The difference between last year's seder and this year's is stunning. Last year, we brought Nathaniel to the seder in a bed because it was late and he couldn't sit so long. He was not really aware of what was going on. This year, he came in his chair. We showed him where we were in the Hagaddah, and he seemed focused most of the time. We had the seder in the dining room of the rehab center, and then ate in our hotel room. Some families had decorated the tables really nicely and made the place look very festive.
One of the caretakers asked Nathaniel how old I was. He knew exactly. When the caretaker suggested wrong ages, Nathaniel indicated that those ages were wrong. The caretaker didn't know my age, so he was just guessing that Nathaniel was correct. The caretaker was amazed when I told him my age, and that Nathaniel was correct, especially since I just had a birthday. Seems that he is keeping up with changes, and not just stuck in the past, before he was injured.
Nathaniel and the caretaker were by the elevators on the first floor. They could see people in the lobby below. The caretaker told Nathaniel to wave to a specific person when he got off the elevator on our floor. Nathaniel waited until the person got off, and then waved to him. This means that he understands commands and can wait to execute them. He also sees and recognizes people.
He was in the lift being moved from the bed to the wheelchair. The caretaker had started to lift him up, just then, he looked like he was going to sneeze. When he sneezes, he lunges forward. He would have bumped his head into the metal part of the lift and gotten hurt. The caretaker was really scared. Nathaniel stopped his sneeze and then laughed (silently). He has a good sense of humor.
Music therapy is transferring to other therapies. The OT used a keyboard with Nathaniel was amazed that he knew so much. She asked if he had played the piano before. He correctly told her that he had not. Still, she couldn't believe how he could play. I then told her about music therapy. She will use music to work with him more and more. Another session, she played a note a certain number of times and then asked Nathaniel to do the same. She would play twice, and then he did the same. She did that up to 10 times. He had to count in his head up to 10. She was so surprised that he could do that.
