Niranjana, Melissa and Andy

On Presidents Day, I stayed home with Niranjana for the first part of the day because preschool was closed. Our first stop was a driving range in Kennewick so she could practice with the new Tiger Woods golf clubs she received for Christmas from Uncle Joe.

After a successful bucket of balls being hit in the general direction of "forward," it was nearly lunchtime, so Niranjana and I decided on a McDonald's restaurant nearby. I'm not a big fan of McD's - in fact, the food is generally terrible - but it has that play area for children.

We received some good news this week on the cancer front: Through my first three chemo treatments, my body is responding extremely well.

We also received a tidbit of rather sobering information, and that got me to thinking about how everything tends to work out as it should.

I asked a member of my medical team how long I've had cancer, based on what she now sees in the CT scans and reports. She said that it's probably been there for two years, give or take.

"Ken, Cate and I are going to have a holiday tomorrow," Niranjana said on the way home from preschool today.

"What are you going to do on your holiday?" I asked.

"We're going to taste wine," Niranjana declared. Ahem, she must be planning for a holiday in 2025....

Perhaps she'll wear the T-shirt that Andy gave her for Christmas: "Future Wine Snob." Guess that's what you get when your dad is a wine journalist and judge.

Many weeks ago, Niranjana decided to try body surfing on our stairs. Then she and Cate began to race, both on their backs and their tummies.

I'm not sure how many brain cells Niranjana is losing from this bit of fun, but it's pretty hilarious.

Watch:

Niranjana is really not that difficult of a name, frankly, compared with other Indian names — even with the other "Indian" names, like Sacajawea and Pocohontas. Sure, there is a minor pronunciation surprise with the neh-RIN-jin-ah, and few loved ones are still mastering this.

But learning to spell Niranjana shouldn't be THAT hard. Really, it's only five out of the 26 letters. And there are lots of children at our preschool with unique names. Ajia, Edy, Azat, Majia. I have blogged about this before.

Niranjana is in a dinosaur mood these days. It started when we watched Disney's Fantasia. Well, parts of Fantasia. Over and over.

Set to classical music, the herbivores are all placidly munching plants when suddenly a T-Rex appears. They run away. But the stegosaurus is the slowest. He puts up a decent fight, but ultimately loses to the T-Rex. Not gross, but it is scary. Lightening, sharp teeth gnashing, etc.

After watching this several times over the course of a few days, Niranjana declares sincerely, "I'm not scared of it any more."

Apologies for the time lapse between blogs. We had some significant technical difficulties with our home computer. Plus there was the birthday party aftermath, out-of-town visitors, chemo treatment for Andy, very busy days at work for Melissa..... At any rate, the computer issue is resolved so we'll be getting back into blogging.

Here was Niranjana at her birthday party this afternoon. Yes, she's fearless.

Niranjana is in a really good pre-school. She is learning a lot and is caught up with her peers. But I've got to wonder where she picks up certain information, language and talents.

My mom jokingly blames any bad behavior (Our little angel? Never!) on other kids at school. I'm certain Mom picked that up from my constant behavior as a child (and no doubt other parents rightly blamed their kids' behavior on me).

But last night left me a bit stunned and, dare I say, speechless.

"Excuse me, excuse me," the tiny voice called to the bakery worker. Niranjana was peeking around the counter at the grocery store, trying to get the baker's attention. "We need Jasmine cupcakes for my school."