Dispatches from the Home Front - Friday the 15th

After a long day of travel and a quiet night of sleep, Jada was a good girl and stayed in her room all the way until 6:30. She got dressed, came down for breakfast, and ate everything put in front of her, while I feverishly juggled a couple of work-related things that needed my tending to and packed for the day ahead.

We went with my dad to see my mom; even though her hospital doesn't allow visitors under 14 during flu season, my dad coaxed the docs into making an exception. My mom was so happy to see us; it really made my day to see her face brighten up looking at us.

We left her to the many things the docs and nurses had to work on with her, and went home, where Jada played with toys while I finalized some work things. Then we were off to downtown San Jose, where I met friends of mine at the children's museum. Jada got ridiculously wet at the water exhibit, but thankfully I came prepared with an extra set of clothes. Although not an extra set of shoes; so I had to carry her to the car, air them out on the dashboard while we drove to our next destination, and then blow dry them with the car's interior heating system.

We jetted from there to dim sum with a friend of mine. Jada was starved, so she scarfed up lots more than she usually eats. And when she had eaten her fill and was on the brink of getting antsy, my friend produced a sketch pad with special pens, which kept her preoccupied long enough for my friend and I to catch up some more.

I dropped off Jada at my cousin's house to play with their two kids, ages 10 and 8, and then headed back to the hospital, where my dad was already. I guess my mom was so excited about seeing us that she couldn't sleep the night before, and the sleep medication they gave her to fall back asleep was far too strong. So she was sleeping most of the time I was there, but I did garner another smile from her when I told her I had heard from Amy that Aaron was scarfing up the sticky rice Amy had made for him. Now that's a Taiwanese boy a grandmother can be proud of!

I returned to my cousin's and we had pizza there for dinner. Jada clearly enjoyed having cousins and toys to play with; she held out to stay longer, until she could hardly keep her eyelids open. As soon as we got home, she obediently got her pajamas on, crawled into bed, and closed her eyes and smiled as I read her a bedtime story and sang her a song. There's nothing that can beat the contented look of a tired but happy little girl.