Things are starting to feel “normal,” for some value of normal.

Every day he pushes a little bit further in terms of independence and mobility. He can sit up, stand up, even hop around short distances. With a little assistance he has scooted/hopped/scooched downstairs to watch a movie, and upstairs to take a proper shower (with the help of a shower chair). The living room is still his bedroom and base of operations, but I could see that changing in a week or so.

Yesterday was the follow-up at Children’s Hospital. Two weeks ago, the trauma and surgical care sections were the picture of efficiency, efficacy, and comfort, but returning to the orthopedic center for a routine follow-up visit showed us another side: traffic, overcrowded parking, overcrowded waiting room, 90 minute (!) delay for our appointment. Fortunately everything looks good: his leg x-ray checked out, and he got the stitches out of his left knee. The doctor encouraged him to put some pressure on the right leg and see what he can get away with. At this point his only restrictions there are his own pain and the time it takes to wake up the muscles again.

Suanna’s out of town for work this weekend; if you had told me a week and a half ago that Dominic would be well enough by this point that it wouldn’t be that a big deal, I wouldn’t have believed you. Sure, there’s a little bit of extra logistics with everything, especially if the wheelchair is involved. But it’s manageable. D stayed home this afternoon while Ella and I ran to the music store for a couple errands. She needed repairs on her marching clarinet, but I was there to see what could be done about Dominic’s violin case. We are renting his violin from the place, and it turns out we were paying the little bit extra for insurance, so they actually just swapped out case and violin for another one, easy as pie.

That was nice and all, but part of me was reluctant to let that case go. It got cracked when the car hit Dominic, and though we haven’t sussed out all the details yet of where exactly he got hit and how his bones were broken, it seems at least possible that the violin case bore some of the impact and spared him even more injury.

His next follow-up is in three weeks, where he’ll get his shoulder x-rayed again and see if he can switch to crutches. Before that, he’ll finish up his remaining school work from home. But before that, we have perhaps the clearest indication of “normal” there is for him: he’s going to have some friends over tomorrow afternoon to play D&D. He is beyond excited.