Read or listen
On Tuesdays, Riley has music therapy at the Cleveland Music School Settlement. This has become a special time for Seth and I. We head to the lounge on the second floor, and I give him $0.35. He goes to the vending machine and procures himself a small pack of Juicy Fruit.
He offers me a piece, pops one into his own mouth, and we sit together on a sofa, hunkering down for 45 minutes of reading Indiana Jones together. We’ve made it through Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Temple of Doom, and we’re now half way through Last Crusade. Indy and his father are trapped, tied to a chair. When the room goes up in flames, Seth’s eyes go wide.
When Indy poses as a ticket taker on a huge aircraft, slugs the bad guy, then turns to find the rest of the passengers intimidated and waving their tickets, Seth chuckles. There is a lot of humor in these stories and Seth gets every punch line. However, nothing is more funny to him than when his mother misreads “German soldiers” as “German shoulders.” I don’t mean to do it, but I swear it happens every time.
I used to feel guilty about dragging Seth to all of Riley’s therapies and appointments, but not anymore. These are some of the best one-on-ones we have. Reading, laughing, connecting, looking each other in the eye, chomping Juicy Fruit.
Seth and his mom.
We’ll always have German shoulders.
Brings back memories of taking Tim when Donny had his speech therapy.
There was a gentleman there who had
a tracheostomy and used one of those microphones to speak that made him sound like a robot. He could also do tricks with a quarter. Tim looked for him every time he went with us. He always bought chocolate milk in the hospital cafeteria. We didn’t have any great movies to watch. Enjoy your time with Seth. It goes by so fast. Love you
Welcome back! I loooove the podcast idea, and you do it so well! So glad you are all feeling better, and that you and Seth are making exceptional use of “found” time. xo
Well I’m really genuinely chuffed you’re back blogging – didn’t realise how much I missed you ’til you were back again. 😀
Still think you’re crazy brave home schooling, I just don’t think I could do it full time.
Sounds wonderful!
YAMH
I, too, use those appointments and lessons as a great way to get 1:1 time with my girls. It’s such a relief to know that they’re enjoying themselves instead of complaining about being dragged around.
Seth will remember this forever, and it will help him shoulder the responsibilities of his life, carrying them with joy.
gr8 resrch…
You are a exceptionally smart person!