A lot has happened and there are small new developments with Ella all the time. I emphasize “small”. Ella had her 4th birthday last week. She finished the school year with a super play performed by two of the classes at her school. It was a theatrical version of Eric Carle’s: The Hungry Caterpillar. Ella was one of four oranges. The worm, (played by Nate), came by and picked a velcro-ed picture off an orange of the placard hanging around her neck. Ella loved the whole ordeal. When she made her way into the room packed with parents with all of her classmates she burst out in “movin’ & shakin” as she does when she’s very excited. She stood on the stage with her walker, playing her part, and was so excited she would have gone straight into the audience if Amy hadn’t been holding her back. All in all, it was a fun experience for her. School doesn’t start again until July 11th. Now she is at home with Beth all day and yesterday woke up with a high fever. We rushed her to Dr. Marcus b/c the fever was so high and also b/c she has this lump in her neck under her ear. We noticed it a few days ago but weren’t sure what to do about it. It seemed too much of a coincidence that it wouldn’t have something to do with the surgery but then there have been stranger coincidences before. Anyhow, we wanted to rule out this being related to an infection plus we thought the doctor should see it anyhow. Etan sent off pictures of the area to Drs. Bauer and Patel too. Since then we’ve heard back from them and Ella’s illness turned out to be viral. Sore throat but not strep. Netta just had the same thing starting last Thursday. Wow, this has been a difficult couple of months healthwise.