The Lindenbergs

Nora and Pierce ran into a bumpy patch last night, but it ended happily.

While putting Pierce to bed I had to take a phone call, so he continued reading a Hardy Boys book on his own. When Nora finished putting Anna to bed she came in to visit Pierce and say good night. While visiting she asked him to read her some of the story. And he refused. His logic is a little questionable, it basically came down to "he didn't want to." I think Nora felt pretty slighted and it wasn't very gracious of Pierce -Nora is amazing with both Pierce and Anna and extremely giving. His response hurt.

When I finished up with my call, Pierce and I completed the bedtime routine and he told me his version of what happened. I didn't want to "insert" myself in the middle of the situation (I have high confidence that Nora and Pierce can resolve things), but I did let him know I was disappointed and that I thought he'd hurt Nora's feelings. I also asked him what he thought he could do to make things better, to which he responded that "maybe he should have read to Mom" and he would try to read to her the next day.

End of story, right? Wrong, about 4:00 this morning Pierce came into our room and apologized to Nora, promised to read to her later in the day, and asked if he could snuggle with her for a little while. Nice. I'm blown away with the maturity of our budding 6-year old.

-Eric (Dad)

In an effort to keep the blog more up-to-date, I'm going to try and post entries first thing in the morning (wish me luck).

This was an interesting morning; Anna and Nora had a slight battle. As background, about 8 months ago Anna decided she did not want to be pretty, she wants to be cool. Part of being cool is not wearing skirts or dresses. Of course, this just breaks Nora's heart, her beautiful girl doesn't want to wear pretty outfits. Generally speaking we've honored Anna's dressing desires, usually a family portrait will be the exception.

This morning Nora thought she would try a tennis skirt on Anna -after all, its just shorts underneath with a skirt wraparound, right? Anna didn't think so. Now, I'll admit, Anna looked terrific. She actually looked like a little fashion model, but man, did she hate it. There was much wailing, crying and gnashing of teeth. Nora was trying to explain, rationally, that they're just shorts. The problem is that at four, Anna's not rationale. Ultimately, Anna was changed into shorts. I tried to diplomatically weigh in on Anna's side, I figure whatever she, or Pierce, want to wear is OK with me as long as its weather appropriate and not unsafe. But I may buy Nora some flowers so that she can feel better about stepping away from this battle.

Now Pierce, quite the different story this morning. He clipped his little portable radio to his pants and listened to NPR while reading a book. Nora and I have no idea why he didn't turn to a music station, but he was perfectly content with the news. The kicker? NPR is having its Spring pledge drive this week. All they did was talk about becoming a member and pledging.

Sometime you have to laugh.

-Eric (Dad)

On Thursday I discovered a new type of video on www.youtube.com: speed painting. People create pictures using illustration software on their computers and record the process. They create video of the process speeded up, so that a 2 two hour drawing is completed in about 2-3 minutes. Its fascinating.

I tried my hand at it over the weekend (rather than sleeping). You can see the results at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVHAHaKgO4w

I'm pretty happy with the results. What do you think (your comments are welcome)?

-Eric (Dad)

This weekend was a busy one for me, unfortunately I wasn't able to spend much of it with my family. Saturday I helped my brother-in-law hang sheetrock in his basement (a basement-finishing ongoing project I've been helping him with). We got most of the ceiling done and the space is starting to look like a habitable area. My shoulders are a little sore from working above my head all day. I spent most of Sunday at the office (this is a busy time of year for us folks in the grants software development business).

We had Little Ceasar's pizza for dinner on Saturday -I picked it up on the way home. I think they're going to be added to our "banned" list. Pierce complained that the pizza was spicy and Nora and I think the pizza from Costco is much better (for the same money). Anna snarfed it down.

After I go home Sunday Anna helped me clean up dog poop in the back yard. She carried the bucket. Our dog has been very productive of late, yuck. Sunday night we grilled (mmmm, BBQ Chicken and grilled pork chops) and had a friend of ours over (a last minute invitation). Liz is pregnant and expecting twins so we had lots of things Pierce and Anna wanted to talk about:

1. Anna wanted to know why the babies were in Liz's belly ("because the doctor said they were there" -good answer Liz)
2. Anna's explanation of the c-section Nora had including where the incision was and how it didn't hurt (if Nora had a "way back" machine she's definitely re-think how much information she shared with Anna)
3. Name suggestions: Wilbur (after the pig), Kevin (a cousin) and Derek (another cousin)

Pierce and Anna also spent a good portion of the evening running around with empty laundry hampers on their heads (I got a picture).

-Eric (Dad)

Hmmm, you can always tell when work gets busy, my blog updates become a lot less frequent.

Nora and I may have taken a slight "mis-step"; with daylights savings time both Pierce and Anna had a hard time making the adjustment. Pierce was the worst -he tossed and turned for hours after going to bed. In an attempt to help him out, Nora and I told him that if he had a hard time going to sleep he was allowed to turn on his light and read for a little while. So, of course, Pierce has turned on his light and read every night. We're going to rescind the "privilege" when Spring break ends.

