His thumb.

For most of the day today, Oakes was awake, alert and happy...I was in heaven. Oakes was very alert, and very engaged with anything that I put in his line of sight, new sounds and voices coming into the room. He was turning his head form side to side and moving his legs like I have not seem do in weeks. His left arm has a huge almost cast on it. He has a line in that arm so his arm is entirely wrapped and protected. Those fingers are within a little plastic encasement so his arm is like a big club right now. His right arm is free of lines, so it has none of the extras. Since he is intubated, that arm is usually restrained. It gets moved around and repositioned, but it is always tied down. Today, however, his sweet nurse Patty agreed that if I stood there and policed this vent tube, that we could remove the restraint. I was up for the job, and Oakes loved it. He was flailing that arm around like crazy. He did grab onto the vent tube a few times, but didn't come close to pulling on it. For awhile he was working on getting his thumb in his mouth and I was even trying to help him, but it never quite made it. When I left the room to head home, Oakes had found a compromise, his curled up fist was resting on his mouth like he was sucking that thumb!

My sweet, sweet Oakes!

XOXO, Beck