In Which Connor Gets Some Pictures Taken Of His Insides And Wins An Admirer

Jer, Connor and I all slept in this morning, which was lovely and hasn't happened in a while.  The little guy stayed up pretty late last night and didn't have school today, so we figured it wouldn't hurt to let him get a couple extra hours of shuteye in the morning.  And I didn't mind either.  At all.

Connor had a kidney ultrasound done this afternoon, and we should find out the results of that some time in the next week.  The appointment was at Tacoma General, which I believe might have had the dubious honor of being the last major hospital in a forty-five minute radius of our house that we had yet to visit.  The appointment was pretty quick and we were out in less than an hour.

Then it was off to the bookstore, where Connor picked out a reward book.  Jer and I were both starving by this point, so we walked to a little Japanese restaurant a couple of doors down in the strip mall to eat a late lunch.  I'd gotten take out there a couple of times, but we'd never eaten there as a family before.

After she seated us and we requested two cups of tea, our waitress asked us what we would like her to bring Connor.  I'd ordered soup and planned to share a few bites with the little guy, but unless it's something like chocolate pudding or whipped cream he only takes a couple of bites so we usually don't get him a separate bowl or anything.  "Oh, he's good," Jer said, and pointed to Connor's g-tube pump.  "He's already eating."  She looked at the pump for a long second.  Then she hurried off. 

She returned a few minutes later with our food and a long red ribbon.  Then she proceeded to kneel down in front of Connor's wheelchair and fold the ribbon into a rose, which she finished off with a piece of tape and presented to Connor with a smile.  When she saw that wouldn't engage his attention, she hurried off to the back room again and returned with a blue balloon.  She blew it up and twisted it into a dog for the little guy.  She asked us first if it was okay for him to touch the balloon, and didn't seem disappointed or discouraged when he didn't respond to her gentle banter.  

When she saw us signing to Connor, she made sure he could see her and then tried out a few signs of her own-- apparently she'd learned a few from a regular customer.  In between serving other customers, she'd stop by our table periodically and do her very best to entertain the little guy.  She wasn't condescending, she didn't invade his personal space, and she didn't make any pitying remarks. 

Towards the end of the meal she presented him with two tiny, beautifully folded blue and pink origami cranes.  When we were ready to leave she knelt down in front of him again and carefully signed "See you later."  She brought three pieces of candy with our bill.  


We left her a 30% tip.  And I think I'll be discovering a new and intense craving for large amounts of Japanese food in the upcoming weeks. 

~Jess