Niranjana, Melissa and Andy

If you work for the government, please don't read this. Just move on.

When we received Niranjana's green card back in late 2007, her name was listed as "No Name Given Niranjana." Thus, her last name was Niranjana and her first name, well, wasn't given.

We thought this was pretty funny. I could imagine some government drone typing in names all day, earning more than I do and not worrying one bit about accuracy.

Now we move on to the subject of her "Certificate of Live Birth" as recorded by the State of Washington. It came in the mail Saturday.

Tonight, we are having fish sticks for dinner. A recent must-watch movie has been Finding Nemo.

So I picked up a fish stick, put it in front of my face and said, "Hi, I'm Nemo!"

Niranjana picked up hers and replied, "Hi, I'm Dory!" - and took a big bite.

So much for sentimentality.

During my battle with cancer, Melissa and I were straight with Niranjana. Melissa did a good job of explaining that "Daddy has germs in his body called cancer" and that she needed to make sure she washed her hands and didn't cough on me.

We weren't necessarily sure how much she understood - in fact, I didn't think she got most of it because except for a day or two after each chemo, I didn't seem all that ill. Even my hair falling out was more amusing than frightening to Niranjana.

Today, I was driving Niranjana home when she asked: "Daddy, do you have cancer?"

Just a quick note to those who follow our little domestic dramas: My doctor declared me free of cancer this morning after six excruciating chemotherapy treatments between Dec. 12 and March 31.

We are thrilled, and I am so thankful to everybody who kept me in your thoughts and prayers.

Most of all, I am grateful that I will get to watch Niranjana grow up.

On Friday, we finalized Niranjana's adoption in Benton County Superior Court. Thanks to family, friends and a really cool judge, it was a great day.

All the grandparents were able to make it to town, and we got everybody to the courthouse early (a bit of a miracle in our families). Aunt Rain and Uncle Alan were there for us, as were the Bailey-Rods. As a special treat, a strong contingent from WSU Tri-Cities was in attendance (including Melissa's boss and her boss's boss, the chancellor), as was my boss, the publisher of the Tri-City Herald.

Niranjana has been working on spelling and letter recognition pretty hard in recent weeks and is making strong progress.

For example, when I take her to Dairy Queen for a Dilly Bar, she quickly picks up on the letters "D" and "Q" from a couple of blocks away.

Those of you who have followed (or caught up on) our little domestic story probably realize that Niranjana didn't love her daddy too much early on. In fact, from about our fourth day in India back in September 2007 through, oh, that Christmas, she pretty much clung to Melissa for all she was worth.

Earning Niranjana's trust and love was long, arduous - and worth it. Frankly, it took less time than it did with Melissa (I asked her out for three years before she relented). Today, we're golden, and I relish every moment of being her daddy.

I always find it amusing how certain words or phrases take on new meaning and enter our vernacular. Sometimes this happens within a society as a whole or perhaps a smaller community - or even a household.

Take the phrase: "Deh-deh-deh-deh-deh!"

On Presidents Day, I stayed home with Niranjana for the first part of the day because preschool was closed. Our first stop was a driving range in Kennewick so she could practice with the new Tiger Woods golf clubs she received for Christmas from Uncle Joe.

After a successful bucket of balls being hit in the general direction of "forward," it was nearly lunchtime, so Niranjana and I decided on a McDonald's restaurant nearby. I'm not a big fan of McD's - in fact, the food is generally terrible - but it has that play area for children.

We received some good news this week on the cancer front: Through my first three chemo treatments, my body is responding extremely well.

We also received a tidbit of rather sobering information, and that got me to thinking about how everything tends to work out as it should.

I asked a member of my medical team how long I've had cancer, based on what she now sees in the CT scans and reports. She said that it's probably been there for two years, give or take.