Robots

[Esther]

Kevin said they were going down the hall in the hospital and saw this box shaped thing rolling down the hall. Dawn and Braeden were on a gurney as they were taking Braeden for some tests. Mr. Robot was in the middle of the hall and the guy pulling the gurney says to the robot, "GO AROUND." The robot turns and moves to the side of the hall and says, "Going around." I guess Braeden about wet his pants, he was so excited to see a real robot. I guess the robot delivers stuff, maybe mail, to different rooms. Kevin said he later saw several of them parked alongside a room, evidently out of use.

[Teresa]

Wish the news about Braeden was better - hope he and his family manage to have a nice Christmas anyway.  And you too!  All of you deserve at least a little peace and happiness after all you've been thru. 

The robot sounds very cool.  I'm going to tell my daughter about it - she builds robots now and wants to be an engineer in robotics when she grows up.

[Esther]

Thanks Teresa. I suspect Braeden won't be home for Christmas but I don't know. Last year he couldn't come to our bigger family Christmas as he was doing home isolation. So Kevin brought the other kids here and Dawn took the kids to her mom's. I am having a terrible time coming up with gifts for the kids as I bought both older kids new boots when we stayed there. I told them that Grandpa had been layed off from his job and those boots would be their Christmas present. But what kid wants boots for Christmas? Almost as bad as getting underwear. LOL. Last year after helping move Ian from his room upstairs to a room in the basement, I told them that I would NEVER buy them another toy. Ian is 14 so kinda past the toy thing anyway. But toys are the only thing that Braeden is interested in and can use at the hospital. One thing though that I could get him, and that would be either computer games or videos I guess. Every time people come to visit him, they bring him some little toy or book. So he's getting stuff all the time.

Teresa, how old is your daughter? That sounds like a real fun thing to do for a hobby at least.

[Teresa]

I'm so sorry that Braeden won't get to enjoy a nice family holiday.  I certainly hope that the rest of the family can enjoy some kind of a holiday.  I just cannot imagine how difficult all of this is.

How about a good game that they can all play?  That's what we enjoyed as a family when I was a kid.  And a good game can bring the entire family together, if only for a little while.  Another great option that my girls have loved lately is a good puzzle - one with lots and lots of pieces.  Ok - one more thing that my girls really get into is any kind of craft thing - last year they had these little wood kits where they glued the wood pieces together and then painted the resulting model.  I have to say that they both enjoyed making little wooden tanks and then fighting each other with them, but there were also airplanes and birdhouses that they made.

The daughter who is into robots is now 12, but she's been building them for 5 years now.  The other daughter will turn 17 in a few days and is already looking into colleges.  I'm not ready to be this old.