Flu? 2014

Oh no, it's hit.  Leesha hurts, has a sore throat a cough and a fever.  Ugh.

We were planning to all attend Jack's last fencing class, meeting all 5 grandparents at 6pm.  When I informed Jack that his big sister wouldn't be there because she's not feeling good, he crumbled.  Poor kid.  When he learned his little sister would also not be going (mostly because she's been whiney, and may have a little fever, so I just wanted her to go to bed early), his heart went out to her.  He came to me saying something along the lines of ...
"I feel bad for Maggie.  She's the only one my age.  Dad's usually at work, you're usually busy in the kitchen, Leesha is usually not feeling good or in her room, but Maggie wants to play with me."

This little guy, sometimes he just hits it right on the nose and makes my heart melt a little more.

Of course, this was after he drove me batty on the walk home from school by sloshing through the decomposing leaves along the side of the road, kicking them at his sister and then proceeding to insist on playing outside in the mud with the jacket and gloves I just washed yesterday ....

I know I will miss this someday - my teenager needing me because she doesn't feel good, my son being messy and my "baby" actually being snuggly because she too isn't feeling well.

Jack Fencing

stella-cope

"What is it called?"

She knows she's saying it wrong.

"You know the thing with the three sticks?"

Oh For Crying Out Loud!

...said Jack tonight about something. Such a grown-up phrase that Cara and I immediately started laughing.

"Mom, why are you laughing at Dad?" he said next!




He had to have heard that from his Grandpa Steve. No one else uses that term anymore.

Midnight Marksman

Jack sleeps so deeply that he is unable to wake up and go to the bathroom. The was resulting in chronic wet beds. To avoid this, we fell into a routine of waking Jack up about two hours after bedtime to void. And then again before the last parent's bedtime, which usually ended up another two hours later.

One night we were watching something downstairs when we heard him get up. This usually meant one of us needed to race up stairs and assist in aiming before the entirety of the target was hit. But this night Jack was no where to be found. The bathroom was empty. His and Maggie's room was empty. Moments later we found him in our room, in the closet, and a variety of my laundry was no longer clean! The little guy was sorely confused. Poor Jack has no recall of the events.

The interesting pattern developed for most nights. It was like this: in the first round, Jack was greatly incoherent. He was able to kind of assist in moving his body from bed to bathroom, but you'd have to guide him by the shoulders and definitely aim for him. The second round was completely different. He would almost spring out of bed and shuffle his way to the bathroom with no assistance. You'd have to double time to make sure you were on spot to aim before he fired! Sometimes in second round, Jack was even conversational.

Tonight's Midnight Marksman went like this. Cara and I made the rounds (which mean we peeked in on them and kissed their heads). This stirred Jack. Next thing we know, he is standing on his bed, gathering up his blankets and walks West, right off his bed! and say "Ow!" from under this pile of blankets.

After we help him recover he continues into the bathroom, where I catch up to make double sure we are on target. But instead Jack appears to be trying to climb into the tub. I stop him and sort him out. He pees for quite a while. We finish up and shake it off and he heads back. Gets a hug from Mom and then turns around towards me. I give him a hug, but receive none back. It dawns on me that he isn't attempting to hug, but rather I have blocked his attempt at leaving his room for who knows where! After I let him go he turns to his right and takes one step right into his door! Cara almost totally failed at containing her laugh at that point. Poor little fella, just crawled up on his bed and curled up into a ball, giving up entirely.

In the end, mission accomplished with no mess, nor miss.

Chest Rest

"Leesha, do you have a chest rest like mommy?"

We couldn't help laughing which made Maggie so embarrassed that she cried.

random pictures

taken by Grandpa David

random picture

taken by Grandpa David

"Daisy" likes Daisy

The Littles were eating.  I was in the kitchen.  Margaret came out and hugged me, then thanked me for buying that stuff on the table.  It was her cottage cheese.  

A hug for buying cottage cheese ... who would have thought?

Half Tough

The Littles biked while I walked the other day.  Margaret fell and scraped herself up a bit.  After some comforting, she was back on the bike.

 Jack rode by her, patted her on the shoulder and said; "You're tough."

"I'm not so tough, I'm only half tough." was how Margaret responded.

random pictures

leak in the bathroom ceiling

The Bathroom Vent started to leak in the last week of April with the days and days of rain.

Cara posted...

Water is dripping from the fan in the bathroom ceiling. I'm going in to investigate ..... here's to wishing I wasn't the only "responsible" person in the house right now. 

Cara did climb up into the attic attempting to see the extent of the damage if any. Unable to determine how serious it was.

We had the cliche bucket and towels in the bathroom. And that works as well as it does.

And then she posted...

After tears, a call to Jeffry Willis at work, a call to my uncle, investigating the attic (no small feat) and inspecting the roof, inspiration struck at 4 am: Re-route the dripping water directly to the sink or tub using an old shower curtain. Jeffry considers these "MK MacGyver Skills".

And this was an impressive improvisation, I must say. ALL water was effortlessly diverted to the already established, tried and true, plumbing system. Problem solved for now.

Then Cara finds this...

People with "C" Hands

...said Maggie when describing which toys she wanted to play with, as opposed to Little People or Legos. Playmobil.

bleach

After a rough couple of days of sick kids- throwing up every 40 minutes kind of sick, Cara wiped down many of the high traffic areas of the house with bleach. Soon the familiar sanitary scent was everywhere. Jack said it smelled like swimming pools.

Maggie said it smelled like... water proof.

Dunny Brust

Totoro Dust Bunnies by Treebeerdy

Mom: Hey guys, look! One of our pets is on my shirt!

They both come running to see.

Maggie: A Dunny Brust!

[best analysts agree the exclamation was supposed to be dust bunnies]

Beavers and Elmo

Might as well get the March posting in ....



Margaret mentioned Justin Beaver the other day

In the middle of the night, she was concerned about monsters under her bed (thank you Barbara Park's Junie B. Jones).  I told her the only monster in her room was Elmo, and he wouldn't let anyone else in.  She went back to sleep with the comfort that "Elmo will protect me."  Whew.

measured

Cara said: I love you and your brother exactly the same. And I love your father differently.

This was upsetting to Margaret: Mom! You need to love us the same inch!