Thank you Charlie for these wonderful Jewish proverbs!
"A mother understands what a child does not say."
"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers."
Mattie and I had a late night on friday, and it was hard to get up this morning. I find the longer the time Mattie is away from the hospital on an inpatient basis, the more at peace he is at night. I am happy to report he has had no nightmares for two nights! I hope I don't jinx the situation tonight by reporting this good news.
Mattie began his day with a visit from Caroline Eaton. Caroline is a teacher at SSSAS, and she has graciously offered, her one of many skills, to teach Mattie to play the piano this year. Caroline is simply delightful and has a warm, caring, understanding, and patient demeanor. Perfect for Mattie, because Mattie can be moody at times. Caroline entered our home today bearing a ton of gifts. She baked these beautiful halloween brownies with candy corns on top, she gave Mattie three perfect pumpkins, and some fun glow sticks. Caroline and Mattie talked about his halloween acquisitions, of which he had A LOT to report about. The picture below illustrates how successful he was on Halloween, between the hospital and trick or treating at night. Mattie spent over an hour last night, sorting his candy on our living room floor and today he was running his own candy store out of our living room, selling his candy to us for a small price. He is very entrepreneurial because Mattie doesn't like candy for the most part, so I guess in his book, he thought why not give it to someone who really loves candy, such as myself! For just a penny, I can get several pieces of candy, so he is selling candy at bargain prices. But we are learning about reading labels, buying and selling, and negotiating through this fun game! Do you love Mattie's candy store?!
Caroline caught Mattie's attention today because she knows one of Zachary's (Mattie went to Zachary's on Halloween) neighbors. Mattie was telling Caroline about what it was like to trick or treat at this particular house, and from Mattie's description of the house and person, Caroline immediately knew who Mattie was talking about. Mattie was fascinated that Caroline would know the person he was telling her about, especially since we never gave Caroline the exact location of where we went trick or treating. It was from that point that Caroline seemed to have won Mattie over. Mattie proceeded with his piano lesson first on the electronic keyboard, and then moved to the spinet piano. While Mattie was working with Caroline, I removed myself from the situation, which is usually a helpful thing. I could hear from upstairs that Mattie was learning to play "Mary had a little lamb." It was wonderful, and he was proud of himself and came upstairs to get me so that he could show me how he was playing. Of course I had to take a picture. I am happy to report that Mattie continues to play tonight, and he and I played a duet of "Mary had a little lamb" on the piano tonight. It is fantastic, and he even attempted using his right hand to play. Thank you Caroline for your visit and your generosity of your time and spirit. See two pictures below of this special moment today.
Mattie and Caroline playing together!
Caroline and Mattie!This afternoon, Mattie had a visit from Emily W. Emily is a former babysitter of Mattie's, and it is unfortunate that she moved back to NY. We miss her, but Mattie requested another visit with her this week before she returned home. Emily played with Mattie, and even purchased some "candy" from his store. While Emily was over, Peter caught up on work, and I went out with my parents. We had a nice lunch together, and it was just a beautiful weather day to be outside. When we returned home, Mattie and Emily took one final picture together before she headed home. Thanks Emily for helping us SO much this week. You really gave me a break!
Mattie, my mom, and I went out for a walk this afternoon to collect leaves. Mattie took a pumpkin basket and ventured out. He was on a mission to find different shaped leaves and ones with different colors. But if you are familiar with living in DC or any big city, then you know you can't escape some of the other smaller sights that are present. What am I referring to? Mice! Mattie spotted a baby mouse running around a bush outside our complex and basically was thrilled with his finding. So much so that he wouldn't let me walk another step without taking a picture of it. I unfortunately do not share Mattie's love for mice, but I honored his request. You will see a picture of "mousey" below, if you are interested, if not, just keep scrolling down. You will only see "mousey's" little body, no mouse face. I do draw the line!
Tonight, we had a family dinner together thanks to Dawnee's generous and delicious meal. Thank you so much for such a lovely and well balanced dinner. I happen to love caramel apples too, and this was a very special after dinner treat! Mattie loved the Mummy card that Dawnee gave him as well as the gifts she delivered for him. Thank you Dawnee for your kindness, it is so appreciated!
Mattie also had several visits from his canine buddy, JJ. JJ brought down a box of Dunkin Donuts for Mattie today. Our local Dunkin Donuts no longer stocks vanilla frosted donuts, and my dad and JJ have been on a mission looking for them. JJ brought down some lovely halloween donuts today which were a hit. Thanks JJ!
A special thank you and recognition goes out to Katie May tonight. Katie is a senior at SSSAS and she has spearheaded a very successful donut and bake sale at the upper school this week. She reported to me tonight that the sales generated over $1100 for Mattie's fund. Thank you Katie for your passion to help Mattie and my family. I am so appreciative of your efforts and grateful to the upper school for allowing Katie and her advisory group to plan these events.
On the electronic front, thank you Karen and Grammie (what a great moose video) for your wonderful e-mails today! I end tonight with a Youtube video that my good friend, Jen, in Boston sent me. She is sharing this journey with me from afar. Jen wrote, "A prayer for you Vicki...It's a beautiful song you may have heard before and I wish it so powerfully for you."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK9nt1NF7Nw&feature=related
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