The family went to the Toy and Minature Museum a few weeks ago and it was a big hit. Some of the dollhouses we saw were amazing. They also had a display room full of marbles. Supposedly it had over a million marbles in it with many of them over 100 years old. The room also contained kinetic marble sculptures (think rolling marbles, tracks and elevators). Pierce and Anna have seen this kind of artwork before, but these were much larger in scale.

We have a marble kit we picked up at a garage sale called "Marble-ous", that lets you make your own kinetic sculptor. So, of course, Pierce wanted to break it out. I hate the thing. Its says its for age 8 and up, but I have a hard time with it. The thing has hundreds of pieces and the directions are practically non existent. But, of course, I'll do anything for Pierce and Anna. After two separate "construction" sessions we got a sculpture built. It is very cool. And Pierce likes to put his matchbox cars on it. Go figure.

Anna keeps getting bigger (I know, I know. What else would she be doing...). Her vocabulary is really exploding and she's prepared to engage in a much greater scope of conversation. Its amazing to see it develop. Her mental growth is accompanied by physical growth. You can practically see her growing out of her clothes.

-Eric (Dad)

A good friend and fraternity brother, Steve, is battling pancreatic cancer. He actually finished and survived multiple rounds of surgery and chemo and went into remission. The survival rate for pancreatic cancer is extremely small and his survival is a testament to his faith and determination.

In November routine tests showed that the cancer had returned and Steve is now going through additional rounds of chemotherapy. Unlike the first time, where Steve was relatively unfazed by the treatments (he even helped a friend build a house during this period), the chemo is beating Steve up pretty bad. Chemo treatments have a cumulative effect on the body, so after 18 or so treatments you can imagine how draining this process is. Steve's family has a history of pancreatic cancer and, unlike other organs of the body, the pancreas houses a high proportion of stem cells which, once turned cancerous, begin turning the surrounding cells cancerous also -making this an extremely aggressive type of cancer.

I booked a trip out to see Steve between chemo treatments (he receives them for a week, then has two weeks to "recover" before the next round) -below are some pics from my visit. It was a very good visit. Steve had a couple of good days, back-to-back, where we were able to shoot the breeze, go out to eat, and drive around his hometown.

A few years ago Steve and his brother returned to Maine from Northern Virginia to be closer to their parents. Steve worked with his parents to find a comfortable home and bought a "fixer-upper" that he lovingly restored. His father passed away a few years ago and now he and his Mom take care of each other in their little "Maine Paradise".

When first diagnosed and treated for pancreatic cancer, Steve began counseling others battling the same disease. By his count he's worked with, and supported, well over 60 cancer patients. Needless to say, Steve has a very solid understanding of his prognosis and his chances of survival. He's bringing his affairs in order and making sure that his mother and brother's family are in good shape should the worst happen. Steve's outlook is extremely positive and he's made peace with his situation. To paraphrase him, "I have people here, living, that love me, and loved ones whom have passed on who are waiting for me -so I can be happy with either outcome."

During my visit Steve had a CAT scan to help monitor the effectiveness of the chemotherapy. The results came back last Friday and were mostly good news. There is no change in the size or disposition of the tumor -something Steve was not expecting and was grateful for. There is a clinical study taking place that is showing some promising results. Steve believes that he should be able to become part of the study with a little "persuasion" from his doctors to the study's authors. Steve has a PET scan scheduled for later this month, so we're all hoping that test will also provide positive news.

Before my visit to Steve I sent out a mass email to as many fraternity brothers as I had email addresses for. I asked them to send me messages that I could give to Steve that contained words of encouragement, anecdotes, and anything else they cared to share. About 25 brothers were able to respond within the short time before I jumped on the plane and their thoughts were assembled and organized into a keepsake binder for Steve. Steve was both surprised and delighted by the caring and supportive messages (he claims it almost brought him to tears). He has since shared selected, rated PG, messages with his family and friends.

If you'd like to communicate with Steve you can email him at spdelorge@yahoo.com

-Eric

Pierce got a handheld radio as a stocking stuffer last Christmas. It looks like a "gadget" from the movie The Incredibles. He's very fond of it.

The thing chews through batteries fairly quickly given the limited amount of use it gets. The other morning, while Nora and I were still in bed, we could hear Pierce downstairs getting frustrated about something. Anna came up a few minutes later to tell us Pierce was upset that the batteries in the radio were dead. Then it got quiet and we fell back to sleep.

When we got up and asked Pierce if he needed help with the radio he told us "no", he'd taken care of it. He'd put new batteries in himself. Hmmm, normally you have to unscrew the cover to change the batteries. So we asked him, "how did you get the cover off"? He got a screwdriver, unscrewed the cover, replaced the battery, screwed the cover back on, and put the screwdriver away.

Wow.

-Eric (Dad)