There's something about Zelda...

...so Christmas has come and gone, not without a visit to the ER. Just 3 days before the holiday, Zelda had a seizure - there were good things and bad things to come out of it. I can't help but think what a life without toxoplasmosis would be like for her. Creed is far less affected by the parasite in his system. He has had only one seizure in his lifetime: when he was a baby - and they attributed it to a fever. Sure, he has his 2 VP shunts in his brain and wears glasses due to the toxo scar on his right macula but he sees everything and "he will learn to read 'normally' and drive" - as they repeated over and over again to us in the NICU upon diagnosis of the infection. Zelda somehow got such a higher dose of the parasite - possibly due to her placement in my uterus.

Zelda was very quiet that morning, keeping to herself and a bit cranky. When I asked her if she was OK, she would say No. She felt warm. Her hands felt limp. She was pale with deep purple lips - all signs of a seizure approaching. It's as if now, as she grows older, she's able to know that something is not right. So, we gave her an extra dose of Keppra and she and I got into bed to take a nap while Creed watched cartoons.

Suddenly at 11am, I had dozed off and was awoken by a gurgle and wheezing sound. Next to me, Zelda was jerking her hands and had started seizing. I called (in this order): Evan, Jason (our EMS commander BFF), and 911. While I was making the calls, I ran to the fridge, took out her Diastat and gave her a suppository of medicine (sorry if that's TMI)...and it worked! She immediately calmed down.

It's often tough to find our little bungalow - as we live on a private alley so I sent my little boy - out in his underwear - to the front porch. Imagine Creed, jumping up and down in his Underoos, waving to the ambulance and oh, so proud of himself.

Off the the ER we went. Her vitals were good. No shunt malfunctions and no sign of pneumonia...we were discharged by 5pm...

Zelda tends to open her teeny little eyes when she wakes up from the seizure...


And she immediately gets busy...


Reading her Braille...


And then crashes again with Uncle Seth...

Christmas is coming...

...ack! The Holiday break started today - like marks on a prison wall, we count off the days of finding suitable fun for the twins' while we still try and get some work done. Really, it's great to have them home, they are adorable and fun but at age 5, it's still very: "Mom, what's this?" "Mom, look at that!"

So, Day 1:
- redecorating the tree (Creed, in his very French Montessori way, likes to do his travail - that is: his "work" removing the ornaments and replacing them EVERY DAY!
- cleaning up with Zelda as she experiences every box and bag of food in the house and the crumbs that accompany them.
- listening to Bebel Gilberto, the Biscuit Brothers Christmas, and the Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers - ad infinitum...
- perhaps a trip to Hancock Fabrics and Office Depot?!!
- Aunt Shakti visits tonight so Evan and I can sneak off to an attorney friend's office holiday cocktail party.

Yesterday was spent at various Pre-K and Ecole Christmas parties, so here are some photos to be shared:

The absolute best recent photo of la petite Z - taken in the garden at her Pre-K program. I love her Elvis sneer and by the way, she's holding an eggplant.

The hysterical mug-shot Christmas ornament, starring Zelda in a Yard Dog t-shirt:


Z in her classroom wearing her oh-so-80's inspired Holiday outfit...


At Ecole, with the friends singing "Vive le Vent" - that would be Jingle Bells..




I call this photo "Cheeks": Creed and Tito enjoying their French holiday potluck...

Le Vendredi Noir, Santa and Olfactory tins...

