Boston Days 14-17 ... Holding steady

Lots of people are asking how it's going, which means I have been neglecting the blog! There's not much exciting going on here, except Nate is doing very well, which is exciting in itself.

We are staying at this family house, and it's really a great place. They have everything here that you would need, and more. A couple times a week or more, people come in and cook a big dinner for the people staying here, or bring bagels for breakfast, or make brownies. The house itself is very old and has been restored beautifully.

So it's a great place ... but we would so much rather be at home, of course. The main problem is that we feel stuck. At home, if I don't leave the house for several days for some reason, it's no big deal because I know I CAN. Here, it's hard to get out. Plus, I really miss my girl and Blake.

Monday we took a walk to a nearby park, but then we realized Nate really can't play on the equipment right now. So he raced his wheelchair around a walking track. 

Yesterday we took a walk back toward the hospital to do a little shopping--got him a "Harvard Medical School" sweatshirt, teeheehee, and some more groceries--and went to an actual restaurant to eat. By the time we walked back home (Nate in his wheelchair of course) he was exhausted. We have to keep the outings to a minimum. The doctors really don't like him sitting in a wheelchair for extended periods, but he LOVES his wheelchair! Maybe a little too much!

Today it is raining, so we have been stuck inside. I have plenty of work keeping me very busy, but my mom and I have been racking our brains trying to figure out what to do with Nate for the rest of the week. Tomorrow we have a visitor coming, a friend and her son who is Nate's age. So that will be a fun distraction. We might also head over to the hospital for a craft fair. Exciting stuff, right?

Friday, we are determined to ride a train. There are cable cars, trolleys, amtrack, and a subway line all very close to us. Not sure where we're taking that train, but the ride will be the main attraction. Oh! It took us about a day to figure out that a train runs right behind the house here, so Nate can sit out there and watch a train run every few minutes.

Clive has not made another appearance. Nate's back is flat, and healing very well. Besides having a bad haircut, his head looks great too. He hasn't had any headaches or any other pain, except when he runs his hands into walls while he's wheeling, Oh and he's had more hip pain. Wierd! He gets tired, and I've made him take a nap most days, but he didn't today.

So I've been jotting down some funny things Nate has said over the past week. Like one day at the hospital when he was all upset over everything, out of nowhere he started crying. When I asked him what was wrong, he said he was just laying there thinking, and he daydreamed that he went to jail, and there were some mean boys there who told him that flowers don't need water! And he just bawled about it! Hahaha, it was hard to even comfort him because it was so bizarre.

A couple days ago I was looking at Nate laying in bed with his shirt pulled up so his belly was showing. I said, You sure do like to keep your shirt pulled up like that. He said, "It's so I can put Seal the Sea Lion's belly on mine, and it feels soft."

Despite not going to school, Nate is trying to read everything he sees. Sometimes he gets words right, but other times he insists he knows better than Granna and I do. One day my mom was writing his name, and she wrote Georgia's name too. Nate said that was NOT how you spell Georgia. That spelled "Gor-gah" and that her name should have two J's in it! You can't tell him any different. Then one night downstairs we saw the movie "Up." Nope, it's not Up, it's called "Oop." Several times he has asked to watch Oop, and we just have to go along with it because he won't hear of it being called Up.

So in this case, no news is good news. Nate's fine, and we're in the home stretch.