Happy birthday and racing for Riley

Riley is still feeling very sad and is barely interacting with us. His language has regressed and he pretty much just says "no" and "I don't want it." We talked to the child life counselor, and she says this is a normal coping mechanism. Kids will often regress in different ways. Since Riley is so vocal, he knows that communication is one thing he can control and he's withholding it. These will be the hardest days for Riley who doesn't understand where he is or why he's being kept here. I stayed with him overnight and he slept a lot, but woke up crying several times saying "no, no, no." His vocabulary is slightly more extensive today, at one point he said "I want to say bye-bye" and "I want to go home."

On the plus side, he's drinking a lot of juice and eating crackers, french fries and cookies. When asked if he wants anything he just says "no" so we've stopped asking - he'll usually take what we offer. The child life team brought a Happy Birthday banner, cake and a present. He's not into it so we'll try again later, or tomorrow if necessary. His birthday can wait until he's feeling better.

The Ronde van Brisbeen was this weekend, one of the biggest bike races on my team's calendar and I wish I could have raced with them. The guys have been extremely supportive and a lot of them raced in honor of Riley with photos in their pockets, pinned to their jerseys and taped to their top tubes. (Amazingly there are two other guys on my team with kids with heart defects, one has had surgery and the other has surgery planned for June.) Riley must have brought everyone luck because Peninsula Velo spent a lot of time on the podium - first and second places yesterday, first and thirds today and first, second and fifth places in different categories for the overall omnium. Randy Smith sent this picture. Thanks guys for all of the support and congrats!