Day +631: Back to the routine

The family arrived back in San Francisco late on Tuesday, and are now pretty much back into our regular routine. The kids were of course thrilled to be back in their house. They've been pretty entertained most of the week just reacquainting themselves with all of their toys. Isaac was asking "Where's Grandma" or Grandpa or Auntie Teri or everyone else for the first couple of days. That seems to have died down a bit, but he is definitely still asking about the pilot. In the van on the way home from the airport, Mina said she wanted it to be just Momma and Dadda and Isaac for a while. And her school friends. But then a few minutes later she asked "Can I go and visit Grandma please?"

She went right back to school first thing Wednesday morning, and as Keri was walking her down the steps she said "I'm 'cited!" She loves her school and she missed her friends. Her friend Maddie had apparently missed her too, because Wednesday afternoon she told her parents she wanted to see Mina. They called Keri and Maddie ended up coming to our house for a few hours.

Mina keeps asking Keri if she can go to a dance class. We had talked about it some, but I think Keri had decided she wanted to keep them both in the Music Together class because Isaac enjoys so much watching the teacher play guitar and they can be in it together. Isaac would have to go to a different dance class, and adding a second class to the schedule would be tough logistically and financially. But Mina has been so politely persistent that now we're trying to figure out if there's a way we can do it. She hasn't stopped wanting to wear tutus and leotards ever since we went to the childrens' production of the Nutcracker a month ago.

We did have a great time in the Northwest over the holidays. The kids really love and have bonded with all of their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. The last thing we did was a trip to Winthrop in North Central Washington to go cross-country skiing. It's 2-3 hour drive from Wenatchee, and Grandma and Grandpa go a few times a year. Kari, Steve and Carmen went too and Grandma and Grandpa rented a 3-bedroom condo. It was really nice to have everyone together for a 3-day weekend. Mina and Carmen had their moments -- Carmen is almost three years older than Mina, and Mina just really doesn't get it when Carmen doesn't want to play with her every moment of every day -- but I'm sure their only memory will be of how fun it was. Kari and Steve said Carmen had been really excited and was talking about how she was going to be more patient with Mina and Isaac because she knows they mean well and they're a lot younger than her, etc. Then one time at Christmas when Carmen was being impatient, Kari reminded her of what she had said. Carmen's reply was "But they're worse than I remembered!"

Both Mina and Isaac tried cross-country skiing. Isaac tried on a pair of strap-on skiis and went about 50 feet before he'd had enough and wanted in the sled. Mina couldn't get herself started on Saturday and ended up in the sled pretty much right away as well, even though she'd been excited and talking about it. The sled is called a "pulk", and it consists of a large plastic toboggan with a little seatback so the kids can lean back, and a zip-on cover made of clear plastic so they could see out but stay warm. Mina was singing "Hi Daddy! Hi Daddy! Hi Daddy! Hi Auntie Kari!" for about 10 minutes, and then all of a sudden I noticed it was quiet, and both kids were totally passed out. We ended up skiing nonstop for about 2 hours because I didn't want to stop and risk them waking up. I wasn't moving real fast pulling 75 lbs of kid in a sled, but it was fun anyway and definitely good exercise. The kids liked it -- Isaac is still talking about how he likes to ride the pulk. But Sunday Mina kept saying "I'm going to ski, and I'm not going to cry, even a single drop!" And sure enough, she probably skiied a kilometer. We had a nice flat track with a slight downhill trend, and Auntie Kari skiied right with her, holding her hand for both the ups and the downs. Kari had Mina saying "Chugga chugga chugga" and "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." When they came to a little downhill they were "Fast girls! Fast girls!" Mina did great, and she was so proud of herself.

It was cold when we were up there, below zero at night and probably 5 degrees or so when we were skiing. It wasn't much problem for adults, because cross-country gets the blood flowing pretty good, but we were a bit worried about the kids. So we bundled them up in two layers of silk and wool long underwear, fleece pants and jacket, and then a snow suit over it. Both kids had hats and the hood from snow suit on, and double layers of mittens and socks. We also had a sleeping bag that we covered them with when they were in the pulk, plus the pulk cover zips up. They were quite toasty. Mina of course wanted to wear her leotard, so finally Keri ended up putting it on over her blue snow suit. It was the kind with a little tutu attached, so you could see the pink tutu sticking out from under her blue ski coat while she was skiing. She was so bundled up she looked like a little blue marshmallow man with a pink tutu, skiing along with her little poles going like crazy.

We had a little crisis Sunday night when we were trying to get Mina down: we had left Lily in the back of the pulk! Lily is the new baby Santa left for Mina on Christmas Day. Lily laughs and cries and says "Momma" and "I love you". Mina named her Lily, and she has become the first doll that really rivals Waah Baby for Mina's affection. We were afraid we had another Waah Baby situation on our hands that night, but we called first thing in the morning and they found her. Mina was very excited for Lily to see her new house. I had totally forgotten by that time that Lily had never been here, but not Mina. She was also excited to introduce Lily to her school friends, so she brought her to school with her the first day.

As for Isaac, he did some bonding with trucks over the holiday. We went to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Kaminsky (Keri's maternal grandparents), who have a very cool red fire truck. It left a big impression on Isaac, because for the next five days he kept saying "I want to go back to Great Grandma and Grandpa's house." "Why?" "Because I don't like this house." "Why not?" "Because I want to go to Great Grandma and Grandpa's house." "Why?" "Because they have a fire truck." Grandma Judy and Grandpa Monte also have a little plastic cement mixer truck that isn't as neat as the fire truck, but we had to bring that Winthrop with us and Keri had to put in in Grandma and Grandpa's car when Isaac wasn't looking. Then when he realized we weren't going back to their house, he cried and cried and said "No! I want the truck, I WANT THE TRUCK!!!"

