Twins and Jetpacks

One of the twins trying to break into the forbidden computer

Daniel asleep from a story I told him

Maya and the jetpacks: silver painted 2 liter pop bottles rigged in a harness A favorite with the boys in her school

Josh and Allie at lunch today. It's her 6 month birthday

Maya at school

The wonder twins and I

Despite my life of leisure, I still find myself busy with too much undone. I went with Naomi and Don'tae the other day to school for a teacher conference concerning Maya. It wasn't as elaborate as the IEP meeting a few months ago with all the specialists weighing in with their opinions and setting goals: this time, only the head teacher was there. Basically she is still far behind where she should be but is making a lot of progress. As her skillset is very similar to 4 year old Josh's only with better enunciation, I am not too concerned. She also needed to be enrolled for the next year, which the process was unduly difficult and impossible for Naomi to understand on her own. There is a possibility of her going to the local school for preschool, no long bus trips, but she would not have the support staff there so she will stay put with hopefully the same teachers.

Wednesday night: dinner with a good friend. I return to find Steve in his annoyed mode and Naomi in our house doing laundry. She managed to break, probably by overloading it, a washer that we had bought about 18 months for her.

Still spring is a disappointment. A veneer of ice coated everything Thursday. Today: mid 30s but the shoulders are finally clear enough for me to run out into the country. So many deer carcasses! The vultures just returned last week: plenty for them to eat.

Recently a neighbor posted in FB guidelines for visiting Stage 4 cancer patients in treatment: basically remembering how easily fatigued they get  so don't overstay your welcome (and you have to be welcomed: no drop bys) and how easily they can become infected due to probably suppressed immune systems. If you have been exposed to any disease recently, don't come. Wear clean clothes: not just clothes that look clean because you haven't spilled anything yet but any clothes that have been in public, especially not worn to hospitals or daycare centers or even supermarkets as infective agents may be hitching a ride. No false cheer (you can beat this!), no morbid stories, etc. So this neighbor and I communicate by email and FB even though our doors are less than 50 feet apart. I don't want to disturb her husband with stage 4 prostate cancer. I kept these guidelines in mind when the sweet lady from my cooking class and yoga invited me to lunch yesterday to meet her now one year old twin girls. One baby is a lot of work as it is but two when you have Stage 4 BC!!! Fortunately she has plenty of  help. Her mom stays one month on, one month off. Her 6 siblings take turns the rest of the time. She has a nanny during the day that changes diapers so basically all she needs to do is watch and love her precious little girls. I felt that I should have brought the lunch but she said she had plenty of energy to make it. She is between chemo treatments right now. No tumor progression, so that is good and her markers are down, also good. But she will need treatment for the rest of her life. Hopefully they will keep finding treatments that keep extending her life. She is only slightly older than Shanna. I like her a lot despite  the differences in our ages and cultures, we find plenty to talk about. We clicked immediately. The little girls have stranger anxiety and eyed me suspiciously for the first hour. I took a picture of one and asked if she wanted to see her picture: she came running over demanding to be picked up so she could see my phone. As it turns out, she isn't allowed to see screens (TVs, phones, computers) but she jumps at the chance to see one even if it means having to face down a scary lady. Eventually her smaller sister warmed up to me too.

Afterwards I visited Shanna and her kids as they live just a few miles away.

We took a walk with Josh and Allie today along the river. Coots and Buffleheads were in the river, which I had not seen before there. And so many swans! More and more each year. And then out for bento boxes.

And both UM and MSU have survived by the skin  of their teeth to the Final 8.