I lifted her onto the new changing table, which fortunately held Lea perfectly and briskly swiped the top with my hand just before laying my little girl’s back to it. With her body now completely facing me, I began to undo her zipper. Lea giggled as my fingers lightly ran down her stomach. After pulling both tapes off the front of her diaper, I allowed the soaked material to flop down onto the changing pad. With one hand I expertly wiped Lea’s bottom clean, while with my other I took a hold of the baby powder container. After evenly coating all necessary areas with the powder, I unfolded the new diaper and gently slid it under Lea. With just two quick tapes to the cartoon front, I had finally finished.
Amber and Toby popped into the room a moment later and watched along with me little Lea interacting with her new toys. It seemed the stuffed animals did not interest her anymore as she began to look for something among the other countless objects lying around. To my surprise, she settled on a two hundred piece Jigsaw puzzle set that I had stacked next to the changing table, along with many other games. I helped open and spread all the pieces out evenly, until Lea took the initiative and began connecting each one to another. Almost effortlessly, she grabbed a handful of jigsaws and placed them meticulously into their corrective spot. Toby and Amber must’ve taken notice of what Lea was doing and gotten closer as I suddenly saw them next to me, watching in awe.
“That is… Unbelievable…” Amber noted.
After only ten or so minutes, all four of us stared back at the full portrait of an Amazonian jungle; completely identical to its smaller sized comparison on the box cover.
The room was silent for a short time, until Toby spoke up with a “Wow.”
Lea continued to stare at her completed puzzle with rigid concentration.
“Great job honey!” I said as I picked her up from the floor, allowing her focus to switch to me.
“H-how did she do that?!” Toby asked, utter surprise still illuminating his voice.
“She’s a special one.” Amber answered as she playfully poked Lea’s stomach. The tickling lasted a couple of minutes before Lea began to suddenly sway back and forth.
“Is she okay?” I asked cautiously. Her rocking motion continued even after I placed her back on the floor.
“Hmm, looks like she’s at it again. Don’t worry though; this is actually pretty common among people with neurological disorders.” Amber explained. As I continued to look at Lea, I noticed how she was also becoming jitterier. Her eyes were jumping from one object to another; not able to stay on one point and her hands were expressing erratic motions. Slowly, she crawled over to the pile of toys and pulled from the front line of stuffed animals a small, plush duck.
“Poor baby; well, I guess its time for your medicine.” Amber said as she went to lift the little girl off her knees.
Lea dropped the stuffed animal in her hands while persisting against Amber and immediately began to cry as the caretaker attempted to lift her from the ground. I rushed over to aide both of them in whatever way I could.
“Hey, it’s ok.” I softly told the teary-eyed child.
The small duck that Lea had lost was an arm’s length away and I knew it was the best chance we had at calming her down. I quickly grabbed it and playfully showed it off in front of her. With the child now distracted, Amber was able to feed her the bottle that discreetly held the crushed medicine with ease. It was odd because of all my time visiting and getting to know Lea, I had never really seen her change perspective on things so quickly. Almost immediately after the pill had lost its effect, she lost all concentration on things around her.
