January 8, 2006

"Time to Jesus"

Tonight is one of those hallmark evenings.

Every night I put Chandler to bed and pray for him. I usually ask him to hold my hand, and he does, but other than laying still and looking at me while I am praying for him, he has not given me any other hint that he gets what I am doing.

But tonight I tucked him in and before I had gotten to the prayer, he looked at me and said, “Time to Jeshush”. Hoping that he said what I thought he did, I asked him, “Time to pray?” His reply was to say the prayer I usually say for me.

“Dear Jeshush, Thank you for Chandler. Diggadiggadiggadigga. The End.”

He filled in the middle part where I usually change it up with babble, but other than that he had it down.

Then I got lots more “Time for bed, night night” type talk than usual.

I live for moments like this with him.

11 comments:

Wade Rankin said...

That one calls for an extra-loud AMEN!

Found by grace said...

Thank you so much for your blog! I am a Christian mom also, waiting on a DMSA challenge result for my soon to be 4 year old. He is not autistic, though we don't have any diagnosis. (I think just sensory integration stuff) But if it is the mercury, I will actually be pleased! But I just want to say everything you have written is all that I feel, and I am so thankful to know that I do have God to help me through things.

Mom to Mr. Handsome said...

Ginger, he is so adorable. He has the same sweet baby face that Gabe does. You probably gets a lot of "He's so cute!" when you go out.I was wondering,
does Chandler really babble "diggadiggadigga" in between talking? I'm asking, because Gabe says the same thing when he is filling in the words he doesn't know how to say. I wonder if our children with ASD all use similar babble.

Take care,
Kristin

Anonymous said...

Hi Ginger

Simply wonderful. Your son looks very cute. He has the same sweet face than my son.
I also live for these "moments in time" with my son.
Thank you for sharing this.
María Luján

Anonymous said...

i found your blog through airmata dunia...you are an amazing woman. i salute you! amazing! ^__^

Anonymous said...

Very cute! :)

California Progressive said...

I am glad to read a little update on Chandler! What a cutie pie. What a wonderful story to read. Beautiful!
Kristie
mommy to Aidan 2.7

Anonymous said...

Ginger - first of all, your son is BEAUTIFUL!!! His angelic face must be a true blessing to wake up to each morning.

I am a paraeducator of children with autism in PA who grew up w/a brother with autism. Danny was born in 1950, so his diagnosis did not come until he was well into his adult years (1993). I had to fight for it at the time. Prior to then, he was considered MR. He, too, like Gabe mentioned above, used to fill in nonsensically with "diggadiggadigga". In addition, I worked with a student 2 years ago who also used this exact same phrasing when he was happy. I also have to wonder about the correlation of the phrasing. Not a biggie but just thought it interesting. Side note: I will keep you in my daily prayers, now that I have found your website.

Anonymous said...

I have a son who is 3 with autism who says the exact same thing (though not as much as he used to). He usually follows it with something he wants, e.g., "diggadiggadiggadigga....car?"

So strange...

Anonymous said...

I am so HAPPY for you!!!! My almost 3 y.o. son has autism, and I have yet to hear him say his first word. I, too, wonder if he understands ANYTHING that I say, etc. He grunts, but I LOVE EACH AND EVERY SOUND he says. Thank you for sharing because sometimes I just about give up. Chandler has given me some hope for my son to come around!!!!!!

Julie Bergeson-Flint
bergesonjulie@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

I am a single mother to 2 small boys, both diagnosed with severe autism. I have taken the boys to our local church every Sunday and a few years ago my oldest, Sam, was sitting in the fellowship hall when our Pastor came up to say hello. Sam pointed to the large cross above him on the wall and loudly exclaimed "T"! The pastor got a good laugh out of that and then Sam said, 'Jesus House'. It was the first time I had heard him make the connection between the church and the lessons about Jesus he was hearing in the preschool class. To this day he still asks to go to Jesus house whenever we get in the car. I thank God for his love of His house, even if for right now its because of the really cool playground and toys.