Recovery

James lies on his Mother's lap. The two of them are on the couch with a stack of books beside them. They've been working their way through Frog and Toad books all morning. J will finish one, and James will ask in his raspy post-cold voice to have another one read to him. Finally they reach the end of the last book and James snuggles down into her arms. She looks up at me in surprise.

He's hardly ever openly affectionate, and even less frequently will he be held and snuggled just for the pleasure of it. She strokes his hair and face as he smells Steven bear and smiles up at her. His eyes are big and full of expression. She looks over at me, then back down at him.

"James?"
"Yes, Mommy?"
"What are you thinking about?"

He's quiet for a moment, then looks up at her with a loving smile.

"Eating."
"Oh?" What are you thinking about eating?"
"A jelly sandwich."
"No peanut butter? Just bread and jelly?"
"Yeah."
"What are you going to have for your vegetable?"
"A cucumber."
"We don't have cucumber. How about a carrot?"
"Green beans."
He climbs up on top of the couch.
"Hey, do you know how to be up here?"
"I see you're up there."
"I'm going to roll off onto you."

He does this multiple times.

I guess he's getting better.