Day 31: A bump on the noggin

THURSDAY

In Susan's haste to get out of town, she did not finish Thursday's blog. I'll share one comical incident. During our visit with "Jessia Therapist," we were shown a portrait Katie had drawn of our family. Susan stood on the left and I stood on the right. Katie was seated in the middle...dressed as a queen. Guess we have a little work to do on defining who's in charge at our house.

FRIDAY

Today's events were highlighted by a less than gracious fall by Queen Katie. It seems that while playing outside, she fell backward and hit her head on the hard surface. Mr. Paul, the recreational therapist, said Katie complained of being dizzy and having a slight headache. As a precaution, the staff recommended that Katie be seen by her doctor. So, at about 1:00, I rode the elevator up to get her and down to walk to the car, fully intending to make an appointment with Katie's pediatrician while driving home.

Lo and behold, we had a flat. To compound the situation, my never-ever-used temporary spare was flat. A quick phone call to AAA (well worth the $65 annual fee) summoned a tow truck driver who hooked up the car and pulled us through Westwood to the tire shop. As "coincidence" would have it (there are no coincidences in God's kingdom), the shop was owned by the same chain I purchased the tire from originally. After 20 minutes, the flat was fixed...at no cost. We quickly...okay, driving through Westwood on a Friday afternoon wasn't that quick...drove through McDonald's for a late lunch and rushed to the freeway.

To crawl.

By this time, two hours have passed sinced the Queen took her spill. She has yet to mention any side effects, other than when I asked her how she was feeling. So when Katie's pediatrician suggested a trip to urgent care, I decided to continue my "wait and see" approach. The decision was a wise one.

We arrived home about 4:00, relaxed a bit, and jumped into a game of SkipBo. It seems that sometime in the last few weeks, Katie's brain has slowed its gyrations to the point where she can multi-task quite well. It was amazing to watch her strategize every move. I could almost see the wheel turning as we played. Needless to say, this encouraged me greatly. My enthusiasm, waned, however, after she won the first game. After this, we played Uno, another card game. Katie is like her mother: she doesn't like to lose. I was so proud of her for keeping her emotions under control when frustration set in. In the recent past, a meltdown would have ensued.

For dinner, Katie decided to experiment in the kitchen. She created her own dish consisting of hot dog buns, tomato paste, cheese and a variety of dry spices. After a brief stay under the broiler, dinner was served. Katie was so proud of herself. I, on the other hand, wasn't affected in the least.

I can't begin to communicate my joy over Katie's progress in the last few weeks. Her behavior has become wonderful. While she still struggles a bit with appropriately expressing frustration and anger, so do I.