Sweet 16 (Months)

Ethan's 16 months has passed with little notice. It has been such a busy time for our family lately, I honestly don't know where all the time has gone. This is probably the longest I have gone without writing a blog entry. Sorry!

Ethan is doing well. Kelly and I should really be taking more videos of him, since he is just developing and changing daily now it seems. Speech is still (always) lagging. This can be frustrating for both parents and Ethan. His wheezing is now a regular occurrence and it is just a matter of time before he is "officially" diagnosed with asthma.

If not for Kelly, who I defer most/all of Ethan's health concerns to, I would not be able to stop worrying. I mean, breathing, so essential, the most essential of functions, to keep an active life - the very definition of this stage of toddlerhood that Ethan is in. But otherwise little slows Ethan. He is experimenting daily with things he gets away with which he should not. For example, climbing on to the dining chairs, and then on to the dining table. Pushing his toddler chair up to the kitchen counter to help him reach objects we purposely store in high places like the kitchen counter. Sticking his hand in the toilet bowl (he has sort of lost interest in flushing the toilet several times at least). And on and on...

Work is picking up for me, and Kelly and I have a bunch of meetings lined up that will just contribute to that added level of complexity that comes with having to coordinate everything which leaving home with a toddler demands. But time just zips by when we are stretched thin like this.

Ethan starts preschool next week. I start a full week schedule (instead of half days on Wednesdays).

Kelly is looking in to a CME course in June in Vancouver. Maybe we can coordinate our trip to BC then and make for a short vacation to catch up with friends. Long overdue!

All Fun & Games

Immediately after my flight from Las Vegas landed in Atlanta, I was making my way to meet Kelly, Ethan and friends to celebrate Kelly's successful passing of the Pediatrics board exam. Renea (her partner, Richard), Josie (and housemate Sarah), and the Teskes joined us in congratulating Kelly, with dinner at Okinawa in Ellijay. Our party took up an entire (and private) hibachi table/section. The children, Adib and Ethan, were especially interested in the cook and his tricks (and of course the flames!). Ethan kept on repeating, "Wooooooooooooow" albeit he was saying this for everything the cook did, even when the cook was merely cracking an egg.

Most of us then returned back to our home for what is quickly becoming a sort of tradition - games and tea and cake!! This night, however, there was another special reason to have cake: it was Sarah's birthday (today)! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Regeneron Investigator Meeting

Last Thursday I left to Atlanta to catch a flight to Las Vegas for an investigator meeting sponsored by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. On the way to the airport, I stopped by the nearest Toyota dealership for Kelly's 10,000 mile maintenance checkup. An oil and filter change, tire rotation and fluids check later, I was on my way to the airport's park-and-ride.

The flight to LV was more or less uneventful, which is always a good thing. The only exception was going through a thunderstorm in the first 15 minutes of the flight, which provided some uneasy moments for me (turbulence) but at least the storm provided good amounts of rain in Blue Ridge. Turbulence on flights always makes me worried.

I arrived at the airport in LV (for the first time) and was surprised to find slot machines in the airport! (I don't know why I was surprised). A shuttle service awaited us - several conference attendees. We stayed at the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort which was about 24 miles or so away from "the strip" or the glitz of Vegas. The resort, situated in the desert in a sort of valley, surrounded by generous hills, the road or driveway leading to the entrance lined with palm trees, was really quite nice and impressive. We arrived around sunset and so you know I had to take some photos.

The meeting was over Thursday and Friday. Thursday's agenda was registration and dinner (which was fantastic BTW). Friday was the full day, starting at 7am for breakfast, concluding at 5:30pm or so. We were introduced to the study protocol, the investigational drug, the regulatory material, shipping of materials for lab testing, all the ins and outs of conducting this clinical trial. We received electronic data capture (EDC) training for this study also.

At 5pm, I get a text message from Ray (my boss) saying we have a ride waiting out front. -- I guess we were skipping the remainder of the meeting (which was only the wrap-up session and dinner left). Lee (Ray's wife) had a night on the town planned for us which included: (1) dinner at the ultra trendy nightclub and restaurant called Tao (located at the Venetian hotel) -- asian bistro cuisine, (2) a stroll through some of the hotels and shops at the strip, (3) gelato at the Venetian for dessert .. and best of all (4) tickets to the show La Reve, which was showing at the swanky (new) hotel, the Wynn.

