"What do you want for Christmas, Graham?"

The other day I asked Graham what he wanted for Christmas, fully and foolishly expecting him to say he wanted a new dinosaur, lego set, or minion.  But instead, with a huge smile on his face, he contentedly said, "Nothing!"

You don't want anything?

"Yeees!  I just want you and Mom to be happy!"

His response has become the new normal since his accident just a little over six months ago.

This change in his temperament and other changes have taken place in Graham since that Monday in June:  The vision in his right eye shows shadows at best, leaving him with only legally blind vision in his left eye.  It is miraculous though - it was once doubted that he would ever see again, and now he sees well enough to walk, read, color, play video games, and basically do anything any average six year-old would do.  Small things are a chore, however:  iPhone games are too small for him to play; he needs the iPad version.

And of course Graham still lives with diabetes insipidus.  While in the hospital it caused constant fluctuations in his sodium levels, often becoming dangerously high or low.  One of his endocrinologists even told us "you guys are going to be in the emergency room ALL THE TIME.  You will fail at this.  There is just no way you guys can manage this at home."

But then another miracle - almost as soon as we got home Graham developed a faint but effective thirst mechanism, something we desperately wanted him to have in the hospital.  He won't always ask to drink when he should, but occasionally he does ask for a sip of this or that.  And we can always tell just how thirsty he is by the rate at which he drinks:  He chugs like a sober lush when he's thirsty, and sips like a Royal on tea when he's not.  When we first got home we measured every milliliter of urine and every scant ounce of fluid he drank.  He got his sodium checked multiple times each week.  And his sodium never once got to a dangerous level.  Our ability to manage it has brought us to the point where he only gets his sodium checked once every three weeks, and we no longer have to measure his ins and outs.  The enormous burden that we feared so much has proven to be quite manageable, especially with Lindsey's close supervision.  And Graham hasn't seen the ER once.  It is absolutely an answer to prayers, as we have seen time and time again with our sweet little fighter.

Graham himself has changed as well.  Quite shy and reserved with strangers before his accident, his inhibitions are now much lower, and he talks to adults and kids without the slightest fear or hesitation.

When Graham first came home, he acted immature, for lack of a better phrase.  He seemed like a big four year-old in the way he spoke and interacted with others.  But in the few months that he has been home, his mentality has matured significantly, to the point that he now acts his age.  "Oh.  Wow.  Big deal.  He acts his age," you might think.  But the change really is significant, and is a great sign of his continued recovery.

And speaking of continued recovery, Graham's short term memory still has a ways to go.  When he first got home he couldn't remember anything that was not drilled into his head.  He struggled for weeks to remember the name of his teacher at school.  And at times when questioned about details from his day he would either shrug it off or change the subject to something else.  When queued "Graham, did you do THIS or THAT?" he could often get the answer correct.  That meant that he was keeping the information in there, but his recall was terrible.

Very recently, however, we have started seeing a lot of improvement.  Yesterday Lindsey asked Graham what he had for lunch at school.

"A Lunchable."  He said.

CORRECT!

Other details are being retained more consistently as well, and so we faithfully continue to pray for his continued healing.

Graham has also become much more artistic since his accident.  He colors better than he ever has, and he memorizes songs and movie lines like no one you've ever met.  One of his favorites is from Finding Nemo:  "I suffer from short term memory loss.  I forget things!"  So appropriate!

Physically, Graham is pretty much 100%.  He was Harry Potter for Halloween.  He is cleared to play at recess, participate in P.E., and even jump on the trampoline (alone, with supervision).  He dances and does the best "Robot" you've ever seen.  And loves to show off his ability to slide his feet backwards, like a very awkward moonwalk.  When you see him in action, it's hard to believe he was basically in a coma just a few months ago.  It's hard to comprehend that his skull was crushed under the weight of a car, but it was.  And here he is.  He could potentially face one more operation - he had a CT scan a few weeks ago and an MRI yesterday - but we'll know more in the future, and we are grateful the the biggest mountain seems to be well behind us.

Our community has been nothing short of amazing.  Kids randomly come by just to say hi.  They deliver cards and posters.  And they even dress up just to brighten Graham's day.  Malcolm Farmer, the president of The Texas Legends (NBA D-league affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks) hosted Graham at a game - allowing him both court-side and in the locker room before the game.  And he led the team out of the tunnel as an honorary captain.  It would be an awesome thing for any family to just go and watch the game, but for Graham it was truly unforgettable.

Kelly Herrera, the mom of one of Graham's classmates from last year, put together a Herculean effort and organized an Amazing Fun-run and 5K to benefit Graham.  Hundreds of people, businesses, family, and friends donated and gathered to participate in a world-class event.  Celebrities like Drew Pearson come to hug Graham and even let him try on his Super Bowl ring.  And Graham even got to meet one of the firefighters who saved his life when the accident occurred.  (Those same firefighters, by the way, inexplicably decided that saving our son's life was not enough.  So they hung Christmas lights on our house for us.  How awesome is that?!)  We are so grateful for Kelly.  She had never even run in a 5K before.  She didn't know anything about them.  But she was touched by Graham and wanted to do something for him, so she went to work and did something incredible.  Needless to say, Graham was not the only True Superhero at the event.

His school has been equally impressive.  The kids treat him like royalty, and many of his classmates protect him like they are his own personal mother hen.  It's really cute to watch!  His principle comes to our car every day to pick Graham up and walk him to his class, and his teachers and nurse are nothing short of incredible.

The kindness that has been shown to us is truly humbling.  We have debts of gratitude that will bury us forever.  How can you repay so much kindness?  The world is so full of people who are genuinely and completely good.  The headlines show endless violence and vanity, but volumes could be written about the kindness that has been shown to our family in just six short months.  I think the world really is mostly good.  We just often choose to ignore it.

And speaking of good, there's Graham.  The boy who just wants his parents to be happy for Christmas.  The boy who does everything we ask.  The boy who is always smiling, always kind.  We are so grateful that his life has been preserved.  We are indebted to all those who cared for him; prayed for him.  People often talk about how easy it is to take the good things in life for granted.  But every single time I see him, EVERY TIME, I cannot help but smile and think about how blessed we are to have him in our lives still.