Lady Liberty Rides with Mary Popins

Its Thursday and I have activated Hannah's device 7 times and caused her jaw bone to grow an amazing 3.5mm. Hannah hates the process. She is really uncomfortable when I actually turn the screw and so we have to take a lot of time to prevent the activation times from becoming a major power struggle. What I have been doing is simply holding out my hand to Hannah and asking her to take my hand and let me turn the screw. It is really an exercise in trust. I have to allow her time to prepare for each turn of the key and she has to trust me that I will not force her in anyway. It is really hard to keep that inviting posture without stepping over the line. It is even harder when you have a dead line so you can be on time for your morning doctors appointment. On Wednesday this week we saw the orthodontist and got "job well done" affirmation.

Wednesday afternoon we hung out at home and then Wednesday night we went to #17 Cherry Tree Lane. located in the New Amsterdam. There we met an amazing lady nanny named Mary who looked after two young children named Jane and Michael Banks. We also met Mr and Mrs Banks and learned all about the story of their family from a time long ago. Mary was a wonderful Nanny who had many interesting friends. Her most interesting friend was a man named Bert, who was a chimney sweep. You don't meet many chimney sweeps now a days but Bert was the real thing. I think that Mary and Bert were actually more than just friends but maybe they had known each other for so long that it seemed that they were a couple. Anyway, the Banks family had several problems that they shared with Hannah and I, including problems with Mr Bank's work. He made some hard decisions and his boss got very mad and suspended him from work. Thankfully Mr Banks didn't lose his job in the end and he learned some really hard lessons in this time of trouble. One thing that Hannah and I noticed was that the Banks family all sang a lot and they danced everywhere they went. None of this sit down on the couch to play nintendo and talk about life, oh no. The Banks had all their friends and neighbours over to sing and dance and tell an incredible story of how their family went from having terrible problems to having few problems at all. It was a very colorful story with great effort made to give us images far away places in very old times. Boy oh boy was it a great evening. I'll always remember Mary as she pops in and out of our story of the time that Hannah and I went to New York City.

Today, Hannah and I went with Hannah's friend Maddie and her dad, down to the Staton Island Ferry for a ride across the harbour for lunch. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride. While we were waiting to catch the ferry we saw a World War 2 aircraft carrier, the Intrepid, being towed to its new permanent dock at Pier 86. The Intrepid is a museum with several aircraft on permanent display. It has just had a $186 million retrofit and is said to be a really cool place to see. Unfortunately for Hannah and I we will not be able to go on it as it won't re-open to the public until Nov 11. Maybe we will go on it when we come back to New York in December.

Hannah also started some more focussed schooling today. Ronald McDonald House arranges for tutors to come in and work with the kids at the house if parents wish. I asked if a tutor could be arranged and Deb arrived today. While she is not as magical as Mary Popins I think she and Hannah will get along famously and Hannah will actually get some work done.

On Friday we have more Doctor's appointments so who knows what we'll get up to, stay tuned.

Hannah and John