I have to thank the Tidmans, especially Lee, for organizing this evening and for including me. They planned to stay an extra day/night and I am sure their Saturday would have included all of this though not necessarily the exact itinerary. But knowing I was leaving very early on Saturday, the Tidmans decided to quickly come up with a night on the town for my first Vegas experience. Thank you! There's nothing like experiencing Vegas the Tidman way: personal drivers to and from hotel (no waiting for taxis), near front row seats at our show, and more.

La Reve

Now I can say: Been there, done that -- I should have bought the book! This show rocked. A la Cirque (de Solei?), La Reve was absolutely breathtaking. The light show, the athletic and jam packed routines were just unbelievable. The difference between Cirque and Reve, I think, is that the latter is focused on utilizing water in their shows (diving, that sort of thing). The theatre being dome-shaped, and I don't know if I can explain what I am about to say and do justice to this one part of the show ... where, at ever increasing heights, performers (and as part of the routine or show) were being "dropped" into the pool -- and we're talking heights of 30-40 feet!! ... And then, this one last "diver", was lifted through and out the top of the theatre ceiling (usually the case if the performer is changing to another costume or whatever for the next scene) .. only for the brief suspense of nothing happening broken by the re-entry of this performer down to the pool - OK some 60-75 feet?? It was ridiculous! R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S! Here I thought this part of the show was over and on to the next, when this final guy comes through the theatre dome top to be dropped into water, perfectly vertical, little splash. Gasp! Needless to say the appreciative crowd gave a thunderous applause and many oohs and aahs. (don't people die at impact at those heights? hmmm)

Late and exhausted we returned to the hotel. I had but a few hours before I had to meet my shuttle service at the lobby the following morning for an early flight back.

So much for what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

40 Of 137 Will Have To Do

With some reshuffling of photos, I managed to squeeze in a selection of pics from this past weekend with Carmel, Vipul and family. I failed to mention (see entry below) that we also went to Mercier apple orchard - at least the shop, since there isn't much to see in the orchard in January. Mercier in Blue Ridge always has the BEST apple cider and fried apple pies - yum! Anyways, check out the album in My Picasa (on right).

Lakhanis Visit

Last weekend the Lakhanis came to visit us. Carmel, Vipul, Kavi and Layli spent the weekend in our home. We took them to downtown Blue Ridge and did a bit of shopping and browsing through the many stores selling local art crafts and furniture, and many antique shops. We went into art gallery stores, fudge shops, and the Great Eats delicatessen for lunch.

Will write more in a separate entry or update this one. For now, I am trying to upload the many pictures we took that weekend. I have run out of space on my Picasa and Flickr accounts, and so I am trying to open a Photobucket account. There are many free photo album sites. Any recommendations? Or, since I am clearly a trigger-happy photo enthusiast, I should just invest in a real (paid-for) account with unlimited space?

Anyways, soon I hope to have these pictures up.

One thing I will say about this past weekend, it was relaxed and so much fun being with our old friends again. And what an adorable - and ALWAYS smiling - lovely baby girl, Layli.

Huh?

OK, so it's not as hot as this picture portrays. Was it not just a few days ago I posted an entry saying just how cold it was? 4F (-16C) ring a bell? Well, Earth no longer remembers, that's for sure. Today it is 70F (21C).

The Learning Depot

This past week has been filled with many new and exciting things.

One thing that has transpired over the past few days that both Kelly and I feel very excited about, is the discovery of this place in Blue Ridge called The Learning Depot.

Both Kelly and I are working parents, and like many, we too experience the rollercoaster of emotions that come with parenthood. This ride or journey takes us through guilty valleys, and deserving peaks, and loop-to-loops of toddlerhood. In particular, when the topic of Ethan's care and early education comes about, this dynamic coaster is in full gear.

With much investigation and heartache, we were pleased to find a nice home and very loving caregivers for Ethan. Linda and Jimmie Gray, better known as mi-maw (grandma) and pa-paw (grandad) have taken very good care of Ethan the past couple of months, and Noomsie really enjoys Lukie and the other infants currently also cared for by the Grays.

But with toddlerhood comes new challenges, and finding a solution for Ethan that would keep up with his increasingly curious mind and mobility was a very real issue Kelly and I now had to face. As wonderful as Linda has been in providing the best "care" for Ethan, what is needed now is someone who can provide more hands-on activities, and the exploration of many new learning opportunities.

