He Talks Like a Teenager!

With every letterboard lesson we get another tiny glimpse of Sam's personality. This is the most exciting thing ever! Today his teacher started started training Lisa, Sam's good friend and respite worker, on how to be his communication partner. She was nervous but she did great! She spent the first ten minutes with Sam and the teacher did the rest of the lesson. At the very end, she asked Sam to spell one word that describes how Lisa did today. (This is SO his own word! This is not an adjective we normally use in our house but is so appropriate for a kid his age!)

KILLER

I Caught Him Reading

Yesterday Jackson's book came in the mail and I read it in one day. Simply mind-blowing and delightful. My plan was to have Lisa read it to Sam tomorrow but I thought he might not want to wait so I read him a chapter. When I closed the book, he remained in the same position lying on his tummy on the bed and his eyes were still on the book. The back cover with the description was facing him and his eyes were LOCKED on it. I realized, "He's reading this!" His eyes are often all over the place and I've never seen him do anything like this in my life. His eyes looked just like the eyes of someone who is reading a book. I held it there until he looked away and I knew he was done.

Testimony Meeting and Sam's Feelings

Sam and I finished reading the Book of Mormon via audiobook on Saturday, March 3. It was his second time since his first reading at the age of eight. I was very moved by Moroni's last chapters and his transcription of the letters from his now-deceased father with his strong doctrinal teachings that also must have given Moroni great comfort. I was struck by the pattern of powerful father-son prophetic duos throughout the book starting with Lehi and Nephi. I wanted to bear my testimony on Sunday and had a prompting to have Sam join me. He wasn't in a great mood before church but when the time came, he walked up to the podium with me and stood stock still next to me, holding my hand, while I spoke. Lisa said he was looking right into my face the whole time, hanging on my every word. She had never seen anything like it. After we sat down, Lisa bore her testimony as well.

At his lesson on Tuesday, I told his teacher excitedly about what had happened. She grabbed the 26-letter board and asked Sam, "Can you give me one word to describe your experience with Mom giving testimony last weekend?" He was slow getting started but spelled M - E - A - N before needing a bathroom break. Then he finished:

MEANINGFUL