Kira is on the Level 3 Olympiad team, and she just mastered the round off back handspring. Way to go Kira!

My friend, patient, and former neighbor Tom White has authored a great book A Kid From North Wilmington, which I just finished. It is about Tom’s experiences growing up in Edgemoor the 1950s and 1960s. Tom has an incredible memory and reading his book brought back lots of memories from my own childhood.

Here’s Tom in front of Mount Pleasant School, which he attended when it was a junior high school. It is now the elementary school that my daughter Leah attends. Tom’s story is very interesting, including when his dad suddenly dropped dead at a viewing of all places when Tom was only 14, forcing his mother to get a full-time job to support the family. There are lots of stories of adventures he an his friends embarked on, and Tom paints vivid pictures of Wilmington’s commercial landscape during his childhood.
The book is available directly from Tom for $25 (which also covers S&H). His email is: TWhite515@aol.com

Corey Roca, Dr Mike’s stepson and Tina’s son, graduated today from Schilling-Douglas School of Hair Design. Congratulations Corey for your achievement after all the hard work. We’re all very proud of you!

We saw a very nice family today — the Collins family. I noted that big brother Mark was walking in the hallway holding his siblings’ hands Makalani (on the left) and Mahari. What a good big brother! And note their beautiful smiles. They also brought in their infant brother Maverick. These kids are the cutest kids I’ve ever seen with the exception of my own!

Here’s a picture of the whole family including oldest brother Matthew and Mr as Mrs Collins. We can’t take credit for their good looks, but hopefully we can take a little credit for their beautiful smiles!

An article in the New York Times describes the poor oral health that exists in many nursing homes, partly because nursing home staffs often overlook it and partly because some nursing home residents refuse to allow staff to provide toothbrushing for them.

“I always say you can measure quality in a nursing home by looking in people’s mouths, because it’s one of the last things to be taken care of,” said Dr. Judith A. Jones, chairwoman of the department of general dentistry at Boston University. “Aides change someone’s Depends, change a catheter or turn somebody every few hours, but teeth often don’t get brushed twice a day.”

If you have a loved one in a nursing home, make sure that the staff is diligently monitoring and assisting with oral health.

Kira just loves animals so for her 11th birthday party, she asked her friends to bring pet food and supplies to donate food and supplies to Faithful Friends Animal Society. Kira and Leah brought the goods today to the shelter and got to meet some great animals.