supper. Spaghetti, fried green beans and garlic bread. Erin stirred the sauce and buttered the bread, actually hot dog rolls cut in half. She is such a smart little girl and independent minded as well.

Back to Cole. Marcia reads bedtime stories to Cole and Cale as they lie in their beds. She uses a small flash light with the overhead light off. Now Cole sits in her recliner 25 or 30 minutes at a time holding the flashlight on his favorite books, turning the pages and guoting the words as he knows them from the pages. His favorite is Thomas's fishing adventure. He quotes the lines "Thomas's boiler hurts", "fish in his boiler". He has certain pages he likes more than others. While his is not reading the lines, he has memorized what page they are on and recognizes them from the illustrations, I believe. He continues to learn although in different ways than what would be considered to be normal. Last week he drug a chair to the screen door and began to unbolt the the crossbolt latch. This is certainly something he figured out on his own. He was successful at it as well.

While he still does not readily recognize colors, he has memorized the colors of the train engines in the Thomas the tank engine books and videos. You ask him what color is Thomas and he will say blue, but then you can as what color is Gordon and he will almost always say green. When you say no, he will say Gordon is blue. Same with Percy and green. But he alway says Toby is brown. The other side of this is Cole will ask Marcia, "what color Gordon". Marcia will say "what color is Gordon?". Cole will answer "Gordon is blue".

He recognizes Woody, Buzz and the horse (which I can't remember) and call their names as he points out the characters on the t-shirts or bowls or cups.

Here again for all of those who are still with me, Cole is making progress communicating and in becoming more self sufficient. So is Cale who in many ways is ahead of Cole on the learning curve. I have great hope for them both.

On Friday,September 30th, Chris is organizing a golfing event to support research into cures and treatments for Fragile X and related disorders such as accompanying Autism. I hope to post more complete details about this in future posts.

If you would like to contact me about the Golf event or anything else about this blog, please send me and e-mail to helpfragilexhelpcole@yahoo.com

Thanks

Jim