Good Times

The following video is just Keith being Keith. Sunday night at dinner, Cole and Keith were cracking each other up for close to 20 minutes. They alternated quoting favorite shows and saying things "tasted like chicken" or "tasted like Fidget" (the bat). If you don't get the humor, it's only because you're not 3 years old.
I was too busy enjoying the hysterics to catch the best part but I caught a glimpse of the moment on video.

Keith has had a really, really good week. He received another transfusion last week and now that his counts across the board have rebounded, he is doing excellent. He has gained over a pound and has now broken the 26 pound barrier, which was the minimum goal set by his nutritionist. We attribute the weight gain to his crossover from water to apple juice. We've pushed it for awhile because of the caloric benefit and he decided 2 weeks ago that apple juice was for him. Now it's all he wants. We'll worry about the dental repercussions later. He has also lost all his hair again, but he's still as squeezable as ever and it just allows better access for kissing his sweet head.

Keith has been busy coloring, drawing, painting, going to the park and playing with Grandma B., Sydney and Evie, and Caden, Hunter and Julie. He LOVES visits from his favorite people.

Keith's "boots" have gone from purple to white to blue and he'll get a new color tomorrow. The casting is working, thankfully. The P.T. wasn't sure it would work after the first week when Keith still had a tremendous amount of tightness in his heel cords. But last week, we saw a huge change in his range of motion so that is very good news. Keith can stand in his casts and walk with help. It is amazing to us how quickly things can improve, especially in the body of a small child.

Cole and Ally continue to bring a dose of normalcy and comedy into daily living. Cole thinks he's the next Nigel Barker. He insists on taking pictures constantly. Exhibit A:

He makes specific requests for the "look" he wants to capture. The following assignments to me were, Exhibit B: A funny face

Exhibit C: A mouse

Exhibit D: A Monster

Exhibit E: A Ghost

His other requests for a Vampire, a Zombie and a Mummy were either too off-center or much too scary to include. I'm willing to hire someone else to be his "model". I have enough creepy photos of me to last a lifetime. If anyone is wondering what Cole, Ally and I do while Brent and Keith spend the night in the hospital, it's usually something amazing like allowing Cole to commandeer my camera.

Cole also likes his picture to be taken. Exhibits F, G and H:

He also casually informed me this week, and I quote, "Mom, Caillou is a wuss. I don't want to be a wuss like Caillou." For those out of the PBS loop, Caillou is a nice boy with a nice little show that Cole has only seen a handful of times. For a moment I wasn't sure I had heard him right. Of course, no 3 year old would deduce something like that on his own, so my finger is pointed directly at his Dad, who undoubtedly brain-washed our impressionable preschooler. Brent insists he said it one time in passing, but Cole and Keith have remarkable memories for many things, especially opinions spewed under the breath of their all-knowing Dad.

Cole and Keith's OBSESSION with Superheroes has been passed to Ally. Ally can point to and correctly name the following heroes: Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Thing, Thor, Hulk, Ironman, Captain America, Wolverine and the following villains: Joker, Lizardman, Rhino, Vulture, Abomination and Magneto. Cole and Keith are experts and are apparently excellent teachers on the subject. Ally is their attentive and absorbent pupil.

Please take note of her Princess pajamas. Never say I didn't try to feminize her. Perhaps I should start introducing Wonderman, She-Ra and the Invisible Woman into her vocabulary.
Ally had her 2 year check up last week. She will tell anyone who will listen about her "poke" and her "shocks" from going to the "docor".

Currently, Brent and I are waiting out Keith's quarterly, 2 1/2 hour brain and spine MRI. This is the best diagnostic tool to tell us how chemotherapy is working. Regardless of the results, Keith will continue his 9-cycle chemo protocol.We are hoping and praying for good things. We feel good about it. We will meet with the Neurosurgeon tomorrow for results and Brent has offered to post the news then.
Other than that, we are making the most of every good day Keith has until he goes in again next week for another Hospital Admit/Chemo boost.