Preparing For Round Two

Dear Little Angel,



Today we make preperations to travel to Shriners tomorrow once again for your next set of surgeries with hopes of correcting the placement of your hip for the left side and matching the length of your legs.  As the last of your cast free days slip away for the remainder of the summer, I find myself reviewing videos from days gone by and am amazed at the progress you have made in such a short period of time. Quick clips demonstrating a toddler learning to drag a cast burdened body around the living room floor, to short clips of our daughter just having her cast removed, struggling to learn to walk are only a few of the forgotten memories that litter our journey.  If these short captured videos are any indication for the days that lie-in-wait, following this next set of surgeries then I can rest assured we are only preparing ourselves to once again witness the amazing results that are driven by the will of our determined two year old daughter.

Yesterday, in the warmth of the sun, we spent the remainder of the day setting on the front curb watching as the tossed grass slowly drifted by our feet in the water down the gutter into the distance.  These cool evenings have been filled with treasured adventures of retrieving a parachuted figure as he slowly drifts from the heights achieved from wrapping his shute tight and hurdling him as high as possible into the air, slowly drifting down, settling in the hands of you and your brother and sister, long walks around the neighborhood, and beautiful illustrations painted with chalk on the concrete of the driveway.  These are only a few of our grand adventures that have filled these pass few months, but with your surgery date upon us we find ourselves now consumed preparing once again to care for our casted daughter as she is once again tasked to relearn to stand, then walk and finally run.

This past week preperations have included packing of bags for you, your mother and a third bag to provide everthing needed to care for your newborn sister while she stays with you and mother in the hospital room for the duration of your recovery until you are released to return home in four days.  Calls to the hospital to confirm surgery times, update medical records and coordinate additional bedding for the newborn have been completed.  The only remaining uncompleted items on our checklists is to fill the remainder of time, every second possible, with every activity that will be denied in the following months.  A bath filled to the brim with water and bubbles, games of tag in the house where a daughter sneeks upon the back of a father setting in wait, touching his shoulder, then running away down the hall, filling the house with uncontrolled laughter.  These simple games will be all but extinct for the next few months, but with time will once again slowly creep back into our lives as your hips recover and we find our giggling two year old squealing as she attempts to drag her casted body across the room in a mad attempt to escape a tagged father who sets waiting for the touch of his small daughter.