Praise's Bedtime routine

I guess I'm writing these particular posts to show what day to day life is with a child with significant special needs. When we put Praise to bed, we sing him a few hymns. We like hymns because they are rich with meaning and they have a bunch of verses which helps when we're doing his leg stretches. The four verse hymn goes for his left leg (which is less tight) and the seven verse hymn is for his right leg (the tighter leg). This is what I look down on each night I put him to bed.



He remains very silent and looks up at me with this big perma-grin on his face. Sometimes, when I get to the part of the hymn where Jesus returns, he'll get excited and make some happy noises. Tonight, I got kisses when I finished.

Another part of his routine is peek a boo. It seems a little sad that I am playing a real game of peek a boo with my almost 13 year old, but that's where he's at and it makes him happy.

"Where's Praise?"




"Peek a Boo!"




This bedtime routine happens only after we brush his teeth, wash his face, and tonight, I decided to give him a shave since he was getting too stubbly for me. He is totally dependent upon us to put him to bed and we sometimes go to bed exhausted. But, we've learned that "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me." Mark 9:37