Sibling Love {Round 4, Day 4}

Sam was so excited for his visitors.

His favorite people - Solly, David and Yael - came to visit today!

We ate leftover donuts from Simchat Torah services

Uncle Josh was already here with Sam!

 Played catch-and-throw (or, in Solly's case, run after the ball)

Looked at the fish...

Unrolled the scroll! Yael was consecrated last night and she wanted to unroll her mini Torah scroll with Sam today. We unrolled the whole thing and sang a few songs to get into the Simchat Torah spirit. I thought it was really great that she wanted to bring this experience to Sam. {Love}

And of course....a few big hugs.

All in the course of about 2 hours. Because that's about all that Solly can handle being at the hospital! It's not exactly almost-2-year-old friendly....too many sharp edges and such. David and Sam and Yael were all a little disappointed by the brevity of the visit.

Sam was bummed when they left but he handled it quite well. We made a new friend today, another 6-year-old who is here for a bone marrow transplant. They played Wii and sword-fighting (nerf swords, don't forget. Two kids with low platelets....oy!) and I took some adorable pictures but I forgot to ask the other mama's permission so you'll have to use your imagination. It was lovely to see Sam playing with this other little guy.

At one point, the other kiddo had to go back to his room for a bit and a different 6-year-old took his place at the Wii game. He didn't really have the same skills and I'm not sure he totally understood what was going on. I was properly pleased to listen to Sam, who hates to lose (his words!), gently teach and explain to this other little guy how to play. In the midst of it all, I'm proud to have him act like a little mensch.

Homework and visits, mail call and a few walks rounded out the day.
We recruited Chaplain Jim to play Keep-away with us today (he's quite tall!) in the skywalk.

 Karen showed Sam how to make an extra-long straw for his drink...

And we had a lot of fun with these glasses that were in a package today.... (Thanks, Shonfelds!)

 

Overall, Sam told me that it was a "good day." He's looking forward to another Wii date with the other kiddo (he happens to be going home tomorrow, but we are pretty sure that there will be one more chance tomorrow) and of course, we continue with chemo and all that fun stuff.

Just keep swimming....just keep swimming.