We had a great trip and it always feels like the kids grow up a lot on these trips. It's nice to be home and back into the routine, but everyone still has kind of a glow about them. We're already looking forward to the summer.

Day +617: Snowy fun in the great Northwest

Blogging from Anta Teri and Uncle Pole's house to say Happy New Year everyone! I spent the week in San Francisco waiting to be called for jury duty. Luckily my group was one of three out of fifteen that didn't get called in. I say "luckily", because I had a huge report to finish by Thursday, and I was in the office every night until 10 PM as it was. Not sure what I would have done if I'd had to spend the day at the courthouse. Keri and the kids split the week between Auntie Kristi's and here. It's always fun to see the kids after it's been awhile. They spent hte day at Grandma Lyn's with Zane and Zoe so I expected them to be distracted by the cousins, but Mina gave me a big smile and a huge hug and said "I haven't seen you in a long time!", and Isaac said "You're Daddy!" Then "Hi Daddy!" over and over again. This week we'll be here until Tuesday or Wednesday, then will head over to Wenatchee, weather permitting. Next weekend we'll be in the Winthrop area for a cross-country ski weekend with Mom, Dad, Kari, Steve and Carmen.

The kids have been having a ball this Christmas. Zoe is three months older than Mina, and they're quite compatible, so they're becoming very close. They both like babies and playing Mommie and schoolteacher. Zoe is a sweet girl. She has more experience in daycare and a 7-year old brother, so she's a bit rougher than Min, but our girl can hold her own pretty well. Mostly the friction comes when Zoe has had enough and wants some time to herself, which Mina doesn't understand. Mina wants to be with her all the time. I really didn't see a lot of Mina when we were all in Idaho.

We had a lot of snow in my parents' back yard, and the whole time we were in Idaho. We have great, hand-me-down snow suits so the kids could be out in it for a long time and never get cold. We went sledding down a big hill in Wenatchee. Mina and Carmen loved it, Isaac not so much. He's a bit young to enjoy speed, and when he went down with Keri, he said "Mommie go too fast". We found a great sledding hill in Idaho with a run out onto a frozen lake where people were ice fishing. I started halfway down the hill with Isaac, and when we first started off he said "Too fast. TOO FAST!" But when we reached the bottom and were coasting out onto the lake, he said "Whee! That's fun Daddy!" I asked it if was too fast, and he said "No, not too fast." Zane and Zoe wanted to go again and again, but Mina and Isaac were satisfied after two runs each.

Mina's favorite thing is to eat the snow. It's funny, whenever she talks about eating the snow, she does this smacking thing with her lips. When we got to the sledding park in Idaho, the first thing she said was "What me gonna eat, smack smack?" So we gave her a big piece of crusty snow, as clean a piece as we could find, and she munched off it for an hour.

Mina keeps demonstrating how incredibly social she is. She really would not leave Zoe alone, being a bit pesty at times I think. When the family arrived back in Lake Stevens, Grandma Lyn took them to meet a friend of hers who runs a day care. They visited during the day, at the daycare, and Mina was taking part in all the activities with the kids, including having lunch. After lunch, the kids all got ready for their naps, and Lyn and Keri were getting ready to go. Mina insisted on lying down for a nap with the kids! She's been a bit short on sleep and is consequently kind of a challenge to deal with, and when Lyn's friend said it was OK if she stayed, they took Isaac and left Mina behind. They were kind of hoping Mina would nap, but she only laid down for 10 minutes and then was a bit sad, but the teachers played with her for the rest of naptime.

Isaac got two gifts for Christmas that have been a bit frustrating to him: a small toy motorcyle and car. "Santa" brought Isaac the motorcycle, but she must have been feeling extremely generous because it's a police motorcycle that makes all kinds of noises, including a siren, the motorcyle engine noise, and playing the theme from "Cops". That's kind of an uncharacteristic gift from Keri Claus, Isaac loves it. The only problem is, he wants to ride it, and it's way too small. Same thing with the car. It's a small toy car, but Isaac doesn't quite understand relative size yet so he's really mad that he can't get in the car. At least he can sit on the motorcycle, even if it's too small to actually take him anywhere, but there's not really anything to be done with the car. It's funny to think that the kid who communicates so well about so many things wouldn't understand such a basic thing about the world, but that's what they say. I remember when Mina was about the same age, she really thought the characters in books should be real, and sometimes she wanted to go into the picture in the book.

We did bring Isaac's guitar with him, so he's had it everywhere this Christmas. He's now letting go of it and playing with lots of other stuff, though it took him a few days to get to that point. There's so much distraction here, it's not too surprising, though he did pick it up a couple of times when he was tired and in his own zone and had a "concert". It will be interesting to see how his relationship with it evolves after we get back home away from all the excitement.

But I'm saving the best news for last: I got a message from the bone marrow team at UCSF on Thursday, and Mina's engraftment study came back 100% donor! It's such a relief. It had been on my mind, just because I worry about every little thing with Mina. Wondering why she's so tired (because she played hard all day and didn't nap, of course), worrying if she looks pale (her natural skin tone is nearly translucent), worrying about the bruises on her legs (which may be exacerbated by her skin tone, and also the aspirin she still takes daily). All normal things, but I can't help worrying, just the same. So it's really nice to be able to relax a bit and take some comfort that she's doing great. But it's always challenging whenever those test results are pending, and I felt myself totally tensing up when I heard Linda's voice on the voice mail, and then tearing up when she gave us the good news. I think the next engraftment study will be in April, around her two-year anniversary. I'll probably be back to worrying some time in February.