On Friday, we picked up dinner and took it to Grammy and Poppy's house. When we picked the kids up at daycare, Miss Diana said that Miss R is doing really well with the potty training! Hopefully, we'll have one child out of diapers soon!
I'm sure that the kids did funny stuff that I'd normally mention, but I'm currently battling bronchitis again and a head cold. My memory isn't particularly keen right now.
On Saturday, we had waffles for breakfast. And fruit. Henry ate a lot of blueberries. Then, he spied that I was eating cherries and wanted some. They were fresh cherries, so it took some time slice the flesh from the pits. Miss R wanted some too b/c Henry was getting some. And she loved them! She had three helpings, which is a rarity when it comes to healthy foods.
Jeff put together the kids' playhouse. That has been a big hit. They played in the house all morning. Henry sang the song "It's the Mickey Mouse club house. Come inside. It's fun inside." Jeff went to Uncle Jim's funeral. I stayed home with the kids because of my cold. There were a few people going to the funeral who have delicate immune systems, and I didn't want to risk it. Henry unfortunately is coming down with my cold. Runny nose. And a cough that makes it difficult for him to sleep. He's been active but he didn't take a long nap b/c of that cough.
In the afternoon, the kids played in the playhouse while Jeff watched the Wildcats b-ball game and I read a book (fiction, not academic work!). We took the kids for a trike ride and walk in the late afternoon/early evening. They got to meet Cinder, a super sweet and bouncy poodle. We also ran into Hal, Annie, and Luke. When strapped onto his trike, Henry proclaimed "I'm a prisoner!" Where does he get these things?
We had a good sit down dinner. If I feed him (reminding him to eat), Henry will take in a decent amount of food. I had weighed him earlier today and I think that he's about 28 lbs 5 ozs. If that's right, that's about a 1.5 lb increase since the third week of December. I think that the keys have been eliminating straight cow's milk in favor of goat's milk and me essentially spoon feeding him. Miss R had been in panties all day. She did a good job until dinner. She had an accident in her booster seat. Given the curvature of the seat, it wasn't a bad place for an accident. We watched Wall-e after dinner. Miss R had her second accident before bed. Unfortunately, it was on our couch. Then it was teeth, books, and bed.
UNCLE JIM
This picture of Uncle Jim and Henry was taken in March 2008.Jim Kluger, one of my parents' best friends, died late on Monday. He'd been battling a host of issues for several months. Uncle Jim spent all major holidays, sporting events, and birthdays with our family. This past Christmas was the first one in years that Uncle Jim didn't have dinner with us. And there's an emptiness not having him with there.
Uncle Jim was one of the funniest people whom I've ever met. He could tell jokes in ways that most people couldn't get away with. About 20 years ago, he received a kidney transplant. He had some hilarious stories involving bodily fluids that would seem crude if told by anyone else. But Jim always had people rolling on the floor laughing.
After college and European travel, I took some courses at Pima to fill my time and to sort out what I wanted to do as I filled out graduate school and law school applications. I took two of Uncle Jim's American history courses, which were excellent. He was a fabulous teacher. He made history exciting.
Uncle Jim was an active man. He participated in the Transplant Olympics several times. That first kidney lasted him 19 years, 9 years above the average for the life a kidney transplant. He received his second kidney transplant this past May from his brother. We really thought that it would work. But other factors were at play.
Uncle Jim was a wonderful cook and loved to socialize. During his hospital stays starting this summer, he was rarely alone. He had numerous friends who visited him often.
I am saddened that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to him and hadn't seen him since the summer. Jeff's and my ongoing lung conditions kept us down beginning in July. Someone in our house is always sick, it seems. I was afraid of getting Uncle Jim sick and was hoping that he would recover. I feel like I don't have illusions about death. Death is a part of the "life" cycle of course. But somehow, it just feels like people who have lived their lives well should be granted an earthly stay into their late-80s or 90s if they so desire. In May, before his transplant operation, Uncle Jim was tired, but his wits were about him. He came to Henry's birthday party. I would have liked to have had another decade of birthday parties with Uncle Jim. May he rest in peace.
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