Suzie Valentine

I biked out to see Suzie today. It was much longer, and a much more treacherous bike ride than I'd expected from the E. Village - not recommended - but I made it. It was nearly 3pm when I arrived - Suzie was flipping channels on the tv and her roommate was having a really bad, and noisy, day. Suzie was very happy to see me and was even more happy once she realized I'd brought a heart-shaped container filled with chocolate-covered candy. She had no issue with turning off the tv then. We each had a chocolate and then I pulled out a bottle of bubbles, which was a big hit. It wasn't easy for her to do, but whenever she did create some bubbles it was well worth the effort. Then, to my surprise, she wanted to play with a Matisse Sticker Book I'd brought. In it there are repos of Matisse collages and on the facing pages there are semi-done repos of those same Matisse collages. Other pages have stickers of the "missing pieces" you can use to FINISH the semi-done Mattise collages. I was afraid the book would be too complex - but Suzie took to it immediately and was very finicky about creating exact replicas of the Matisse collages using the stickers. She really seemed to enjoy it immensely and she was really good at it. Her focus and concentration were pretty intense.

Will McKinley arrived just as we were finishing up with a Matisse rendering and he suggested we head down to the 1st floor dining room, which was an excellent suggestion (away from the moaning roommate). I've never taken Suzie out of her room before, so it was a treat going someplace else, and the 1st floor dining room is a lot less crowded than the 2nd floor. Once there, we got set up at a table and we played "concentration" with some matching cards, and we talked a lot. I left about 5pm and she and Will were still in the dining room chatting about some Jackie Robinson book Will had found.

It was a great afternoon. I had a lot of fun and I think Suzie did too. She really seems to enjoy having things to do and there are quite a few activities out there now to do with her. And she was in a very talkative mood - maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I believe it's because she really enjoys the mental stimulus... and a heart-shaped box of candy doesn't hurt either. Happy Valentine's Day all. kevin