Ten years ago, Cary walked across Spain. It took her the better part of six weeks, but she made it all the way across Spain to what medieval Spaniards thought was the edge of the world. Years before her Spanish perambulating, Cary had trekked across Nepal (the woman can walk). One day, on an arduous climb, she asked her weathered Belgian traveling companion how she could make it through this particularly long slog. "Slowly by slowly" her friend replied.
On the daily level sometimes it’s hard to see much progress, but when we step back and take the long view it’s easy to see all the strides Errol has made. Errol’s slow, deliberate pace is a great antidote to the race the rest of us live in (no wonder he’s always smiling), and we’ve seen huge advances in brain and brawn this summer.
I wouldn’t have believed it a few months ago, but Errol is now starting to crawl. Now, crawl is a broad word with dear Earl, but whatever you call it, Errol is starting to move. He rocks himself forward and reaches out and grab things he likes; toys, sound makers, the dog (poor dog). Errol’s not going to win any races (he would look cute in racing gear), but his rocking is slowly turning into crawling, which (we hope) may lead to bigger things (dancing???).
Things are in full swing on the cognitive front. At school today, Errol’s speech therapist, Melissa, stood on one side of Errol, and his beloved teacher, Anne, stood on the other. Melissa asked Errol to “hand the doll to Anne.” And lo and behold, without confusion or hesitation, he did just that. Boom! When Cary told me the news I couldn’t believe it, and I cried for joy. Errol may not be able to talk, but he understands, and that’s a step in the direction of speech (and singing). As one of his doctors (entourage) said, “We’ve got nothing but time.” And she’s right. It’s a long haul, but eventually, slowly by slowly, as long as we keep moving forward, we will get to a beautiful place.
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