What?

Another Jakeism: he says "whaaaaat??" He only does it when we tell him something he doesn't want to hear. It is so funny, I burst out laughing when he does it. Then he tells me "it's not funny!"

Jake is growing both physically and mentally -- fast. He says new phrases everyday and we don't know where they come from but he does say them at the most appropriate time.

We sold his crib today. I feared that he would get possessive over it but when I told him it was for a baby, he was ok with it. In fact, he wanted to see the baby. I told him that it was still in her mom's tummy but he didn't care. He wanted to see who was getting his old bed. Eventually, seeing the mom was good enough. Later in the night, he found the pillow that was on his old crib. It was a pillow that inscribed "I am stronger than this cancer, YES I AM." Anne gave it go him when he was in the hospital. Jake decided it was a good idea to give it to the baby.

Jake is gorgeous, smart and fun. But we have discovered he is very thoughtful. Who could ask for anything more. Especially from a 2 year old.

Diapers no more.

We passed another milestone. Jake is officially potty trained. The key was standing up. He did not want to sit down. There were a few accidents and we went through a lot of changes but it took all but two weeks to get it down.

We will be gladly putting the money we spend in diapers in Jake's college fund.

Jake is so fun.

We had a great time in St. Louis. As soon as we checked into our "St. Louis room", Jake found a cozy chair in the bedroom and made it his own. He put his favorite blanket and his stuffed animals on it mark his territory. We visited the St. Louis Zoo. It is free to get in but $11 to park. I think that's fair. It's an old zoo but big and clean. The train ride was cool because you get to see most of the zoo on the ride. They had a stingray event where Jake got to feed and pet them.

We also went to the city museum. That is a strange place. The first floor is made up of mazes and slides made from recycled materials. The second floor is an acquarium made up of strange collection of mammals as well as sea animals. It seemed as if it was built with things discarded by other acquariums. The third floor was made up of slides for children.

Jake also took a picture of his blue bear in the hotel room. It's his best yet and I thought everyone should see. Blue bear is his favorite toy and buddy. Jake was slowly growing out of him when he turned 1 years old. However, when he started to get sick and during his stay in the hospital, blue bear was his safety blanket. He loves his bear.

We're going on a trip

We are driving to St. Louis tomorrow to visit their zoo and acquarium. Jake is excited and wanted to leave tonight. We started potty training today. I couldn't have picked the worst time, he is on steriods and we are going to be in the car for 2 hours at a time for our trip tomorrow. Jake did really well with it today. I think he was annoyed that I kept asking him if he had to go every 10 minutes. I was even annoying myself.

We will take some good pics and report back.

Danger Boy

Jake is feeling well and he is back to being danger boy again. He loves to go to the playground. He looks at the older kids and want to try the stuff they're doing. For example, he thinks he can jump down from a platform 5 feet high. He wants to play football with the grown adults at the park. I guess this is all normal. We are happy and thankful that Jake is spending less time dealing with his illness and more being a kid.

Jakeism

Jake has always been a blast. He is very verbal now and bursting with personality. Jake's innocence and his truthful view of the world is huliaruous and enlightening.

Jakeism 1: Jake was holding up an elevator today while he had to go back into the house to grab a few more breakfast sausages. He had one in his mouth and a slice in each hand. After we got on the elevator, we told Jake that he was holding up the lady that was already on the elevator. He took the sausage out of his mouth and said "sorry." He then put the sausage back his in his mouth and proceeded to eat again. Mark told the lady, "we are teaching him not to talk with food in his mouth." I guess Jake found his own way to achieve manners.

We went to clinic this Monday and found that Jake's ANC was very low. This is the worse blood count we have seen since he started the treatments. The doctor stopped all chemo treatments to allow him to recover. It didn't really surprise us yet it alarmed us to hear it. Last week we saw Jake getting tired easily and he burst out in a blood nose that lasted for 5 minutes.

Jake retreated into his bedroom after our clinic visit. His bedroom is his sactuary. We know when he is scared because he seeks the safey of his room. I went to the grocery store and loaded up on healthy foods to cook him. All I can do at this point is make sure he gets a good diet, a clean house and lots of love.

Maintenance

We finally made it to maintenance. We will no longer have weekly and sometimes twice weekly visits to the clinic. Instead, we have monthly visits with treatments that are predictable, steady and less intense. Thus far there has been varying and intense treatments with different drugs. Some of it made Jake sick and unhappy.

We've been on maintenance since May 11th and the easing in treatment has made Jake a new boy. We never knew how much the chemo was affecting him until now. Jake is on the go. His brain is constantly working and he is also physically catching up. Since last September when he broke his leg and stopped walking, he has been physically behind. We suspect that his verbal and communication skills are advanced. When we meet people who either have children or teach children, they always comment on his advanced ability to communicate.

With summer ahead of us, we have been enjoying the pool and promising Jake a fishing trip.