Snow day number four. There were only three built into the schedule, so we’ll have to make this one up (unless the governor gives us a special pardon). They waited to call it until I was showered, dressed, and heading for the door – but that’s better than calling it when I’m already on the road.

Kate Chopin references Fredric Chopin frequently in The Awakening so I checked out several CDs from the library for my students to get the ambiance of the novel. After a nice breakfast I get to listen to Chopin, watch the snow fall, and grade some papers. Life could be worse. Our living room has a huge window looking out into the front yard and up the street to the east, our dinning room has a similar window facing south, so with the curtains open we have nice panoramic views of bundled neighbors scraping their cars amid the swirling snow.

Last night Elliot started to actually play with the toys that ring his mega saucer – previously he’d been content to simply sit among them and admire daddy’s demonstrations of their core concepts – spin the wheel, honk the horn, chew the teething ring, etc.

Bastian is slowly recovering. I’ve done a fair amount of reading on the disorder and it seems like three weeks is the average recovery arc. Yesterday he ate some sandwich meat – his first food since Friday – and managed the back stairs once by himself. He’s still very shaky on his legs and has this odd head tilt that may be permanent. It’s not a stroke but it sure feels like that’s what he’s had. Still, he seems in good spirits and is very happy to see us whenever we return from our various journeys in the world (to buy him more sandwich meat – he won’t eat dry or canned food). He hasn’t barked once since this started – which again makes it feel stroke-like.

Every few hours one of us carries him down the back steps into the yard. The cat wants him to play, and he can’t. It’s all very sad to watch. But we’re hopeful that he’ll make a 90% recovery. Ah well, off to putter.