Last night’s downpour washed the skid marks off the sidewalk. They stretched, nearly continuous in places, a good ten houses in either direction from ours. Travis wasted no time in starting to put them back in place.
In recent weeks, T has become quite the bike rider. Some days we go on two, three, or even four bike rides. He’s fast enough now that I really have to jog to keep up with him. And he LOVES braking. He’ll get up a decent about of speed, give several “woo woos” at the top of his longs, and slam on the brakes. I don’t think he even realizes he’s leaving stripes on the sidewalk. I’ve intentionally kept from pointing that out, for fear he’d try to make even more. I think this summer we may be taking off the training wheels!
We may finally be returning to health. The kids were fine all weekend, though I was pretty well leveled with a nasty cold. I think I’m finally starting to feel human again. Hallie went back to school on Monday. Her teacher said last week she had five kids out, and in the last few weeks they’ve had 7 kids miss 3 or more days of school. The school’s been sending home regular flu and cold prevention and hygiene tips. Seems a little late, but maybe it’s still worthwhile. I’m hoping we can get through at least a week or two without something new descending!
One of Travis’s preschool teachers couldn’t wait to share a story about Travis when I dropped him off yesterday. Apparently she (Ms. Sheila) and Ms. Sue were explaining to the kids last week that Sue would be out yesterday. One of them said, “But don’t worry — Ms. Sheila will still be here on Tuesday.” Without missing a beat Travis piped up, “And Ms. Sheila is soooo pretty!” Read the rest of this entry »
Hallie couldn’t have gone from one extreme to the another any more dramatically than she did today. After a dreadful couple of hours in the middle of the day, she was droopy for a little bit. I wasn’t feeling great myself, and we had a Popular Mechanics for Kids movie marathon. Then Hallie started asking for food and drink. And then more food and drink. By dinnertime she and Travis were tearing around the house so wildly I was ready to kick them both outside in the cold rain. I’m even more convinced that it was a reaction to the medicine. So if you’ve got the flu, there is in fact something worse! I just have my fingers crossed for a smooth and healthy weekend.
Poor Hallie has been hit again. She seemed just about over the flu, which was really a pretty mild case, though a temp just under 100 last evening kept her home from school today. Mid-morning she complained that her stomach hurt, and she’s since thrown up countless times and has explosive liquid diarrhea.
The nurse said a stomach bug is making the rounds and guesses Hallie picked something up at the doctor’s office. But I’ve also been warned of the side effects of Tamiflu, which Hallie’s been taking for 3 days. Every one of her symptoms comes up on the lists. In most cases these seem to hit earlier than the 4th day, but I’m not writing off that that’s the cause. That would actually be a relief, since it would mean we’re not fighting another stomach bug. I’m certainly not giving her any more of that Tamiflu, no matter what.
Poor Hallie’s got the flu. She’s been under the weather on and off since Saturday, but she’s had long periods of feeling fine so I figured it was just a bug. But even with several hours of maximum doses of Motrin and Tylenol, her fever climbed all yesterday afternoon and evening. When it reached 105.2 we followed the advice of the on-call nurse and went to the ER around 10:45 pm. Read the rest of this entry »
Uncle Jeff brought Travis home from school today so I could be here for a real estate agent. Apparently Travis enjoyed it quite a lot.
After Travis had been home a little while he handed me an imaginary heart and said, “This is for you, Mommy!” I said, “Oh, thank you Travis. MY heart belongs to you!”
“Oh,” he said matter-of-factly, “My heart belongs to Uncle Jeff.” And then he wandered into the playroom.
Travis’s preschool class hosted a “Mother’s Tea” last week in honor of Valentine’s Day. Travis was super excited when he gave me the invitation he made–it was all he would tell me about his day at school that day. “We just made invitations!” Read the rest of this entry »
For months now, Travis has refused to wear blue jeans. This came out of nowhere, and we’re not sure if it was a comfort thing or a control thing or what. But one day he freaked out when I tried to dress him in jeans and from then on he’d wail any time I tried to steer him in that direction. Read the rest of this entry »
Hallie’s started a new phase of communication. She’s now as likely to spell what she wants to say as she is to say it outright. We’ve encouraged this, as she clearly enjoys it and her spelling’s getting better. Travis, seeing the attention Hallie’s getting, wants to join in. And he’s learning things, too. “N-O. That spells ‘no’, right?” he’ll ask. But most often he chimes in with his own “word.” And it’s always the same one. For several weeks now he’s been asking, “What does I-E-E-P-S spell?” We’ll sound it out for him, but none of us knows what it means. I’m hoping some day we’ll find out!
