ABR: Fourth Training Day

No evaluations today, so we got to sleep in and catch up on some laundry and other housekeeping matters. Being a commercial airline pilot, Trevor stays in hotel rooms three nights a week, and as such, has perfected the art of trashing them. Thing is, when he is working, he is not in the same room more than one night in a row and doesn't have to deal with his filth the next day, so despite housekeeping's best efforts, I had a little straightening up to do this morning. I thought you went on vacation to avoid housecleaning (not that this is your typical vacation).

Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to add one last little story about our evaluation with Leonid yesterday. As I explained in my last post, Leonid is not exactly Fletcher's favorite person, for understandable reasons. After the evaluation was over, and we had been debriefed and Fletcher was calm and resting his head on my shoulder, we were saying our goodbyes and Leonid gave Fletcher a gentle pat on the back and said, until next time, I hope you don't hold and grudge. And sure enough, as soon as he heard his voice, Fletcher started fussing. Yes, my son can hold a grudge, just ask his PT... right, Kristy?

Today's training session went very well. The first hour was spent filming the anterior neck technique we learned yesterday. Fletcher cooperated and fell asleep about 20 minutes into the session, so we were able to film him while he was asleep.

The fact that our training sessions fall right in the middle of Fletcher's prime napping time is really a double edge sword, though. The last few days it has been to our benefit, but it just as easily could translate into fussy over-tired Fletcher for the entire three hours. We kind of saw both sides of Fletcher today, as we prematurely woke him from his nap when we were trying to get him into position to work on our third a final exercise focusing on the jaw and larynx. Fletcher has never taken a pacifier, but we have found something that works just as well-- the z-vibe. Usually we have to put it in his mouth and he is a happy, chewing fool. Today at times it worked just as well when he was even just holding it in his hand.

Our Trainer Fehim Demonstrating Our Final Exercise

After session we headed to Old Montreal to catch a light and sound show at Notre-Dame Basilica. It was a brief history of the city and the Basilica and we got to take a brief look around the sanctuary after it was over. It was really quite beautiful. We tried to get some photos, but our camera ran out of batteries and the still-frame shots we took with our camcorder will be stuck in there for months before I figure out how to upload them. I lit a four-hour candle and said a prayer for Fletcher and our ABR endeavor (I am not catholic, and this isn't something I routinely do, but I do remember the last candle I lit was at the Notre Dame de Paris and prayed for my then-three-year old little sister who had just had to have half her pinkie finger amputated). Random little bit of family history there for you.