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God Has Arrived

It could be worse.

Stella could be asking about sex. Or about first marriages. Or about Glenn Beck.

But, instead, she is asking and talking about God.

It started over the weekend when she asked me if I knew about God. I said yes, and then quickly changed the subject. I was caught off guard.

Then she did it again the next day. She asked me something about God. I asked her what she knew about God.

She said that God was the biggest guy in the world. He made everything. And he lives up in the sky.

I asked her where she learned about God. Her response was predictable, "I don't know".

And then she started to explain God to Marni.

Nebulized

The call from Lisa started with "Don't worry, Stella is ok". Now that's a nice kinda phone call to get!

Lisa went on to explain that Stella visited the school nurse's office complaining that she couldn't breathe. The nurse checked her out and couldn't find anything wrong. Stella finished the rest of the day as usual and Lisa set up a doctor appointment to check her out.

The 6:45 p.m. appointment ended up being a 7:30 p.m. appointment at our perpetually late pediatrician. All I have to say is thank goodness for the iPhone! It kept Stella occupied all the way through the process.

When we finally got to see the doc, she asked Stella some questions and then listened to her chest. The prognosis? Some sort of minor bronchial infection that was keeping Stella from exhaling smoothly.

The doc disappeared for a moment and returned with a nebulizing machine in the shape of a yellow race car. She told Stella she would need to wear a mask like an astronaut and breath "clouds" for 10 minutes. Mask on. Machine on. More iPhone games while the clouds made Stella better.

After the treatment, Stella said she felt fine. The doc listened again and said she seemed to be breathing out a little easier.

We left the office with a prescription for some home nebulizing stuff to give Stella over the next few days plus a prescription for a precautionary chest x-ray.

Luckily there has been little drama with the at-home treatments (with the exception of Marni also wanting to breathe into Stella's machine).

The x-ray is happening as I write this and hopefully all will be ok. For now, Stella is happy and no longer complaining about breathing.

Now I can breathe easier.

Born Free

Last June America fell in love with the story of a little Brooklyn girl and her two pet snails. Rescued from the wild, the two snails soon learned to live amongst people and became domesticated.

The two snails (whose names changed on an almost daily basis) went with us everywhere. To Natick. To Albany. To Old Orchard Beach. They became a part of our family.

Eventually, Stella agreed with daddy that the snails missed their real families and should be set free.

So today the snails bid our fair family ado. We took them to Prospect Park (after a brief visit to temple this morning). There, we said our goodbyes. We placed the snails on nice damp leaves in a wooded area that we know well. The snails immediately started to move towards freedom. Stella and Marni were happy.

As the snails slithered deeper into the leaves, they turned back towards us and roared a little farewell. And then, they were gone.

Perhaps next spring we will visit this part of the park in search of the snails. If we see them, will they still remember us? Will they come up to us, without fear? And maybe, just maybe, they will let us see their new pride of baby snails.

"Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
'cause you're born free"

Overheard #25

At dinner, Stella was recounting her exciting field trip to the New York Aquarium. Sharks! Stingrays! Walruses!

Then Marni pipes up...

"Excuse me daddy, but nothing was fun at Raindrops."

(Photo courtesy of Meike Discher)

Photo Op

I just had to put this picture up. It's so perfectly Marni. As we were rushing out the door to grab the plane to Germany, Marni decided she needed to wear a crown.

And as we waited to check our luggage, Marni set the tone for the trip by being a total goofball.

EuroTrip 2009 - Part 3

Day 7 was a stay-near-home kinda day. We took the girls into downtown Gengenbach for a little looking, a little shopping, and a little eating.

This is one adorable town. Beautiful, clean, quaint.

After an hour or so of shopping (and the accompanying whining of "can you by me this"), we met up with Meike's sister Silke and her new husband Michael. We caught up on old times over coffee and pastries at the local bakery.

Later, Lisa and I took the monsters grocery shopping. They each got their own kid-sized shopping cart with which to haul our goodies and bruise the shins of innocent Germans.

That evening was a birthday party for Mieke and Silke's dad at their house. Delicious food. Poorly behaved children (ours). The usual.

Next morning... pack, jump in the car, and off to Basel for our flight home.

The flight to London was mercifully short and uneventful. We negotiated the sprawling Terminal 5 at Heathrow much better this time since we weren't suffering from sleep deprivation. We killed time by having lunch at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant in the terminal. Good and pricey.

Our flight home was on a new(ish) 777 rather than on the old(ish) 747 that we flew out of New York on. A little less cramped if you ask me. Dinner. Movies. Sleep (for the kids). Marni actually slept through the landing.

Luggage. Car service home. Bed.

All in all I would call the trip a total success. The girls had a wonderful time (as did we grownups). Our hosts were fantastic and took excellent care of us.

The girls are still getting up at 4 a.m. due to jet lag. But this will pass. So let's do this again!

In a year. Or two.