Cat Naps

First day of school - post surgery.

We're three months down... one month to go until Kyra's body brace can come off for good! On that anxiously anticipated day, the celebrating at our house may be bigger than Kyra's upcoming high school graduation... maybe even bigger than the shin-dig being planned for Christa and Curtis in July.

It's funny how the time since Kyra's surgery seems like one very long day, and forever, and the blink of an eye... all at the same time.  Sometimes I look up from the post-surgical-care-stupor, expecting it to be mid-June, and see the school year in full swing, crops readying themselves for harvest, and Christmas breathing down my neck. A flashback to Rip Van Winkle.  Or an extended series of cat naps.

While Kyra's still restricted to being reclined at no more than 30 degrees, she refuses to stop trying, and never stops smiling.  Maybe that's because she's already doing some pretty awesome things:

• She's going to school two hours a day. She still has an incision wound and threatening pressure sores that require her to be in bed pretty much the rest of the day.
• She's practicing with her Special Olympics bowling team once a week.  Both of her shoulders and both of her arms are already steadier and stronger than they were before her surgery. This week, she bowled 116 and 76 (no bumpers allowed in Special Olympics)!  Maybe she's right-handed after all.
• She's using the GoTalkNow communication app on her iPad more independently. She's initiating conversations, answering questions, and combining concepts that even non-experienced helpers can understand.

She's also helping her sister pick out her wedding dress, assisting me with our new preschool Sunday School class, training new respite staff, doing evening chores with Dad... and sleeping.

This last accomplishment is one of the biggest. Kyra rarely sleeps for more than 90 minutes at a time.  I can count on one hand the number of times she has slept through the night since she's been born (these dates have gold stars on my calendar). But as she heals, she sleeps more comfortably, more soundly, and more deeply. Two or three or four hours at a stretch.  I often wake up in a panic after an hour or so, and have to check that she's still breathing.

Whit and Crosby. Professional Cat Nappers.

If this trend continues, Kyra and I will have to figure out what to do with this new source of renewable energy.  I'm sure there are plenty of worthy causes just waiting to help us use up our waking hours.

I'll miss the cat naps, though.

Peace.