[Jon is usually very withdrawn at school events, hunching over and trying to hide. But he’s turned over a new leaf this year: there were a number of rehersals for the Spring concert, and it made all the difference to Jon. Combine it with the fact that his class’s song was one of his favourites (Walkin’ on Sunshine) and he had a great time. The only catch was that he was so focused on sitting up and lip synching every word of the song, he looked positively serious. 🙂 —P]

May 29/08

Tonight I have a spring concert. My mom and dad are coming to the concert with me. There will be singing. The whole group is going to sing some songs. We are going to do a dance at the end of the concert. I’m going to listen to the iPod on the way to the spring concert.

VIDEO PREVIEW SECTION:
As we get ready for the Spring Concert I’m going to watch the Regional Forecast on the MEDEK tape.

[What Jon doesn’t mention in his journal is the pummelling he gave Grandpa in Wii Boxing. Grandpa had initially put up only a token fight, saying “I can’t fight you Jon”, but soon realized that no quarter was being asked for—or given. In the end, Jon scored a Knock Out in the third round. —P]

May 26/08

On Sunday Grandpa Suzuki came over to visit. Last night for dinner I had rice, lamb, chicken, and some bread. I ate samosas and popoldomes [papadams]. After dinner I showed Grandpa Suzuki the MEDEK tape. I also listened to the iPod. I created a Mii for him. I did not do Grandpa Suzuki’s Wii fitness test. I had a good visit with Grandpa Suzuki.

VIDEO PREVIEW SECTION:
Last night I watched Save the Bowl Frog episode of The Wonder Pets with Grandpa Suzuki.

Ug. Over the past three of four weeks, Jon has descended into another series of tantrums, no doubt as hormones start coursing through his body, and his brain can express some of his physical frustration. These are always related to frustrating activities (reading or video games), but 1) they come out of nowhere and 2) since he is apparently part pit-bull, Jon refuses to give up what is causing the problem. Even if it’s homework.

This is not really new, it’s just that we haven’t seen any tantrums in the past few months, so we got complacent. But they’re back with an added twist.

As a kid, Jon used to get the occasional bout of nosebleeds. I say “bout” because, as with most kids, the cause and recurring of nosebleeds at that age, may be due to, well, mining opportunities in the area, shall we say.

But this new batch doesn’t fall under that umbrella. While neither I nor Laura had bad nosebleeds growing up, it turns out that some of our siblings and parents (on both sides) did. And apparently Jon hit the genetic jackpot—but that ain’t coins pouring out.

The worst thing is, these two storms have hit at the same time. Heck, maybe they’re related. In any case, it’s quite something to be sitting there happily with Jon and suddenly, with no external intervention, suddenly he starts howling at the top of his lungs and seconds later, blood starts pouring out of his nose, straight out of a Hollywood horror flick. When it happened this weekend, I came forward to help staunch the bloodflow and he lunged forward and bit me!

Never a dull moment.

Incidentally, this is special for us. No one else ever sees this side of him. Which is, of course, the lot of the parent.

[Jon doesn’t always pay attention to gender. Sorry, Dr. Dagys!]

April 16/08

On Monday my mom and dad drove me to the orthodontist. I was waiting for the doctor for a long time. I listened to the iPod at the orthodontist. Then when he came to the office he put me in a dentist chair. I was there for a while. I had a great time. We went back in the car to go home.

We’ve been looking at a lot of new gear for Jon in recent days. Some good, some—well, in the end it will be good.

Most exciting is the fact that Jon is being prescribed a walker! This video features a demo model of the Nurmi Neo by Otto Bock. We tried another walker that was heavier and more restrictive, but this one was better, and so the byzantine process to get one has begun. 🙂

[Editor’s Note: As of July 2012, I’ve found a second video from the same session!]

Jon should be getting his new AFO’s in the next few days. We don’t talk about these much, but they’re the custom braces that keep him from pointing his toes and losing range in his ankles and achilles tendons. Jon’s isn’t especially bad in this department, but they’re standard issue for kids with high tone in their legs, and he wears them daily at school.

We’ve started looking at new trikes. Lots to choose from, lots of vendors too. And the theraputic trike prices have come way down from the $2500 for his first therapeutic trike 5 years ago, so that’s nice. More comparison shopping to go.

And last up was the orthodontist, where we chatted with her about the xrays (Jon isn’t missing any permanent teeth like Laura) and did up the game plan. Step #1: All of Jon’s baby eye teeth have to go, to make room for his front teeth for the short term. And in 9 months or so the hardware starts.

And I didn’t even mention the fact that he’s growing so fast, we’re in preliminaries for a new wheelchair!