SATURDAY SHOWCASE......it's a Walt Update.

Because I have lots to say, here’s a list for your reading pleasure:

• Walt is having a field day with the DVR. Funniest thing is, he uses it mainly to rewind COMMERCIALS. Normally, people use it to skip forward to avoid those! Ha. He cracks me up.

• Upon arriving home, I couldn't find a bell for him to ring for me . So instead, I made the rookie mistake of improvising with his sister's plastic, yellow flute. I've been in the kitchen on several occasions and have heard it's varying non-melodious sounds. I have since hidden the flute. He can yell if he needs me....it's a broke leg, not a voicebox.

• He’s doing better with getting up for restroom and lunch breaks. While usually for breakfast and sometimes supper, I serve him in bed, I make him come to the table in his wheelchair for lunch . And then we usually stay at the table to play a round of CLUE or look at Family Fun magazine for ideas for the summer.

• It's been a week since his surgery, 8 days since his accident, and 9 days since he shampooed his hair. I am happy to report, that hair predicament has been rectified. We did another round in the tub using the stools....and this time we turned the water on. Works better that way, with the water on. You can actually do things, like, shampoo. :)

• Had school still been in session, his surgeon had orders that he was not to attend PE for 3 months. Wow. 3 months. That’s a long time with no recess, folks. It looks as though he will still have to miss the first month of PE once school resumes. This road to recovery appears to be several miles long. We are in hopes that he will be walking fairly well by the time the first day of school rolls around in August.

• However, that’s a few doctors appointments and therapy visits away. So, for now, he is still confined, for the most part, to the bed. But each day we are adding in more time up in the wheelchair. The problem is finding enough things to occupy his time. He has DVR’d all the episodes of “Unwrapped” from Food Network, and he has several new books, plenty of new art supplies, and other various toys, games, etc. that we keep in a basket close by. However, we are open to any fun ideas you can give us.

• We did take him outside one day to get some fresh air. His siblings thought it would be fun to draw off a hopscotch board with sidewalk chalk. Yep it was fun alright. Right up until they remembered he couldn’t play. And he couldn’t sit on the driveway to draw art with the chalk either…..

• Normal summer activities are not so normal anymore. As soon as my brain kicks back in, I’m going to tell it to start thinking outside the proverbial summer activity box. But just in case that takes too long…..I thought I’d solicit (or beg) a few ideas from you fine folks.

• And while you’re at it…..go ahead and send in suggestions for this other current dilemma as well: a picky eater with a broken femur who has already lost 4 pounds since his accident. And he did not even have 4 ounces to lose from his skinny frame.