J&M got Maui'd!

Elsy finally went to school yesterday for the first time. This was many months in the making, seeing as her original debut would have been a year ago, but we had decided to have her taught virtually for the 2020-2021 school year. She was quite excited to go and took to the class very well. The backpack she brought was about half her size and about half her weight, but we did include everything she might need: clothes, rain gear, lunch, snacks, masks, you name it. The first day went fairly well for her. She did say she met a nice girl who turned into a bully, but we will see how the rest of the year pans out as things settle down this first month.

Elsy found a feather attached to my mom's shoe. She asked for it and has held onto it for quite some time. I asked her what kind of feather it was. She told me: "It's a bird feather." Yup, she's my kid alright.

We were planning on going to the beach this morning but our plans got derailed when Serena stomped on Elsy's face and we had to wait for the bleeding to stop. It took so long that there was a chance we needed to go to the hospital. In the end, we thought it too risky to leave the house this morning lest the gusher started again, and so we set up the water table at home instead.

So I am used to the soft chimes that you hear in the neighborhood when the ice cream truck comes by. This year we already had three visits, mostly on cold or rainy moments of the day. This was in contrast to the infrequent visits to our old neighborhood when I was a child. In addition, we were too poor to really enjoy a cone of soft ice cream when it did show up so I never built up that sense of tradition that others would share with their children. As suck, when the truck does drive by, I don't rush out to grab a cone for my kids. Also, the pandemic does not help either. Still, maybe one day this summer we will indulge our kids. Maybe. Oh, but that was beside the point. Today I heard the ringing of a bell. This was not the sound I'm used to for an ice cream truck so I decided to investigate with Serena. As the truck drive by, I wondered to myself how such a small truck could be used to sell ice cream much less any kind of food. But then it dawned on me: this was not a food tru

Serena has started walking now. She does not do it often, but it is a matter of time..

 Serena's babbles are starting to sound more like words now, although her vocabulary is limited to "hi" and "bubble". We had taken advantage of the good weather this past weekend to enjoy the cherry blossoms in the ravine. The trees this year are much more blossomy than prior ones. I had thought it might take a little longer for the trees to fully bloom, but it seems as if this year is the year where it is worth coming to see the grove. The snow we got last week did not seem to affect the buds, and the area was busy with visitors. I am sure next year will be even more crowded now that the trees are producing quite a number of flowers, although word is already spreading so people have been coming over to visit this year despite the lockdown.

So Maggie cut my hair again last night. This time it took about half the time and was a lot easier to clean. Preparation and practice helps. I do enjoy not having my eyes poked out all the time and using a lot less shampoo. Also, sunglasses, hats, and masks should stay on a lot easier now.

Serena started clapping today. I was able to capture it on video just like with Elsy. However, Elsy started clapping at a much earlier age, also got teeth earlier as well. Serena still only has two teeth.

We brought Elsy back to the specialist to take a look at her nose and he re-cauterized the area he fixed the first time. Apparently it didn't heal properly. He told us to really gel up that area so that it completely heals and to make sure no mining is going on there. He also sent us to check on blood work in case there was something out of the ordinary. I took the day off so figured that we could do it right away, but alas the clinic was by appointment only and they were fully booked. We did find another clinic outside of town and amazingly enough, it was dead empty. The difficulty was convincing Elsy to go. Once she realized what we needed her to do, she got very anxious. It was all very natural and we bribed her with toys but what surprised me the most was that during the procedure, she just stared at the needle and watched the blood come out. No crying, just fascination. Speaking of blood, I had my blood drawn a week ago, and coincidentally enough, my nose started bleeding last

Despite going to a specialist to take care of Elsy's frequent nose gushers, she has been experiencing quite a number of them recently. For a while after the treatment she was fine. There was a small one here or there, but this month we had a number of quite severe bleeds that were not small. Humidifiers did not initially seem to help much but we have since increased the humidity in the house and started apply a gel in her nostril to prevent a reoccurrence. We are taking her back to the specialist to check in on her again. I'd like to put a cap on this if we can.

We had a bit of a poopy problem this morning. Serena woke up early and hungry so I fed her, then she let out a series of farts and cries so I thought I had a dirty diaper to deal with. I ended up changing her which woke her up again, but her diaper had no doo to speak of despite the screeching to the otherwise. We'll, I wrapped her up, calmer her down and went back to sleep for an hour before being woken up again from her cries. This time she was not hungry, but more happy. She's been cruising for a while and she let out a series of farts while standing around in the crib. I figured that I try to feed her at least but noticed the smell the moment she was on my lap. These were the same sounds from an hour ago! Oh, and she really left me a present. One that filled my nostrils and her diaper (and then some). I spent quite a while wiping her down and trying not to spread the excess beyond her sleepwear. For lunch I cracked open my leftovers and the first thing I smelled was her poo