I may be the only person in the U.S. who hasn’t read all the Harry Potter books and who hasn’t seen all the movies, but I took the kids to see the latest one today. I didn’t pretend to know what was going on, the kids liked it and that’s all that matters. The consensus seems to be that Kevin wants to be Harry Potter, Rachel wishes Hogwarts was real, and Alex, Alex wants the girl that plays Hermione. Given his apparent penchant for older girls, I am not surprised. He was not amused when I pointed out she is older than the girl I will not allow him to see, and he’s still not dating until he’s 16.

After the movie I took the kids to see Char and they spent most of the afternoon there. Kevin brought a deck of cards and roped everyone into his version of poker, in which a pair of twos beats a pair of jacks, unless he’s holding the jacks, in which case they are wild. Everyone gets 5 cards, but he gets 6, because the youngest player is allowed an advantage. I blame this on my father. Before he died he spent quite a bit of time trying to teach my kids to gamble, in spite of my protests, and he tended to make up his own rules, too.

Brad picked them up and they’re spending the night with him. It gives Dack and Theresa a break from babysitting (although they are not babysitting Alex, they are merely his backup. This is his official version.) Because they’re with their grandfather I didn’t feel too bad about staying late at the hospital and Char wanted me there. Even with the rehab from hell this morning, after a nap she felt like wandering the halls and waited until the kids were gone. We went to the cafeteria for dinner and then found a fairly nice waiting room that had a big screen TV and a sofa instead of those hard chairs you usually find.

The bonus here was watching Char move herself from the wheelchair onto the sofa. It wasn’t easy and I know it was painful but I think she mostly wanted to prove to me that she could do it. And fark yes I was impressed. Double bonus: (roll your eyes all you want and I’ll shake the sand out of my vag later, BUT) this was the first time we’ve been able to sit together and I’ve been able to just hold her. I got whacked by the arm cast a few times but she wasn’t as uncomfortable as she’s been lately, and she hasn’t had to take as much Percoset today. Downside: an escalating level of frustration. Use your imagination.

Tomorrow the leg brace comes off and she’ll try to walk without it. I’m frankly a little weirded out by the idea of her walking on a broken leg but I’ve been assured by more than one person that because of the rods that this is normal. I think they’re going to seriously push her over the weekend and if they’re convinced she’s ready for private rehab and if they’re convinced I am on board with the program and won’t turn into some sniveling enabler, she’ll be able to go home.

I don’t think that will help the frustration level any, but I’d rather be frustrated with her at home than in the hospital. And fark, women, you people can be mean about it sometimes.