Wednesday May 16

Woefully Brief Update (that doesn’t include anything about his birthday weekend but this is news we have to share): Liam pushed his dump truck tonight for the first time since his surgery. He’s coming back. One thing helping to get him out of his funk is his new “home.” He has his own locker at the fire station he now claims as “his” fire station. The locker, presented to him as a birthday surprise, is outfitted with a personalized name badge, official fire jacket with the fire station patches sewn on, pants with suspenders, and helmet complete with the obligatory block of wood he sees tucked into other firefighters’ helmets. More on Liam’s fire fighters, whom he calls “his fire fighter guys,” later. Larry and I are both feeling a bit like the witch in Hansel & Gretel who constantly offers food. Liam actually had an interest in food today, which makes us very happy. We’re still looking for the magic food combination that will interest him and feel like we’re exhausting our options. Cheese puffs are on the out but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the hospital (the ones mommy and daddy make are still out), are back in. He’s still obsessed with chocolate milk that’s heated…cold chocolate milk is forbidden…and he’s become very finicky about which cup his drink is in. (The unwritten, unspoken rules Liam has established can be maddening. But again, if it’s his only way to exercise a tiny bit of control on his life, we can deal with putting the same drink in three different cups until it’s in the “right” one.) Now, if only there was a way to help him gain 10 pounds before the next round of chemo…we’d be ecstatic. He also for the first time wanted to do his normal bed time routine, which was another very positive sign for us. As he was going to bed he talked about all the things he wanted to do when the sun came up. It’s good to have him talking about sun rises again.