This Kid is Amazing

This picture was taken right after Charlie kicked off his fourth Maintenance cycle. For a refresher, Maintenance is 12 cycles long, each cycle being 3 months (really 12 weeks) long. The first day of the cycle Charlie is put under and has lumbar puncture for spinal fluid withdrawal and methotrexate injection. The rest of the cycle consists of monthly Vincristine injections, weekly pills and daily pills.

So yesterday morning Charlie had his puncture and chemo, but you wouldn’t know it by his actions. He spent the rest of the day shopping for Daniel’s birthday presents and playing superheroes with Mom. The kid keeps trudging on with such persistence that it has become a challenge for us. We’ve come to expect that he’ll be able to do whatever we throw at him, but there are sometimes when he just shuts down. We have to take a step back at those times and remember “Oh yeah, he has cancer. He’s pumped full of drugs all the time and probably doesn’t feel the best.” I’ve got to think that he probably doesn’t feel good 90% of the time, but he is almost always in a good mood. He has his bad days when all he wants to do is sit and watch movies, but for the most part he participates in every activity that any other kid does. That is why this kid is amazing and that is why he’ll always be a superhero to me.

Daniel's Second Steps

The video is of Daniel's second steps. Chad witnessed the first steps then quickly recorded the second attempt. He is so happy with himself when he walks! Just listen to that excited scream. Now Daniel needs to practice his balance and decide to walk instead of crawl when he wants to get somewhere fast!

Father's Day 2011

Georgetown Loop

For Father's Day, my gift was a family trip to the Georgetown Loop to take a ride on a genuine steam engine driven train. As you can tell from the album, everyone had a fabulous time riding the rail and I enjoyed a great day with the boys. The morning was finished off with lunch and a beer at Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs. Except for coming down with a cold, it couldn't have been a better day. Thank you to Mom for the train ride and thank you to Nana for the lunch.

Daniel's First Birthday

Pre-K and Other News

Yesterday Charlie officially started in his new Pre-K classroom. We are excited for him because this room brings about a lot of new experiences. This year Charlie will get to take field trips. They have plans to go to the zoo and visit some parks. Also, after the Summer session is over and the school year begins Charlie will start to wear uniforms.

Charlie was really excited to move up with some of his close friends to a classroom full of new friends. It was all he could talk about last night and this morning was no different. We are looking forward to an exciting Summer for him and a school year full of new things to learn.
Daniel is still in the infant room, but not for long. He will be moving up to the Toddler room in July. He couldn’t really care less about the move, but Mom and Dad are excited because they will be getting a significant pay raise.

Right now Daniel is a superfast crawler. We have to watch out because he can get from his room to the top of the stairs in about 2 seconds. We are back into the Distract & Corral method of parenting for him . . . it’s been a while. He can also stand by himself for about a minute and he loves to cruise behind his walker.

In other news, the weather has been fantastic for the past couple of weeks. We have probably spent more time outside the house on the weekends than we have inside. We have enjoyed several outside dinners and evenings on the front porch swing. Daniel loves to sit in a lap, swing and watch the neighbors. Charlie has had lots of fun helping us and some neighbors dig in their gardens. The boys also enjoyed a bike trailer trip down to the park last weekend at the expense of Dad’s legs. They have plans to do it again and often.