Sing, Sing a Song

Remember that really neat song from your childhood?  I remember it from Sesame Street, the kids playing and singing together.  I guess the Carpenters sang it, too.  Anyway, fun, easy to remember, great message.

Well, Aaron agrees.  He LOVES music.  This kid will rock out to just about whatever is playing.  Yesterday morning, music therapy came in and asked if they could play for him and what kind of music he liked.  I told them really, anything.  But that he was trying to decide if he was going to sleep since he hadn't had much lately, so they settled on some really nice, soothing lullabies.  Beautiful!  Except that there was music in his room, right by his bed!  Who needs sleep when that's happening?  Not him!  So they switched things up and he had a blast!  They did, too.  He was rocking and moving with the beat, just laughing and smiling with them.

Last night, he held his own concert.  It was so loud that he brought in his own fan club.  A couple of the nurses on the unit heard and came in and I invited in his next-door neighbor (we've known each other both in and out of the hospital for quite a while).  Lots of smiles and laughter as we enjoyed his show.

When did this start?  Well, I'd been hearing about coconut oil and how it's a "good fat" that helps the body in so many different ways, including neurological connections.  Other parents had said how their kids seemed much more alert and verbal.  After getting the go ahead from his team, I decided to try it.  Within 48 hours, this little man was going to town!  And we know have yet another marker for when he's getting sick.  He stops "talking."  But recently, he started singing.  It's just vowel sounds, but he'll move up and down the scale, and it make my heart smile.

There is nothing quite like the power of music to capture a feeling, a thought, a moment that can't be expressed any other way.  I love that he now sings, too.  I'll leave you with the moment I captured yesterday.  Unfortunately, it wasn't his best concert.  Somehow, every time I pull the camera out, he becomes either more interested in trying to figure out just what that thing is, or else he's camera shy.

On a practical note, we should get sprung from the joint today.  In fact, we're counting on it.  He's doing much better right now, back to being awake way more hours than asleep.  I'm actually doing really well.   I think that having been told now for 3 1/2 years that his time is "short", I've learned to live more in the moment and try to push the future thoughts away.  Much easier to do when he's acting well than when he's sick.  I think it's a blessing we're given, to be able to just enjoy today.  And so, since he's been doing so great for the past 36+ hours, I am, too.

I am starting to get the sense that the end may come faster than I want it to, but then that's pretty much true of whenever it is that he decides to go Home.  And he's an obedient kiddo, really, he is.  He has tried to do what we tell him we need since before he was born.  So yesterday I pointed out that he's got a brother and a sister who are on missions, and another one leaving before they come home.  I suggested that maybe he can stick around until we're all done with missions.  That'll be 13 years!!  Worthy goal, right?  But no matter if it's 13 years or some much shorter time, I'm going to do my very best to enjoy whatever we've been given.  I know there will be tears, but there will also be lots of smiles and laughter, too.  Enjoy his show.

“A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, 

it sings because it has a song.”

Maya Angelou