March 20, 2009 Happy spring! Well, March Break has almost come to an end! We began the break with a trip to the ER with a kid and an earache....more antibiotics. If it wasn’t for his heart valve issue, they wouldn’t bother with the antibiotics. However, John needs antibiotics anytime there is risk of him having an infection, and he was running a temperature. We spent the week doing lots of leisure activities. We went to the arena for skating and had to complain to the city about the lack of supervision of the skaters. A group of tweens was having a glove hockey game and monopolizing the entire arena. I couldn’t find anyone who worked there and basically told the city that if anybody got hurt, they would be sued! We also did the library, pool, went bowling and sliding. John had a few play dates with Adam as well and a visit with Abby Nerino (the dog). We visited Mike and Christie too! :) Swimming lessons start next week every Monday and Wednesday. That’s going to make those two nights tricky for getting dinner on because it’s from 4:30-5:00. Tuna melts here I come, except John hates tuna. Let’s face it..John’s pretty picky in general. We’re all signed up for soccer in the spring. John is pleased he’s not in timbits league anymore and is in “big boy” soccer. We’re still doing the bowling thing every Saturday morning. He’s still obsessed with his score and just has to get beyond it already! February 5, 2009 The weather finally warmed up a little bit today. It's been a very cold January and winter seems to be never-ending! John has been enjoying the little bit of skating they've been doing at the rink at school. I peeked in on him a couple of times and he's really really improving. We've all had colds this month and John managed to get a nasty case of impetigo. It started with a couple of spots on his chin and then it spread to his upper lip area and nose. He said he really wanted to go to the doctor's so off we went to the E.R. It's a good thing because any infection John has he has to take oral antibiotics to prevent any heart infections. The impetigo is clearing up nicely now. Only a few more days of the salve and a week more on antibiotics. After Christmas, John bought himself a Wii with all his saved up money. He's pretty addicted to it, especially Wii sports. We only have four games so far, but he's pretty good at them. Today John had his first experience at the ski hill. Apparently, he did very well at the snowboarding, but when it came to the downhill ski portion, he fell once and then decided he was done. Pat, one of the teachers, said that John announced he was "done" and they had to coax him off the hill. He really loved the snowboarding, though, and is dying to go back already. John also enjoyed Josh's laser tag party in January and has informed me that this is what he wants to do next year for his 7th birthday party. John continues to excel at school, especially in Math. The Special Education teacher tested him in Key Math to practice her testing protocol, and he came up at the 98th percentile. He's basically functioning at about grade 4 level. He continues to read very well, although Wii is taking more of his attention than reading lately. He had to stay home for two days this week and he didn't like doing the homework he missed. Monday is the 100th day of school party for John and he's busy deciding which collection of 100 to bring. January 2, 2009 Happy New Year to you all! Christmas was a bit of a disappointment for me personally this year. Christmas Eve I started feeling lousy with no appetite (unlike me). On Christmas Day, Derek woke up feeling under the weather and as we sat opening gifts, my stomach wasn’t feeling great either. I kept up appearances throughout the day and made all our social events, however, I couldn’t really eat much turkey dinner. What I did eat, I threw up when we got home. I spent about 5 days running to the toilet and even had to go to the ER for IV hydration. Took them 10 pokes to find a vein that would cooperate. Chemotherapy certainly wrecks the veins. John enjoyed opening his presents this year. He really liked the playdough ice cream shop and as far as the Xbox360 goes, he still finds it a bit frustrating. When the Nintendo Wii systems come in (they’re all sold out), he’s going to get one of those. It’s sort of more age appropriate for him. He loved the pokemon saucer from Grandma and Grandpa and even went sliding a couple of times. He loves it because he really comes down fast! It wasn’t the most fun for him this holiday because I had to stay close to home. We did get out swimming a few times and he played with Adam a little bit as well. Today I went in to work and he and Adam played nicely at mom’s house for a change. They certainly can get worked up, but they were playing the Nintendo DS and grandma was calm :) This year, John and Derek and I helped Fr. Al decorate the church. This was before I fell sick, so it was quite enjoyable. He certainly likes his lights because we essentially had to wrap each branch with one strand of lights. John got bored quickly and ended up going to mom’s house. Derek has really been enjoying tinkering with his own black and white photo developing as you can see from the (black & white) website photo gallery, some of the recently added photos to the Friends and Family (new) gallery - and with the photo at the top of this diary. He has also enjoyed working on the odd vintage camera to get them in working order. Top © 2009 Wendy/Derek Kennedy

maxxum