"The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop”

--Mark Twain

Undaunted...

...is the best word I can think of to describe Isaac, our 8 year old. He comes down the stairs wearing his basketball uniform, though his game is still a full 3 1/2 hours away. Apparently he couldn't wait to lose his fifth straight in a row (he will lose, I'm not being pessimistic; I'm his team's coach, I've seen his team play four games already, and I know who we're playing -- a team that beat us handily a month ago.)

He's undaunted, though. Hard to believe he's the same kid who, last Saturday after losing by one point, bawled his eyes out and punched his fist into his leg over and over the way I envision my grandfather must have done a hundred years ago when he was a kid.

I'm in the kitchen now loading the dishwasher when he begins the conversation.

Let me interject first, though, the innocence I see in this kid's personality. He has a COMPLETELY self-centered character appropriate for his age; I'm not implying he's selfish or rude or anything. Rather, that he continually can't understand why anyone wouldn't want to automatically play along with whatever bizarre game or activity his brain has cooked up spur-of-the-moment.

These games never really make sense, and he finds an abundance of humor in two things -- being silly, and being repetitious.

Very, VERY, repetitious.

It's as if things seem exponentially funnier to him the more times he does them.

So this morning as I'm finishing up loading the dishwasher, he begins a slow robot walk, and begins explaining to me the "game."

Isaac: So daddy, do you know what?
Me: What?
Isaac: I'm a robot bomb (he's doing a sort of waddling penguin-walk at this point, with an exaggerated side-to-side lean.) And guess what?
Me: What?
Isaac: When I start to talk faster, guess what?
Me: What?
Isaac: It means I'm about to walk toward somebody and blow them up.
Me: (Now finished with the dishes) Wow. (I walk toward the table, coffee cup and book in hand.)
Isaac: (Nonsense robot talk, here.) Blaahhg....Ma....Tahn...Bah--bah--bahbahbah....PKKEWWW!!!
Me: That's funny bud, really.
Isaac: Blah...blah...blaaah...blah-blah-blah...blahblahblah....PKKEWWW!!

I'm reading and sipping coffee at this point. Isaac does his duck/robot walk over and over, and I'm wondering how long will this one last? He can entertain himself much longer than you might believe, a blessing in many ways. Isaac is one of those kids who can make a game out of almost anything he finds laying around. Several moments later:

Isaac: And daddy, guess what?
Me: What?
Isaac: Do you know what happens when I blow someone up?
Me: Allah gains the glory?
Isaac: Uh...no. No, do you know what happens? The explosion causes the factory to blow apart, and a thing goes into outer space, do you know what it is? It's the mother heart of the factory, and...

And he's simply, in one word, undaunted.

This ability to spring back, his resilience, is undoubtedly part of what got him through cancer treatment. Hard to believe at age 2 months he was sitting in a hospital room where he'd spend nearly half of his first year of life.

I don't ever want to forget that, that we were there and we got through that, with a lot of help from friends and family and a lot of prayers.

We were told so many things MIGHT happen due to all the chemotherapy he was receiving. He MIGHT not have any teeth develop properly; he might have heart development problems. The chemotherapy could cause other cancers. He even received treatments injected directly into his central nervous system -- the effects of those were unknown, as the doctors knew of very few (if any!) cases of an infant so young receiving them.

And now he's this vibrant, happy, crazy 8-year-old. Considering the length of his hospital stay, we were blessed with very few long-term effects from his treatments.

And we're now on to another game -- but this time, his mother has become the player.

Isaac: Guess what, mommy? No, not like that, you put your feet up on the ottoman and...

And here we go again...

Undaunted...