Spring 2001

Well, this did not start out being the easiest year. In December, Ben was diagnosed with cancer - a "lymphoma" in his chest. We immediately went to NYC to get treatment where Ben's brother and sister-in-law are physicians at Mt. Sinai hospital. The good news is that we quickly found out that the tumor was "contained", and had not spread to other places. We spent about a month at Ben's parent's apartment in Greenwich Village making daily trips to the hospital and then finally started chemotherapy treatment.

Staying in NYC was difficult, but we did enjoy one snowstorm, and Dana had a blast! Then, we moved back to Maryland - driving back to NYC once every three weeks for treatment. We had some snow in Maryland also, but it wasn't quite the same...

Ben isn't supposed to ride his bicycle (to minimize risks) during his treatment, so after over five years of marriage, we broke down and bought a second car. It is a Toyota Prius - which runs on hybrid electric/gas power. It operates just like a normal car - taking gas, and not needing to be plugged in. The gas engine charges the batteries, and when the car isn't drawing too much power, the gas engine shuts off and it runs on electric only, and is nice and quiet! Other times, it runs on a mix of gas and electric. It seems to get between 45 and 55 mpg - on the lower end when we make short trips and don't give it time to warm up.

Dana has been getting used to the trips back and forth between Maryland and New York City. She turned 2 in February, and now that she's a big girl, she has started studying. Lately, she's been working on crayons and stickers (in the pictures above she is wearing her favorite "mimmy" sweatshirt working away). We also changed her crib to a "big-girl" bed by taking down one side and putting up a little rail so she can get in and out of bed herself. Amazingly enough, she continues to wait for us in her bed when she wakes up, but she'll surely soon realize that she can get out by herself and come get us...

Dana continues to mostly like stuffed animals, but every once in a while we catch her with a doll. She also very much loves her "bobbie" (pacifier), but we mostly only let her have it when she's sleeping.

While Dana is still our little girl, she often seems beyond her years - for example, she knows exactly how to pose wearing a kimono...

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