Lucas Camilo

Despite the sweltering heat (which Lucas is NOT a big fan of), we’ve managed to get out for a few short trips recently.  On Sunday morning – with the heat index foretasted to be over 110 degrees in the afternoon – we packed our gear up early and attempted to beat the crowds to Washington DC’s tiny “National Aquarium.”  It’s not much more than a big basement with some fish tanks, but Lucas was totally captivated.  He did the “fish” and “turtle” signs about a thousand times, and then we tried to guess what the sign was for “alligator.”

This morning we took him to his first ever “story time” at the Mt. Pleasant library up the street.  Victor and Krista took Lucas, and they rolled his stroller right up to the circle of about 30 toddlers.  The kids (and especially their parents and caregivers) were taken aback by Lucas’s equipment at first, but we got to make a special announcement showing off our suction machine, and that seemed to be enough to calm most people’s curiosity.  Lucas doesn’t exactly love to have a crowd around him singing and clapping, so he cried through the first half of story time and pleaded to go.  But when we backed up a little and positioned ourselves where he could see the ceiling fans better, he calmed down and even made small “cat” and “duck” signs along with the story the librarian was reading.  By the time it was over a number of the kids came over to say goodbye.  Lucas’s tears had dried by then, and he even raised his hand to wave small goodbyes.

The arrival of late summer means transitions around our house.  Florence left with her family for a month in Uganda, so today Lucas is getting to know a new nurse.  His therapists are also taking vacations, so he’s had less visitors to the house recently – meaning he has more time in his calendar for people to come play or read books.  Meanwhile, tomorrow is Burke’s last day at Center for Community Change, the (day) job he’s been at for the past year and a half.  Finally, Krista is off this weekend to Minneapolis to attend the MTM-CNM Family Conference.  We’ll be sure to report on that adventure next week.