A Room with a View

Yesterday was a busy day; both visitor-wise and therapy-wise. Judy stayed with Alistair the night before so we took a little more time getting in instead of jumping out of bed, grabbing some coffee and heading in. Once we got in, Alistair had therapies all morning. He did some stomp rockets and kicking balls with PT while sitting in a chair, OT worked on getting a shirt on and did some stretches (he fell asleep!) and speech worked on eating then some other ideas for non verbal communication. She brought him a notebook with subjects and then topics under each subject page for him to point at to help us figure out his needs. He looked through the list and chose FUN! We went to the fun page and he looked down the list and didn't find what he wanted. We used the alphabet board, which seems so tedious and slow. But he was able to whip out in pretty quick succession "wheelchair ride." Oh how I wish we could fulfill that request. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to roam about the hosiptal again with him and go outside! His therapies in the afternoon consisted of some stretching, rolling and some more reading comprehension with the educational therapist. 

Alistair never napped yesterday except for the 10 minute cat nap he took at the end of his morning OT session. He is really generating some good stamina. That being said, he does tend to seem a bit sleepy and could benefit from a nap after lunch, just to recharge! In the evening, I stepped out at some point to make a phone call. I was blinded by sunshine gleaming off the floor of the room across the hall from where I was standing. Then I realized the room was empty, clean and ready for a new tenant. Though we had our own room, it looked over the common area patio and didn't have direct daylight. It was a bit cave-like. I made a joke about moving rooms, not thinking it was an option. So Seth mentioned it to the charge nurse and she said, "let's do it now, it's a nice room with a great view and you should have it!" So now we are in room RB.5.524 and hopefully will be here for a while.  The view is west. We look over the River parking lot, can see some of the UW dorms, a peek-a-boo view of some Olympics and SUNSHINE in the afternoon! So nice...and Alistair can get to the window in the wheelchair to actually see out there. We can also kind of see the helipad, but would certainly see the helicopter coming and going!

Seth had a whole slew of work friends come visit yesterday afternoon. Alistair watched cartoons while we all visited. It was nice to have a lively adult conversation, even if it took place in a children's hospital. Seth and I also discovered that there is no reason why, after Alistair goes to sleep, he and I can't slip out for a bit for a drink or something. Last night we spent a small fortune at Jak's. So if anyone wanted to venture this way to grab a drink around 8:45 or so, we could go grab a drink somewhere close. Or we could pretend we are in college again and drink incognito on a bench around campus! 

Gillian, Natalie and my parents made it to Gearhart yesterday. They are looking forward to a few days at the beach. I guess it has been a bit cooler and foggy/cloudy. Hopefully the sun comes out for them! Alistair has a couple of special guests coming to see him today: Mrs. Scheel, his second grade teacher, who is coming to read some books with/to him and Mr. Wellington. I think he is looking forward to seeing them both!