Seriously it seems like Erica has been ignoring my Dad for about a year and a half. It was the summer of 2009 when he had a long hospital stay and some setbacks with his Parkinson's disease and when he got home it seemed like Erica didn't have the time of day for him. She doesn't usually want to sit with him or talk to him, but would rather find something to play herself or hang out with more energetic relatives like Grandma, Aunt Nette, or Daniel.
This afternoon Dad had a fall and spent a couple hours in the ER getting his head glued back together. I wanted to tell Erica about it before Russell came home because I knew she would overhear me telling him the details and would have her own questions. I asked Erica to come to me so I could talk to her. I said, "Grandpa fell and hurt his head. He's at the hospital getting the doctors to look at it." She was very sympathetic. "He is bleeding and needs a band-aid." (Side note: I guess she thought that was the ultimate luck for Grandpa because she always wants band-aids and I tell her she needs to be bleeding to get one." She had a few more similar comments and then trotted back to her toys.
When Mom and Dad arrived for their visit (celebrating Nanette's birthday), Erica ran to her Grandpa and said, "You got a boo-boo on your head." They had a very meaningful set of exchanges, including Erica saying, "You don't have your glasses no more. You broke them and threw them in the trash."
I asked Dad to tell the story of his fall. He takes a while to tell stories, pausing to remember details and get the right words to flow from his brain to his mouth. Russell and Mom were giggling in the kitchen imitating Erica, "Yeah, yeah, you fell, went to the hospital, now let's have some birthday cake!"
Not happy about more falling, but for some reason this child is more interested in her Grandpa now and seeing them reunited is super!
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