Just a few things on my mind:

...so, in the past few years they have been referring to this day - the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday. Wide Americans in their bad t-shirts camp out in line at the big box stores to storm "La Bastille" and pull everything off the shelves in the guise of buying at discount prices. Now, they're trying to combat this day with a special promotion tomorrow called "Small Business Saturday". What I think is unfair is that today, the unsightly, reckless, unsophisticated battle has claimed the glorious non-color of Black for their moniker and tomorrow we (our small, independently run businesses) are stuck with a generic, unoriginal name...I assume you know how I feel about this. AND, another thing - I had a call from a local TV station the other day to comment on this Saturday's "SBS"..."as a small business owner, will you promoting and participating in this wonderfully local event, by slashing your prices to bring customers into shop at your boutique?" Why? No. I work hard. Every small business owner that I know does, too. We are not about to compete with WalMart's $1.99 specials while we slave over our original products, our merchandising and our beautiful displays - never mind paying our loyal employees more than minimum wage. I hope that my customers will understand that I try to offer them the best product for their money and don't have the 1000% mark-up that would enable me to slash their retail price down to just a few more cents more than what I would be paying a child in a third world country for production. Sigh...

So, No. 2: Creed is so into Santa this year. We have been seeing him everywhere since before Halloween. So, I lied. I have told Creed that we were not able to speak of Santa, look for him and discuss him until after Thanksgiving as it is against the law. Yep, that's right - I am a dictator. However, today the moratorium has been lifted.

and No. 3: Zelda is a cool little girl. One of the many things I love about la petite Z is that we have so far successfully avoided the pink sparkly-dom of little girlhood. No "My little ponies", no t-shirts with princesses on them, no Barbies or any dolls for that matter. However, as she grows older, it gets increasingly more difficult to buy her gifts aside from books and music. I have turned to making them -gifts that is - and this year, I have a super idea for her Christmas gift and I beg the assistance of my dear readers. Here is the idea: each morning I drink my tea from Mariage Freres that comes in a wonderfully smooth and beautiful black tin, I save them or regift them but at this point I have at least fifteen or so, like this...



I want to capture smells, fill each tin with an object either possessing the smell or just the smell itself. On the bottom of the can, I'll label the smell in Braille. We can play the game with her (and Creed as well, for that matter) as she chooses a tin, she'll open it and I'll ask her to identify the smell. After she distinguishes the smell, we can read the word together labeled on the bottom of the can. Not only will she be sharpening her olfactory sense but she'll be practicing her Braille as well. So, I have coffee, leather, roses, glue, tea(!), but I need others...pray tell, dear readers...close your eyes, think of your favorite smells, how they be represented or stored in a can? Send me your ideas...Also, I need a name for this game. So, here goes and merci d'avance...

HO, HO, HOpe...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...so, our week goes something like this.

Sunday: Errands, waffle party, work

Monday: "Uncle" Seth arrives from Telluride and "Uncle" Craig arrives from New Haven. Evan has nicknamed them the Swedish bachelors; they come every Christmas and we eat, make movies and catch up on the news of the year.

Tuesday: 7am - Zelda goes in for an MRI on her brain and her orbits...looking to see that her eyes and sockets are growing accordingly.

Wednesday: 8am - my first visit to the oncologist to discuss a treatment plan. Things are going as well as they possibly could. The final pathology results showed the margins removed along with the tumor are clear. The 3 (count 'em 3!) sentinel nodes are clear. They say the cancer is stage 1 and it's good that I caught it early. Oh, and the HER2 came back negative - not sure exactly what that means but I do know that you don't want it to be positive. So, on Wednesday we'll get a plan of attack be it chemo or radiation or both...and then possibly a second and third opinion. I am feeling well...just still tired and sore after the last weeks surgery.

I guess the best part of Christmas Eve will be our Reveillon meal...Seth will cook up our annual feast for dinner. I'm thinking foie gras...

Thursday: Merry Christmas! Off to the 'burbs to be with the entire family and guests.

AND, un grand merci to all for the good wishes, prayers, karma, Native Amercain spirit bags, natureopathic remedies, childcare, handholding, and flowers ... oh, the flowers!

Zelda and I are still debating about our trip to Paris for the 200eme anniversaire de Louis Braille on January 4th. We would have to leave on New Year's Eve but it looks as though traveling with a toodler while recovering from surgery may not be the best choice, but I AM feeling brave...on verra...