Lucas Camilo

On the home front, Lucas and Burke had a good weekend in Washington DC – Krista was missed, but support from nurse Florence on Thursday and Friday allowed Burke to make it to work and meetings, and left the entire weekend for some quality time.  Nice weather in the mornings allowed them to lay out on the front lawn — swinging in the tree while battling mosquitoes — and some visits from friends gave Burke the occasional respite from non-stop book reading.  Lucas was in good spirits throughout the weekend and he (mostly) enjoyed the cranked up selections from Burke’s vinyl record collection (the harder-core punk rock sometimes got the “all done” sign.)  Whenever Krista called he would do the sign for “mommy” (thumb touching chin with fingers extended) and smile broadly.  He also learned to kiss his favorite new mini-stuffed ducky on the beak, which is pretty funny to watch.

Lucas made a lot of noise over the weekend too.  He isn’t always in the mood to verbalize but his voice is getting louder when he decides to pull it out.  He often tries to verbalize words for animals when he makes a particular sign.  He can now speak emphatically the words “hi,” “in,” “on,” and “aaat” (for cat).  He also tries to say dog, which comes out as “nooooan” while he pats his thigh to make the sign for dog.  It is ridiculously cute.

Thanks to everyone for the outpouring of love and support (this is Krista writing again) in response to the post about my dad.  I had an amazing trip to Jackpot, and it felt wonderful to travel with all your support — texts and emails and calls and letters and comments on the blog.  The place was stunning, with wide-open, huge-sky beauty.  I traveled there with my uncle Bill and aunt Becky, my cousins Garrett and Nolan, and family friends Rogelio and Gloria.  Rogelio worked closely with my dad for nearly 15 years, and he built a cross to put at the sight of the crash shortly after my dad died.  So part of the trip was about finally placing the cross (which is featured in my pictures from the trip).  Visiting the place of his crash brought me a sense of peace that I hadn’t expected.  The northern Nevada plateaus were so lovely that who knows, maybe we’ll take Lucas one day.