Niranjana, Melissa and Andy

Niranjana's preschool class went to Dairy Queen for lunch today. They "earned" the money from a lemonade stand they did last week. Parent chaperones were not requested, which at one time would have completely freaked me out. Now, I'm OK with it (although I won't be putting her on the bus by herself any time soon).

This is what the 20 kids and five teachers did:

• Preordered their lunch from the menu.

• Boarded the Ben Franklin Transit bus at the stop near preschool.

• Rode the bus to Dairy Queen.

Psych!

We're on baby watch for some of our best friends. Aunt V. is due later this month with a girl, but things are moving along and I now have an extra child seat in my car in case I'm the one taking the big sister to preschool with Niranjana. I even have "I'm the Big Sister" and "I'm the Big Cousin" shirts ready to go for the girls.

Niranjana hasn't asked the obvious questions about Aunt V.'s delicate condition, however, Niranjana continues to claim that she has babies in HER tummy. Oh my! Here is tonight's dinner conversation.

Niranjana's classroom had a poster up with each child's response to the question: What do I want to be when I grow up? There was a ballerina, a scientist, an Indiana Jones, etc. Niranjana's answer was: A Reader!

I was so pleased that she wants to be a reader. We love books at our house! So I asked her about it. "That's not right," she said. "I want to be a fairy."

So we went to Fred's and bought a Tinkerbell T-shirt.

Special Agent Oso is the spy-in-training in a new Playhouse Disney cartoon that's a big hit at our house (think James Bond for preschoolers). Oso, a bear, helps little kids learn things like making a salad, saving energy, packing for the beach, or getting dressed by themselves.

"Hide from Mommy" is a game Niranjana and Andy play at bedtime. I'll be brushing my teeth and will hear the call to hide, followed by giggles and the rustling of sheets.

"Where did Daddy and Niranjana go?" I wonder aloud. "Oh look, there are two big lumps in the bed. I'll have to flatten those so I can go to sleep."

So I take the pillow and start gently whacking the lumps. The small one squirms. "Oh no, it's a monster! Or a dinosaur! I better tickle it."

The tickling results in more giggles. "Hey, that sounds like Niranjana," I say.

Niranjana has a favorite number. It's 18. Best we can figure, it's based on her birthday. She's counting well past 18 now, up to around 49 with limited assistance, but 18 seems to be her No. 1.

If she needs a random quantity for a story, it'll usually be 18. It's also great for food purposes, like how many edamame (soybeans) she needs to eat before she can be excused (we're pretty sure she ate more than 18, once she got going). Here are some other examples.

We went to an Indian Dance Recital on Sunday. Niranjana wore one of her "sparkle dresses" that Ammaji bought in north India. Aunt Rain and Uncle Alan joined us there. All us girls wore bindis, although Niranajana removed her bindi and bangles partway through.

We prepped our girl that there would be a lot of people who looked like her, and that everyone there would know how to say her name correctly. There were nearly 200 people plus Indian food for $2/plate at intermission.

We've been practicing our address, phone number, etc. with Niranjana. She pretty well has it down, so this morning we moved on to how to describe our house.

"And what do we grow in our back yard?" I asked, expecting grapes or roses.

"Weeds," Niranjana said.

Tonight my husband said he is tired of chemo. Tired of the toxic chemicals, tired of the smell, tired of being tired. This brave man, a night owl by habit and profession, is in bed asleep and it's only 8:45 p.m.

What can a wife say, besides "I love you and I'm proud of you"? He's been battling this cancer — lymphoma — full-throttle since the preliminary diagnosis on Oct. 31. And he's winning. Five chemos down, one more to go on March 31, then a month off for the chemo to do its thing, followed by a CT scan. Then we'll know if he needs chemos 7 and 8, or if he's done.

Niranjana's vocabulary and imagination really took off last fall. The difference between August and October was especially notable. Credit goes to a combination of Montessori education and cinematic pop culture. And maybe a few stories from books, we hope.

Our girl regularly will start a new conversation in the car or at bedtime with "I have a story." Here is the one she told last night. I wrote it down as she told it and confirmed the details with her.