Happy Sabbath

Sometimes I think that vacations with children is a misnomer. We have been in Whistler Canada all week. We are having a nice time, but we are very tired. Chantel does not sleep well away from home. She does fine with the activity throughout the days, but at night she is restless and insecure and wants the security and comfort from mommy all night. Waking up every 15 minutes is not unusual for her.

When we got here last Sunday it was extremely hot. I think it was close to 100 degrees. It continued to be hot through Wednesday and we went to the pool everyday. The resort has a water slide that Sharmi has loved. She has gone down it a couple of times by herself but the rest of the time she has wanted Mommy or Daddy to go with her. We have also gone down it with Mommy and the two girls, which took talent to throw Sharmi to Daddy at the bottom in time so that I could hold sister up out of the water. A couple times I wasn’t balanced or coordinated enough and one of the girls went under. They both have been great sports though. The last trip to the pool Sharmi decided that all four of us should go together. There are advantages to not being in the united states. They would never let us all pile up like that in the states. Our first day at the pool Dean asked Sharmi if she was has having a fun time, as they were waiting their turn at the top of the water-slide, Sharmi said, “Uh huh, I think am going to remember Whistler for a long long time.” It is those memories that make sleepless vacations worth it!

It has been much cooler the last couple of days and today it is raining. I have been reminded to be careful what I wish for. We are hoping it clears up a little this afternoon, or we may just embrace the wet and go swimming anyways. We were hoping to take a gondola ride to the top of the mountain but today we would only see a carpet of white clouds.

Sharmi’s health has been OK. I worry about her a little bit though because she has these phantom fevers that come and go out of nowhere. Yesterday while Sharmi was eating dinner I touched her head and she was running a low grade fever. I forgot the thermometer but I think it got to about 99.9 (I am getting pretty good at guessing.) However when I tucked her in bed her head was cool again. It makes me a little nervous that she keeps getting them, but I am of course grateful that they stay low.  She has her next doctors appointment on Tuesday and so that means we get more chemo and we start the steroids again.  We always dread that necessary evil.  And we will be traveling again this weekend, via plane, and I fully expect it to be miserable.  It is kind of hard to make egg noodles on the plane. 

I am continually amazed at Sharmi. Last night we were eating sloppy joe’s made with alphabet soup and when she finds a letter she says, “What’s this letter,… for what? And Dean and I try to think of everything that starts with that letter. Last night Dean was putting Chantel to bed and we found the letter “T” I had listed off turtle, tortoise, tongue, teeth, and then Sharmi said, “T for try and T for tent.” I was pretty amazed. These are not your typical children’s T words.

Chantel has really started to notice the outside world. She is really intent on faces. She intensely looks into the faces of her stuffed animals and she also loves dolls. She primarily likes to chew on their hands and feet and bit their heads, but she does truly get excited about seeing and playing with dolls. Sharmi was not into dolls yet at this age.

Oh, one last cool thing about this week. We were eating at a restaurant at the base of the slopes and one of the waitresses came out and yelled, “If anyone wants to see a cinnamon bear follow me.” It was really cool. Chantel kicked and squealed and Sharmi and Dean stayed out and watched him for a long time.

Well the family is in their swim suits waiting for me. We decided that there is no point in trying to go out in the rain and stay dry so we are going to embrace the wet and go swimming. I hope the pool is heated again.

I hope you have all had a happy Sabbath.

Cheris