Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

This is the first Christmas where Jonathan *really* gets it. Since even before Thanksgiving, Jonathan has been asking about presents, and Santa, and decorating the tree, etc. It's been a really fun time!

Our little tree on the dining room table - it's Ethan-proof. It will be another year or two before we can put up the big tree.

Ethan really likes plushies!

Jonathan and his new Caillou toys.

Ethan opening what Santa brought.

The boys going at it.

The boys both got - and LOVED their pillow pets!

Getting exactly what you asked for - priceless.

Captured for posterity - the cornucopia of commercialism and capitalism that is (now become) Christmas.

- bob

Jonathan's Thanksgiving and Christmas Programs

Jonathan had his first performing experience at his preschool in their Thanksgiving program. His class dressed up like pilgrims. They came on stage and gathered as a class. Then all the parents got to come up and take pictures of their kiddos. They were SO cute.

Then once they came off the stage, they paraded around the room in a boat all together.

Once all the classes got their chance to parade around the room, all the classes came back and sang some songs. Jonathan was a little upset by this time and his teacher asked us to come and be with him while he sang the songs. He was able to calm down and do a great job singing. His favorite song was "Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble." Jonathan had come home several times practicing this song and he sure did a wonderful job doing all the motions too. We were so proud of him. Not bad for his first time performing for a crowd!

This was his placemat on the table. The school, 2 years old to Kindergarten, all helped in preparing the meal. It was stone soup, butter, pumpkin bread, and a fruit salad. Jonathan's class made the pumpkin bread and butter. He also brought in some oranges for the fruit salad. The meal was very yummy. This is one of the most popular events that the City Church Preschool hosts from what we understand.

In mid December, Jonathan's school put on a Christmas program. Each class came out and sang some songs and recited a poem or scripture. Each class also prepared a slide show of the kids in their classroom doing things. There was also a school wide slideshow before the program started.

Here are the 3 classes in Jonathan's age group. Here they are singing their songs.

After each class had done their part, all the classes came back on stage to do a school wide song.

Jonathan did such a wonderful job in his Christmas program. He sang all the songs and did all the motions, mostly with a smile on his face. He really looked like he was enjoying himself. We are so proud of him! We were not sure how he would do considering he wasn't very happy during his Thanksgiving program, but he didn't have any tears and really looked like he had fun. Way to go Jonathan! We are SOOO proud of you!

-Dina

Saying Goodbye To Sylvia

Sylvia, better known as Princess to those she adopted, passed away lying down with me today late this afternoon. She was nearing 21 years old (nearing 100 in cat years).

She had been having some difficulties in the last year or two with going outside the litterbox but we more or less had it under control with putting her on Prozac. However, within the last week, she took a dramatic turn for the worse becoming extremely lethargic, not eating, and taking to actually sleeping in her litterbox. We took her to the vet and found her kidneys were shutting down. The vet tried saline/potassium infusions but it didn't help much, and in fact she had another one this morning.

We (the family) were supposed to go to the church Progressive Dinner (an annual Christmas tradition at the church) tonight but as fate would have it, I came down with either food poisoning or some variant of the Norwalk virus. I stayed at home while Dina went with the kids. Not having a good feeling about Sylvia, we put her on the bed with me. I guess I can take some comfort in the knowledge that when she went, she went in her own time (e.g. we didn't have to put her down), at home, and next to me (since 2004, she has actually become *my* cat though she was originally Dina's).

Goodbye Princess. We love you and we miss you.

Sylvia
Feb 1990 - Dec 2010

You were a true and faithful companion

- b

Rest In Peace Sweet Princess

Our cat Sylvia passed away this evening. We lovingly called her Princess because she was after all our little spoiled princess. I would like to think that Sylvia would say that she had a great life with us. We loved her. I met Sylvia 10 or 11 years ago when I moved in with a lady named Susan whom I found when both of us were working at Microsoft. Sylvia was one of two cats in Susan's household, but one day, she came walking into my room and "chose" me over Susan at that point. I felt pretty special that she would pick me. When Bob and I got married and I moved in with him, Susan gave me Sylvia as a wedding present. Bob was not that fond of cats when we got married, but she really grew on Bob. They became good friends. When Jonathan was born, Sylvia really became Bob's cat since I was so preoccupied with a baby. I had always been told by some friends that once you had a baby, a pet gets pushed down the family totem pole. This did happen in our family, but Bob really made sure he spent a lot of time with her when I was so busy with the baby. I am so greatful to Bob for keeping Princess from feeling too left out.