Enter, The Learning Depot.

Back when we were looking for childcare for Ethan, we visited one particular center (name not mentioned) and en-route, drove by The Learning Depot. At the time of course, we were merely intersted in getting to this foreign address and just last week, Kelly thought to contact TLD and see what they have to offer.

By the act of God, TLD was exactly what we have always been looking for, and that we thought would not be available here in Blue Ridge. TLD is a learning center, a preschool based on the philosophy or approach of Reggio Emilia - Italian early childhood educator. (similar to Montessori)

The Reggio Emilia approach to education is committed to the creation of a learning environment that will enhance and facilitate children's construction of his or her own powers of thinking through the combination of all the expressive, communicative and cognitive languages.

As God would have it, TLD accepts children no younger than 16 months (preferably 18 months old). Ethan is 15 1/2 months old. And a 2 1/2 year old boy is leaving town by the month's end, making available one spot in February (when Ethan just turns 16 months old). Class sizes are small (5 children per age grouping per one instructor). Ethan's class will have 5 children, but 2 are part-time/morning, leaving only 3 children to one instructor in the afternoon.



The children do "social play", music activities, hands-on art activities in an art studio that includes pottery instructed by a local clay artist (!!), outside play, gross motor play (bouncy room), "science", and many others. The children have nap times and also snack times, and with each and everything they do, the children are involved: set up cots to sleep in, put away, wash hands and set up table setting to eat, clean up, and so with each learning responsibility and a sense of self, others and sharing.

This Wednesday, I will go with Ethan for his "first day" but only to see how a day's activity is carried out, and the afternoon, Kelly will go back with Ethan. Once we get a sense of TLD in action, we will make our official registration.

www.learningdepotpreschool.com

Board Certified

Nervous and trembling, Kelly opens her email which would tell her whether or not she passed her Pediatrics board exam she sat in October. Everyone that knows Kelly probably had no worry at all that she would pass. Easy to be on that side of the fence, isn't it? Well, y'all are right! Kelly passed and is now a "board certified" pediatrician!

What a long road. Already with her Georgia medical license she can practice both her specialties in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, but board exams make it all the more official (and are they required, Honey?).

In any case, one down, one to go. Kelly is already registered to sit the Internal Medicine board exam in August. Luckily for her, the medicine boards is a one day exam, compared to the pediatrics one which is covered over two exhausting days.

www.riverbirchresearch.com

Several weeks in the working and our company's website is now much more polished and more or less complete. Thanks to my friend Frank Lam, we now have a professional presence on the internet to reflect the quality of work we do in clinical research.

Frank has put up with my many "requests" for changes or ideas, many of which are still ongoing as we strive to put together the best website for our company's current needs. But this is not merely my own vision. Oh no. Frank has inputted many of his own ideas and design elements, many of which I initially would "gently" disagree with, but later find Frank's eye for webpages and his ideas more appropriate and aesthetic than my own. And for this, your own critical decisions for our site, I thank you immensely.

So as we strive to bring more clinical trials studies to Northern Georgia, I welcome you all to view our new look at www.riverbirchresearch.com.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

'08 has been thus far, freezing.

Too cold! The drive to work this morning: 8F (-14C).

We finally got some snow, though nothing compared to my Canadian friends' and families' standards. See My Picasa.

Perhaps it's the wind? or just not being used to cold weather lately? ... brrrrrrrrrr!

NYE With The Teskes

Happy 2008!! We rung in the New Year with our friends, The Teskes. Sevda and Michael graciously hosted dinner prior to (Nineteen Day) Feast.

THANK YOU!!

And when the kids retired for the evening, and our other friends and guests had left also, the few remaining watched a bit of Planet Earth while sipping hot tea and eating chocolates. (Totally laid-back, home-style New Year's). When suddenly, engrossed in a scene of mountain cats and baboons, Orville reminds us it was midnight! Out with the sparkling grape juice, a few toasts, a group photo later, 2008 was officially ushered in. Kelly and I, exhausted as we were then called it a night, but apparently Sevda, Michael and Co. still stayed up to watch Memoires of a Geisha. Ah, good for you guys. We slept the night at the Teskes and are now back at home.

And guess who decided to come back? Sparky!! More later. (Josie, we need the cat food back! Hahaha)