People often ask “How is Sam doing with all of this?”

He’s doing okay! We try to follow a routine, and he’s been here to visit every day. Some days are better than others.

He’s had more stomach aches lately. I’m pretty sure it’s anxiety that he’s feeling in his tummy (but it doesn’t help that he often chugs milk when he is upset). There was another time recently, before I came into the hospital, when he got a stomach ache shortly after being visibly embarrassed. He was playing on the ottoman, and Patches was sitting on the couch. He made a movement in which he looked like he was about to jump onto Patches, and we all said “Oh! Don’t do that!” I saw his lip quiver, and then he tried to run away to cry. We, of course, reassured him that everything was okay — we were just watching out for him. About an hour later, when we tried to put him down to sleep, he started wailing about his stomach. “Did you eat something strange? Is it sharp pain? Do you need to fart or poop? Did you eat too many cashews?” None of that got us anywhere. Finally, after about 15 minutes of wailing, I said “Sam, are you still upset about Patches?” He nodded, and after a few minutes of talking about it more, he stopped crying and finally went to bed. That was the first stomach ache, and I felt like we were able to help him make sense of what he was feeling.

He’s had more frequent stomach aches since I’ve been here too. ❤️ He had another one tonight while we were FaceTiming before his bedtime. We said, “do you miss mommy?” He nodded. Poor buddy. He’s doing a great job, all things considered.

He likes to follow a routine when he visits. Ride in a wheelchair. Come to my room immediately to play with his toys. Eat my snacks. Look at the fish in the waiting room fish tank. Play with the drinking fountain. Eat waffle fries (I guess we’ve given up on healthy food). Buy candy bars (aka chocolate mints) from the cafe. Sit outside, watch the boats go by, and eat the candy bars. Usually after about 45 minutes, he wants to go home. One day, we tried to not follow the routine by going outside right away, and he immediately wanted to go home. 🙁

We let him pick out some new, hospital-exclusive toys before I came here, which I think helps. It gives him something unique to play with and something to look forward to.

We’ve been scouting the hospital for fish tanks, which entertained us for a few days. We found a bunch on the patient floors off of the Cascade elevators. I keep hoping we’ll find a really big one someday, with sharks and sting rays. Recently, though, we’ve settled on just checking out the fish tank on my floor. It’s not the most exciting fish tank — it only has 6 fish, but it’s enough for him.

Next to the fish tank is a drinking fountain. It’s cute to watch Sam stand on his tippy toes to try to use it. Today we pushed a small step stool over so he could stand well above the drinking fountain. This entertained him for awhile — first he played with the short drinking fountain and then, since he had the step stool, the tall one!

We have weekly craft activities here in the hospital, and last week we decorated light switch covers. I thought maybe I’d put it in the baby room, but Sam wanted it (duh! What was I thinking?). Erin put it on his light switch that night, and he was SO excited. For months, we’ve been putting duct tape over his light switch every night. This first started as a way to stop him from turning the lights on at night, but evenutally this just became part of the bedtime routine. Turn off the light and put the tape back. We finally kicked the duct tape habit with the new light switch cover. We gave him a choice: duct tape or new light switch cover. He chose the latter.

Since he was so excited about that, I decided that I will give him all my weekly hospital crafts. Why stop there? I also made him a crochet ice cream cone toy, and I’m working on a weaving project for him — a cow! (his request) I hope these things make his tummy ache feel a little bit better.