Katie poops stars!

Seriously. She does. Yesterday, Katie found some forgotten star stickers in my Bible. So she had a little adventure:





We didn't know she had eaten any. Until today.

It's been a while...

So much is happening. School has started, Dad is home, Katie is driving... Kidding.

Let's start with school: I am so excited to be teaching the Anatomy and Physiology classes. I'm really having fun with it, and I think the kids are too. It's a subject that really interests me. Yay!

Dad is home! Yippee! After the tree trunk cast on his leg




he was wearing a black aluminum splint. After x-rays showed the bone graft was healing just fine, he graduated to a walker and an Air Jordan walking boot. Well, maybe it isn't made by Nike, but it has inflatable bladders for maximum support. It's mostly to support his ankle joint while the tendons and ligaments get used to moving again, and he only has to wear it when he's walking. It's so great to have him home! And remember, chicks dig scars.

It has been a summer of adventure with Katie. It seems like every week she was doing something new. We went from rolling, to sitting, to army crawling, to climbing, to real crawling, to getting down off the couch, to seeking out Tiny to pull his ears.





Today she pulled herself up on Dad's walker and pushed it while walking.





Oh, and her first runny nose. But she's so darned cute!





I think we'll keep her!

Cousins

On Saturday, Jared's brother Richard was in town with his boys. They had just hiked the Wonderland Trail (93 miles!) on Mt. Rainier. On their way back to Utah, we got together at Brennan's to have a BBQ. Here's a picture of Katie with the men in her life:



L-R: Jason, Brendon, Dallin, Austin, Steven, Devin, Cameron.

The best part was that after this picture, Jared rushes in from stage right, plows into Devin, and knocks them all over like dominoes. Only Cameron and Katie emerged unscathed.

A little monkey-girl

I blame this on Jared.

Katie pulled herself to standing today! The first time she did it, we were in Othello visiting Dad. She was sitting on his wheelchair, with the transfer board on end, leaning up against the back of the wheelchair. (She was sitting in front of it.) Katie grabbed onto the top handle and the edge of the board and pulled herself up! She was facing the back of the wheelchair, holding on to the transfer board. Then, my little monkey put her foot on the lower handle and climbed it like a ladder! She grabbed on to the IV pole attached to the back of the wheelchair and pulled herself up on that! Then she grabbed a handful of curtain and was going to haul herself up even further, when I rescued her.

I'm not ready for this.

A tree trunk

That's the size of the cast on Dad's leg. The bone graft went very well. They took 120 ccs of bone from the top of his tibia, mixed it with cadaver bone and created a framework at his ankle for more bone to grow on. So, you know, the cast has to be big enough for two.

He has the green light to put weight on the other leg, but the cast is so unwieldy that I think he's going to wait. He has another appointment at Harborview on the 29th to remove the cast and the sutures. Hopefully at that time he'll get the go ahead to put weight on both legs, and away we go!

A Real American Hero

G.I. Joe, get it? Because, ladies and gentlemen, we have an Army crawler! This morning Katie started scooting around on her tummy, elbows and knees. Sometimes, we can even see daylight under that tummy. She still prefers rolling; it's faster. But I imagine she'll soon learn the benefits of being able to see where she's going.

And no, Katie doesn't like playing with her own, brand new, shiny, colorful toys. She would rather play with the dog's leash, lick her daddy's flip flops, or pull books off the bookshelf.

In other news: Dad has his bone graft surgery on Thursday. The beginning of the end...

Eye candy?

My dad has a problem. It's tough being the sexiest guy in the nursing home.