Her first snowshoes!

Wynn got her first pair of snowshoes for Christmas ... but we had no snow on the ground then! Finally, yesterday overnight we got a nice 4" coating - enough to give the shoes a try.  Shadow wanted to help:

Having clear skies ought to be good for playing outside, but when sunset is at 4:30 pm, there's little time to romp around.

 

She got the hang of walking really quickly, and Shadow was overjoyed to have someone to chase.

 

Let's have a video of the two of them playing!

Christmas light show at the U of M

The Tesla Works club at the University of Minnesota College of Science & Engineering puts on a holiday light and music show for a couple weekends between Thanksgiving and Winter Break. They do a 25-minute show where the lights are synchronized to music, and get a nice-sized crowd. The pleasant weather is a bonus - barely any snow left on the ground now; I could walk around campus with an unzipped jacket here on December 13th!

 

We walked around the East Bank for a while afterwards - plenty of students and families looking around and enjoying the weather. Pity the restaurants at Coffman aren't open late on a Saturday night.

The U has changed so much since Ann and I went there, buildings and walkways are in beautiful shape now - interesting and accessible. There's a train! There are so many more international students! The food is so much better! Whether Wynn attends the U or not, we're glad we can show her around campus and instill a respect and desire for higher education.

Braces!

We had the 6-month followup for Wynn's upper-jaw graft today, and everything there looks ideal. For her teeth, we took the next step today and started braces on her two front teeth. These braces work with the tension from her retainer and will re-orient those teeth into their correct angles.

She was helpful and interested through the whole procedure (our dentistry friends at Gillette Children's in St. Paul are a great team)

Followup is in early February 2015. The plan is to get the front pair straight, and then expand to the next two, and the next...

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Inspired by the Math & Science fair at the U of M last week, Wynn decided the theme for this year's tree would be TETRAHEDRONS.

We picked up a couple bags of straws at IKEA, and I cut them down (the bendy part doesn't work well when making these). All three of us ran string through the straws and tied them together to make these triangles.

I put the lights up tonight - we'll trim the rest later...

And here's how the tree turned out when complete:

U of M Math & Science Family Fun Fair

We are so fortunate to live in a city with a major university, especially one that takes its land-grant mission seriously and engages at every level with the people of its state. The U's College of Science & Engineering puts on an annual fair for kids where all the student clubs can exhibit or demonstrate the many cool things they do!

It is no exaggeration to say there were a thousand kids at Coffman today, and what a wonderful sight that was. Wynn was recognized almost at once by a couple of her summer camp counselors!  (Our little rock star...)

Ann comments,"it's pretty easy to tell which students are cut out to be teachers, and who should just stay in the lab.."

So awesome to see so many girls in attendance, BTW

 

Technically, her first selfie

Hmm, someone seems to like using microscopes. CHRISTMAS HINT.

The Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers was ready to sign her up...

Building tetrahedrons with string and soda straws

The Society of Women Engineers was also ready to sign her up, too, especially after she built an awesome parachute!

 

CT scan today

As we try to figure out the next steps to take to deal with Wynn's re-emergent hearing loss, we figured it would be good to know what's going on inside her ears. We couldn't get a scan appointment on the same day as our office appointment, but we were able to get in at Children's Hospital pretty quickly. Within 15 minutes of check-in, Wynn was already set up for the scan as you see here.

Same machine she was scanned in several years ago, as I recall. I stayed here next to her. The hardest part for her was not being able to look around & satisfy her curiosity, especially with a big piece of SCIENCE all around her.  The scan was over in 5 minutes & we were able to get her to school before lunchtime.

Postscript - it took our ENT clinic longer than usual to get back to us due to staff absences (but we know bad news will find you immediately so we weren't worried) - all her inner-ear bones and organs are exactly where they should be and appear to be in fine working order.

With this information, we have decided to re-construct her right eardrum again - we could not get a date during Winter Break; the earliest date was at the end of January. It will be an outpatient procedure, but will take a good 3 hours (about twice as long as the last reconstruction.)

Wynn isn't happy about the prospect of another surgery - she can't hide her disappointment - but the hearing loss is really noticeable now and needs to be taken care of (and she knows that in her head, but it's OK for her heart to be sad...)

Wynn's Rainbow Dash costume

We really had to trim and style that wig ... but she'll be able to use it even when she's a grown-up if she wants!

Helps that her school uniform is light blue too - it's a cold night so she's got two shirts, pants and tights, thick socks and gloves.  The wig will keep her pretty warm, too!

Ann walked her around the neighborhood this year - appropriately dressed, don't you think?

Great haul this year!

Wynn's Hogwarts costume

With a Gryffindor scarf, to boot!

Making Wynn's Halloween costume

She'll have two costumes this year: for the Yinghua Character Parade, her uncle got her Hogwarts robes (photos of that later) so she can be Hermione.  For trick-or-treating, she wants to be Rainbow Dash.

I researched on the Net and YouTube to learn how to make pegasus wings and pony ears ... the wig and tail I found on eBay and are coming from China...  I got a hot-glue gun and foam craft sheets - here we go:

Wire coat hanger inside the wings for rigidity (completely glued in between the foam sheets.) I used two stretchy headbands for her arms to go through.

I think she likes them!