She really was a good kitty. When she died, she was 20 years and 11 months old. We figure she was around 100 years old in human years. We told Jonathan that Princess got sick and went to visit Jesus in Heaven. I don't think he really understands. Ethan is too young to understand.

Good bye sweet Princess. Thank you for being such a loving and faithful companion and friend.

-Dina

Ethan Post Surgery Pics

Pictures of Ethan post-surgery. Long overdue, I know...




- bob

It's Caillou!

One of the things that has captured Jonathan's attention lately is Sprout - a national cable TV channel geared specifically for toddlers and preschoolers. They show a variety of programming that aims to teach kids things like sharing, friendship, basics (such as counting, the alphabet), etc. They show quite a spectrum of shows - some very familiar (Thomas The Tank Engine, Sesame Street), others more obscure (at least to American audiences). One program that has caught Jonathan's attention in particular is Caillou.

Based on the name/spelling and style of animation (reminiscent of TinTin), I assumed it was French and then subsequently translated to English. Some poking around on their website revealed it was in fact of French-Canadian origin. More poking around revealed that they have a live Caillou stage show that travels across Canada and one of the tour stops was Vancouver. Figuring Jonathan would really enjoy it, we got tickets and went up. The show was just this last weekend.

The show as about what I expected. It was an hour (with a 15 minute intermission - most likely for the benefit of the audience/kids rather than the performers) and featured actors dressed in costumes made to look exactly like the characters with backdrops made to look exactly like the cartoon. The plot basically revolved around Caillou (a 4 year old) who entered a poem in a contest and won. The prize was to meet his hockey hero at the Winter-fest. The show encouraged the children to get up and get into the aisles and dance and participate.

Jonathan had a great time and, of course, joined in the fun, dancing and jumping around in the aisle. We had the fortune to have aisle seats (well, the row behind us was empty so we relocated to the aisle seats behind us). Every time Caillou disappeared off stage, Jonathan would always ask me, "Where's Caillou?".

At the end of the show, apparently there were some children that were literally and utterly inconsolable as the show was over and they couldn't see more of their friend Caillou.

(L to R: Rosie, Caillou, Mommy, and Leo)

Jonathan wearing his new t-shirt at the show.

- bob

Sleep Study Results

Ethan's primary pediatrician at Children's once remarked that Ethan is "full of surprises". Case in point: the sleep study. Given that Ethan has mandibular hypoplasia (shortened jaw) and therefore a crowded/tight airway, coupled with his laryngomalacia (basically soft floppy tissue in the larynx), he fully expected to see something in the sleep study results indicating sleep apnea or something similar.

True to form, Ethan pulled a fast one on everyone: his sleep study was perfectly fine! There was nothing abnormal in the readings at all! This actually surprised the doctor quite a bit. In his experience, children that are sent from Craniofacial to have a sleep study almost always have sleep apnea. The fact that Ethan has no signs of it is extremely encouraging.

He believes that Ethan's noisy breathing is most likely due to the laryngomalacia almost exclusively. We have talked to his otolaryngologist about this before and her opinion was that it was not enough of an issue to do anything about. Should it become a larger issue, she said it was basically an in-clinic procedure to simply laser the excess tissue away.

The doctor did note that since he has all these anatomical issues, he will be more prone to developing sleep apnea in the future. On the other hand, since he will continue to grow, it is also possible that as he gets bigger, his airway issues will also improve. So the overall odds of him developing sleep apnea are pretty much 50/50. This is just something we will need to watch for over time (increased snoring, less restful sleep, etc).

The doctor said he would talk with his primary Craniofacial pediatrician about the results. Since the news was entirely good, we expect that today was Ethan's last Children's appointment until the summer of 2011 (at which point he will have a regular Craniofacial followup and a regular eye exam by ophthalmology). At very most, we may have a follow up with his Craniofacial pediatrician but I doubt it since there are no issues to be discussed.

- bob