8/19/04 at 5:45 p.m.

The nurses informed me early this morning that Jess was "wiggling" a lot in the night. It continued all day. He was trying to move his arms and head so much that they had to put a wide elastic belt around his stomach where the feeding tube is so he would not pull it out. On several occassions he kept trying to reach for the trache. We are so glad it is coming out in the morning. So therapy progressed interestingly, he stood up with a supporting stand and the help of 4 of us during physical therapy. He stood tall and tried to hold his head up. Chris said he felt like he was looking him square in the eyes which means he has grown. He has always wanted to be as tall as his dad. They have made special braces for his feet to help support him. He only weighs 134 lbs...down from 160 lbs when the accident happened. It seemed to help stimulate him being upright on his feet. When we put him back to bed the speech therapist arrived. She held a cup out in front of him and asked him to reach for the cup. He did and he then gave it back to her. He did it three times. I cried. She was about to cry also. He then followed his small red & blue dunking ball with his eyes (tracking as they call it) as she moved it in front of his face. These were all first attempts to follow commands that were very meaningful. It was a good day. When Kelsey talked to him as I held the phone to his ear he raised his eyebrows and kept turning his head toward the phone. Jamie and I saw him pull some very "Jess like" facial expressions today. Chris swears he smiled at him which sent him into the bathroom in tears.

Tomorrow we get rid of the braces and the trachea...a glorious day. We go to St. Al's for the surgery. They will need to put Jess under a general anesthetic. We will return to the Elk's around noon. Again any prayers for the doctor and for Jess are greatly appreciated. We climbed a big hill today and we will climb as many as it takes.