Clone wars.. Day 329 07OCT09

Joshua has been saving up his money for something special and today he went and got it. He decided he wanted to buy the new clone wars game for his Nintendo DS and Renee took him up to the store to pick it up. I swapped his thirteen odd dollars of change for paper money so they would be able to check out some time this year. At the store Renee stood back while he pointed it out to the clerk in the case and then payed for it with his own money. He was pretty proud of himself when he got back home.

The rest of the day was consumed with school work, a hot ride on their bikes, and just general messing around. Just another normal day in our un-normal world. We like it like that...

Cookies.. Day 328 06OCT09

Joshua and Jarrod made cookies this evening. Jarrod is doing a school project of Denmark home of LEGO which is why he chose it in the first place. Part of his assignment was to prepare and eat something from Denmark, he chose cookies. Not really surprised although fish was his second choice but that involved actually procuring said fish. Cookies could be made from ingredients we had on hand. Unfortunately the recipe turned out not to be a very good one and the cookies were sadly a failure. Josh being the helpful, sometimes steroid infused, child that he is volunteered himself to help "clean up".

The result? We try another recipe tomorrow, fish sounds pretty good... Now to figure out how to get the tooth marks out of that spatula.

Riding high.. Day 327 05OCT09

Joshua is riding high today. He got up this morning and headed off to the clinic for his weekly CBC. We always approach Mondays with a little apprehensiveness, we never know what his counts might be. Today was a great day! His ANC is up to 3100 and all of his other markers are good and high. What a welcome relief from the usual borderline numbers. The doctors have made some adjustments to his meds dosing and it seems to be making a difference.

The rest of the day was his normal routine. Homework, playing with his brother etc... He even managed to get in another bike ride with Jarrod before dinner. Unfortunately our visit from Mr. Fall was only a day visit. The temp is back up in the 90's and it is still hot outside. We are all hoping for cooler days soon.

So we can start this week on a high note and not worry quite as much about germs or the odd fall. Life is better right now...

Bike ride.. Day 326 04OCT09

Joshua rode his bike today.

Actually he went out and disinfected it first, he wanted it to be clean before he took it out of the garage. When he was properly suited up with elbow and knee pads along with his helmet Renee and I walked him down to the street and stayed to watch him closely. Why the big deal and all the fanfare you might ask after all a seven year old tiding his bike is no big deal, right?

It is when you consider that this is the first time Joshua has ridden his bike in almost a year. He rode it the last time this past October because he was not feeling well, he had the flu that was going around. Except it turned out not to be the flu. It was cancer. Since then he has either been incapable of doing things or we have had him ensconced in our safety and germ fighting driven world. Today we relaxed the grip a little and let our little guy be a normal seven year old for a while.

So today we celebrated and chewed our fingernails while our brave and strong little boy pedaled his bike up and down the street in front of the house. Both of us silently flinching with each little bobble dreading a fall or a scrape. Both of us with a tear of hapiness in the corner of our eye.

Remember to celebrate the everyday, the little things, for they are in fact colossal and powerful. We do...

Cute is good... Day 325 03OCT09

Joshua had another good day today. He helped with chores around the house and then played for awhile. He is feeling pretty good and seems to have his "cute" attitude back. The "mean" prednisone attitude seems to have disappeared again for the next 23 days or so.

Daddy got to take some time this evening and go to a Metallica Concert. I guess the saying is true that with old age comes wisdom because Lee definitely remembered to take his ear plugs. Never would thought of doing that when we were teenagers even though our parents warned us!! I was just glad that when he called saying he was on his way home he wasn't screaming into the phone!

Joshua was craving the crab legs tonight so a special meal was prepared for a table of one! He enjoyed every bite and even shared some with Jarrod!

Counting... Day 324 02OCT09

Joshua had a very lazy morning playing computer games and Pokemon on his DS, while I decided to get some much needed sleep and not get out of bed until 11. Sometimes you just need to take a break from it all. After lunch the boys worked on schoolwork and then fun in the afternoon outside for a little while. Joshua had a great day, feeling refreshed. Even as I write this he is standing here waiting for me to put him to bed. He seems to be full of energy and unfortunately wide awake! It's 11:30 at night and he is discussing plans with daddy. He is watching and counting the days until he sees his Nonna and Uncle Eric, Aunt Allyssa and new cousin Dylan. He is also counting the days until we go to LegoLand.
Fortunately for us they are close together!

Chocolate Captain Crab... Day 323 01OCT09

We had a special visitor today. Fall stopped by for a visit. The weather was almost perfect and we spent almost the entire day outside doing yard work, playing, and just plain relaxing.

Joshua had a few prednisone issues today and wound up crashing about 4:00 this afternoon. It has been three days since he got vincristine so that may be what has him so run down. Before he went to sleep he made sure to let Renee know exactly what he wants to eat. He was very insistent about the particular items so while he was asleep she ran up to the store to get an offering for the prednisone monster: crab legs; cap'n crunch cereal; chocolate milk. So we have decided to name Joshua's new dish chocolate captain crab. He won't actually eat them all together, at least I think he won't, at the same time or even the same meal. But, maybe...