Niranjana, Melissa and Andy

• We were playing Kindermusik in the car on the way to school and I had track 4 on incessant repeat. She calls it the "happy song" — it's a jaunty fiddle tune.

“It sounds like a song you would dance to, like square dancing,” I said, forgetting that Niranjana doesn’t know what square dancing is yet.

She pondered the square dancing for about five seconds.

“What about triangle dancing?” she asked. “Or circle dancing?”

• We passed a Carl’s Jr. semi-truck that had a massive photo of a juicy hamburger on the side.

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.

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.

Summer has arrived. It's been in the 80s for several days. We've been through the sprinklers and in the neighbors' paddling pool. I've been eyeing backyard water toys in the newspaper ads and contemplating a slip-and-slide. Some of our close friends had the same idea and they invited us over to try it out.
Well, Niranjana tried it out. We watched. She was a natural, of course. And it watered the grass - bonus. So it's on the list.

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?"

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.

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.

We had a mostly relaxing weekend at Cannon Beach earlier this month. Andy especially needed some ocean air and the peace he gains from walking on the sand. Niranjana had been declaring that "I'm missing Haystack Rock." Then the Surfsand Resort e-mailed an April offer we couldn't refuse, so off we went.

I wasn't much fun for the first 36 hours, as I acquired some food poisoning on road-trip food. Better me than the child, I say. One of the photos was my view from our balcony as Andy and Niranjana hit the beach.