I can't seem to scoot these photos below the words, so they will stay on top! Today Austin was able to "jump up" on the bottle at the play area. He was so proud. He made it b/c I took his socks off...shhh, don't tell mom!!
I had the best day with Austin today. My first day off and he and I went by the dollar zone, bought lots of things for my STLP and I told him he could have one thing. He found a cool sword in a sheath and that's all he asked for. He bought one for Matthew as well. Matthew and Maggie went to the doctor today with Becky. After the store, we took muffins to mamaw and papaw and visited for a very short while.
I know the visits with dad will be among the last we have. He may linger on, but each day he looks weaker. As you know, we played Rook twice a week for the past two years or so. About two weeks ago, he played but wasn't himself. Then last week, he said he didn't feel like playing. This week he didn't either. So, we may have played our last game of Rook with mom and me against dad and Kent. It was a fun time just sitting next to dad for so many games. I could pat his hand or his knee or pick up a dropped card for him over and again. I could laugh at the times he made "small one line jokes" about his hand. He remains funny to this day.
On Monday, his foot was swollen and red. The girls went by earlier in the day and mom said they think it may be gout (how do you spell that...does it have a silent "h" or something??) Anyway, when I came in and he saw me, he said "I'm charging a dollar a look"....although many days I needed to get home and do a little cleaning, or cooking, I truly tried to remember that those things could wait, but my time with him may not. Both Martha and Beverly are very good at this as well, so none of us will have to worry that we should have been there more often. For each of us, our dad truly is the best. When we count our blessings this Thanksgiving Day, we have that on the top of our Thanksgiving lists, I'm sure.