Off-Topic Thank You Note

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 7949

This is totally off-topic, but I was finally writing my Christmas card
inserts (Polish folk think the Christmas season lasts until Three Kings,
so I'm still covered), and it gave me a small clue why I have loved this
list and its discussions so much. In a word, escapism, and here's what
I've been escaping from (O Ye Pregnant One, here's what ya got to look
forward to....). So Merry Christmas or whatever else you celebrate,
marvel as the millennium turns, and thank you all again!

--Amanda

Card insert text:

In partial remuneration for making you all wait so long for your cards,
I sat down with our 2000 calendar, its little squares festooned with
tiny printing, and sifted out the year's low- and high-lights for your
reading pleasure. The tabulation and summaries follow.

 New teeth15 [9 baby (Michael) 3 adult (Kasia), 3 six-year molars
(again Kasia; she started early)]
 Lost teeth3 [all Kasia (1 of which she swallowed). She made a little
tooth-shaped pillow to hold them so the tooth fairy would not have to
get squashed looking around under her bed pillow for the tooth. The
tooth fairy appreciated that.]
Injured teeth2 incidents [stroller fell over with Michael in it; Kasia
fell and hit a chair]
Repaired teeth1 [Mandy]
Child illnesses of several days' duration8 [4 Tomek, 2 Kasia, 2
Michael]
Fingers shut in car doors1 incident [Kasia shut it on Tomek, by
accident]
Adult illnesses2 [Mandy]
Adult injuries2 [Jan, wrist & back]
Emergency room trips1 [Kasia's meningitis symptoms, thankfully nothing]

Surgeries1 [Tomek's ear tubes]
 Deaths and funerals of friends or family3 [one of which, Mandy's Uncle
Walter, was the very last of her immediate older relatives, placing her
in the oldest generation of her family at 35, which in her opinion feels
very odd.]
 Births1 [Jan's sister had a baby girl in November, ending Kasia's
isolation as the only girl-cousin on his side of the family; she's very
excited about this]
Major car repairs, straightforward4
 Major car repairs involving weeks without the car, small claims action,
and consumer complaints1
Regular car services5
Major remodeling projects1 [we finished the bonus room!]
 Major household repairs, completed1 [A/C, which took up our new kitten
money, displeasing Kasia greatly]
Major household repairs, put off1 [roof leaks at chimney and louver]
Tax arguments with the county, successful1
Vacuum cleaner repair1
VCR repair1
Totally dead still cameras1 [during Michael's first birthday party, no
less]
Totally dead videocameras1 [during Jan's birthday gathering]
Effectively dead cell phones1
Road trips involving at least one parent and one or more kids9
Movies without children1 [just Mandy, her birthday present (Chicken
Run)]
 Dinners without children0 [including our 10th anniversary; we all went
to the Magic Time Machine, where the fruit drinks that smoke and bubble
(dry ice) were great hits with the kids. A romantic evening all round]
Fancy evening out without children1 [Les Miserables]
Sleepovers1 [Kasia's first, over at Brandy Vickers']


Michael progressed from learning to creep in January, to running and
walking up stairs in December. He's starting to talk, but was arguing
his points loudly before there was any verbal content, alas. He had a
beach ball cake for his first birthday, in June, which we have no
pictures of because that's when the camera died. He's tremendously loud
and tremendously stubborn, and luckily for him, tremendously cute.

Tomek started speech therapy at the Harry Jersig Center at Our Lady of
the Lake in January, and goes twice a week. It seems to be helping; his
progress continues slow but steady. After an irritating evaluation
procedure by the Floresville school district, involving evaluators at
the preschool and the house over several visits, an education plan was
designed for him. He started school in special ed in Floresville in
August, going half-days so he could continue therapy at the Jersig
Center. He got to have three birthday parties in Septemberone at home
(Superman cake), one at school (cupcakes with marzipan Superman logos),
and one with the therapists at the Center. We put a lot of miles on the
car this year, since the school is 15 miles south of our house, and the
center is 25 miles north.

Kasia turned 5 in June, and had a big party with a smiley face theme.
She started kindergarten in August, being homeschooled by Mandy. She's a
quick study when she's paying attention, and she's totally intractable
otherwise. She started Daisy Scouts in October, and rode on a float with
her troop in the Floresville Peanut Festival parade. She was very
impressed with the diver from Texas in the Olympics who won the gold,
and she wants to be a diver like her Tio when she grows up.