Boredom

Last night we pulled in to the house at about 4:30. Not bad. My front neighbor must have been watching for me because she came over within a half hour with a stack of hot dishes fresh from her kitchen, Chicken teriyaki, rice and salad fixings.

One of Trevor's friends dropped by. I let him come in and play. I can see that keeping Riley social will not be a problem. But it will be a problem in that Trevor has to do homework after school and I don't want to turn anyone away. Trevor's friend joins us for dinner. He is a big boy. We all love the chicken teriyaki. After everyone has seconds including Riley, there are no leftovers. The phone rings and it is the boy's parents. It is time to go home. It is a school night.

The boy leaves and the door bell rings again. The little neighbor boy across from us wants to play. How can I say no? I tell him to wash his hands and he can go upstairs to play. He is gleeful. Trevor was supposed to be grounded for the month of February for grades, but it is now March 1. We didn't do so well with the grounding with everything going on, but this young man had been turned away a few times during the month so Trevor would study.

I know that this boy has a house rule to be home at 7:00pm. Trevor can do his homework after 7:00. I find it interesting that no one has fought or raised voices all evening. Usually in the coming and goings and games there is some squabble. This night there are only happy voices.

Tom is vigilant on the dishes and cleaning. He has the alarm set for shot time. Baths and bedtime roll around. The problem with have our room next to the children these days, is they don't go right to sleep. They stay up and read. For Mommy and Daddy to have quality time, we have to crank up the TV. If we tried to out wait the children until they fell asleep, well, we would never have a life.

Tuesday is our first school day home. Trevor is off to school without a hitch. Riley and I have a leisurely breakfast. I tell him it is time to tackle the two weeks of laundry in the game room. It all needs to be put away. It turns out to be mostly the boys. Riley has no hanger in his closet still. I cant put the cloths away. I decide I just have to get it fixed and tell Riley not to do anything stupid, I am off to the store for parts.

Last night Riley climbed the kitchen stool trying to check out the candy on the fridge. Tom yelled at him. If he falls, it would not be a good thing. I tell Riley to get going on his home work. Its nice and safe sitting at the table, while I am out.

Once I get to the store Riley calls me. He has the hospital on speaker phone. They want to make sure we get Riley's bandages on his Pi cc changed Thursday. This involves bringing in a special nurse. Not just anyone can change the bandage since they might accidentally pull it out. The nurse on the phone does not want it to be forgotten. I guess it should have been done Monday and was missed. Thursday will be a long day anyway since we talk to the Doctor about what our plans going forward are going to be. Changing the dressing will kill some time waiting.

A friend calls, she doesn't like to give herself shots, or so she says. She would like to drop by and have Riley give her her vitamin shot. She has been reading about what a good job he does poking himself, and his parents for that matter. I love it. We have a great time. Riley gives her her vitamin shot without trouble. He even puts on surgical gloves and uses alcohol wipes, just as he has been taught.

I can see that these days at home are going to be long while all the other children are at school. The only children available to play are children not in pre school yet and those are some of the most dangerous for germs. We'll make it work though. Just like in the ward, we will wash hands and take temperatures of all young guests. I just have to remember.

Riley has found another alternative. His new Skype account. The mom who set it up has toddlers at home. He calls them on skype. The youngest is riveted. The computer is responding to him personally. Riley spends over an hour playing with the babies through the computer and listening to everything going on in their busy household. Occasionally an adult will acknowledge his presents in the room through the computer as they get on with house cleaning and remodeling projects. They don't mind since the toddlers are entertained and being kept busy out of the way.

I feel a little sad that Riley is now living vicariously through his skype account in someone Else's kitchen. But it keeps him happy being entertained and entertaining toddlers. Tomorrow the teacher comes and he can change gears for school.

I am going to tackle the closet and then the laundry. I would have Riley help me but he might get hurt. He can't even do upper body strenghtening now. The Picc line might role up in the artery with vigorous excersize. He is not even supposed to raise his heart rate too much.
Once the picc is out in a year or so, he can get back to normal excersize.