1 Mother 2 Another

2 Kids + 2 sugar hangovers = one very
loooooong morning.


Oy vey.

Sometimes, you go through a hard emotional
growth spurt with your kids. You have days when they seem to jump
from disobedient act to intentional meanness to flagrant testing
with nary a pause in between, and if you’re like me
you’re driven to your knees several times a day, begging for
patience and wisdom.


I’ve been through a lot of that with Maddie this fall. Even
starting in the summer, her ego-centricity was breathtaking.
Cutting in front of kids waiting patiently in line – not even
noticing the other kids, really. Ripping Cora to shreds with a few
careless words about the quality of work in a painting Cora just
finished. Fighting vehemently with her sister for a toy she
didn’t even really want – she just didn’t want
her sister to have it.


I’ve been praying hard for Maddie, knowing that there are
some things that are simply Not My Job, and changing my
child’s heart is one of them. I’ve tried to be patient,
trusting God that His seeds will take root and bloom in that sweet
girl’s heart.


And recently, I’ve seen signs of new growth.

Yes, it's true. I'm a little envious of
all my friends in New York City right now.


Yes, I know that this hurricane is serious business, and that
people have died in the Caribbean because of it. Yes, I know my
friends in New York City are a wee bit concerned right now, some
without power.


On the other hand, I have several friends posting video updates on
Facebook that shows their whole family at home playing Balderdash
or Uno, making big pots of spaghetti or huge bowls of popcorn to go
with their movie marathon. Everyone's home from work, no one's
going to school, no one can run errands.


It's a little bit of the perfect family time. Forced to slow down
and hang out and enjoy each other.


Of course, the flip side of that is a family of four contained to a
700-square-foot apartment for two. Whole. Days. Or a friend with a
dog who is so afraid to pee inside (the dog, that is) that he
hasn't peed in almost 24 hours because he's so tiny there's no
way she's taking him outside to pee since he'd get blown away. So
he's shivering and probably in a fair amount of pain. Let it out,
little guy, it's ok just this once, I promise.


And I'm sure that forced family fun time won't be quite so fun
when the power goes out and there's no popcorn popper or movie
marathon. I know, I know.


But I rememeber the great power blackout of 2002 or 2003, when the
whole eastern seabord lost power for days. I remember lighting
copious candles - this was pre-kids - in our apartment, sitting
around with the windows open on an August night, listening to quiet
talking from neighbors drifting in. Just slower, more intentional
time together.


Like I said, I know it's dangerous. I know it's a multi-million
dollar storm.


It just makes me wish a wee bit for, say, one good snow day here.
Is that so wrong?

Friday night the family had a hurry of
clean-up before bedtime. I’d been slacking on it all week
since I’d been sick, but Friday night I told the girls
everything had to be picked up. “But can’t we leave out
a couple games, Mommy?” Maddie asked.


“No, kiddo, tomorrow we’re having people over for
dinner and I don’t want to have to clean up the house on my
birthday. Fair?” I asked, and Maddie reluctantly nodded.


That night I lay in bed with Cora saying prayers, and I was going
through our usual blessings when Cora said, “Oh, I’ve
got something to add!” I turned it over to her.

Still sick, with my allergies/cold having
settled into a lovely sinus infection. And on top of that, I can no
longer hear (hello plugged ears) and am losing my voice.


But I have to believe I'm getting better each day! We celebrated
my birthday this weekend and the girls and Brian gave me a lovely,
low-key day to hang out, book shop, and enjoy a quiet family
dinner. Getting there, I'm sure.


Bear with me.

No, don't worry, Cora's not sick.


I am.


I don't seem to have what Maddie had - no fever. Just a plain ole
cold, but enough to make me draggy and crabby.


Fortunately, both of my children go to school full time now, so I
have crawled back into bed after the morning rush and stayed there
until pick-up time for the past two days. Canceled a few clients,
put my home maintenance on hold, and stayed in bed.


Thank you, Lord, for small graces, like full-time school.

Maddie woke up fever-free on Friday and it
never came back.


Praise the Lord!


We rented a cabin on a farm for the weekend and I was surely glad
she was well enough for us to go; she was begging me to let her go

even if her fever came back. But that didn’t happen and
she’s almost all better, with just a little congestion and
cough left over.


We had to encourage Maddie to take it a bit slow after a week in
bed, and she took a couple spontaneous naps, but she’s up and
running again.


So we’re back to normal and I can start to get the house back
in order. Thanks for all the well wishes – now back to our
routine!

Still sick here.


Yep.


I did a phone consult with the doc, who said there's a virus going
around that does this - fever at night, not so much during the day
- and will last 5-7 days.


FIVE TO SEVEN DAYS.


She said to not even come in until it's been seven days or, you
know, she gets a lot worse.


Sigh.

Sunday night Maddie woke up at 3 a.m. with
a fever; I loved on her, told her she couldn’t go to school
the next day, and sent her back to sleep. She spent all Monday with
no fever and just slight stuffiness, but at bedtime the fever
showed back up. Sigh.


Home from school again on Tuesday, and I have to tell you,
I’m pretty sure this thing is allergies. I’ve taken
Cora to the doctor before for exactly the same symptoms – low
to moderate fever, sore throat, slight stuffiness – and she
guaranteed me it was allergies. Apparently in addition to causing
EVERY OTHER SYMPTOM in the book, allergies can also run a low
fever. Which, of course, is not contagious.


But without knowing for certain that it’s allergies, Maddie
has to stay home until she’s fever-free. Which means I have
one very bored kiddo around the house.

Yesterday I went to Cora’s school as
a volunteer art lecturer. No, I’m not that good; it’s
part of a district-wide program called Art To Go, where
everything’s put together for you – pictures on foam
board, questions pre-written, everything – and all you do is
show up and look really really cultured. I’ve done this for
Maddie’s classes in the past and was looking forward to
sitting down and talking about art with Cora’s class for the
first time.


Note to self – don’t ask kindergarteners such
open-ended questions, and then LET THEM ANSWER THEM.

Maddie discovered Junie B. Jones in
kindergarten and we spent a few painful months reading waaaaaaaay
too much of that child’s escapades before Maddie finally grew
out of the books and moved on to other, more well-written heroines.
I was quite pleased to bid Junie B. adieu, and only saved the
half-dozen books we’d bought out of sheer thriftiness.

I should have realized I wasn’t
finished with the annoying child.

Hit the state fair yesterday, and we had a
fantastic time but I'm totally wiped out.


And I can hear all those snickers out there - and you are so wrong.
The Texas State Fair is ridiculously cool.

When I was around five years old I was
living in New Orleans, happily playing outside one day. Suddenly I
noticed a ticklish feeling on my ankle and leg, and looked down and
saw a swarm of red fire ants enrobing my lower limb. I stared in
fascination, until the pain registered. And then I started
screaming.


I remember that day vividly.


When we moved back to Texas four years ago, I celebrated a return
to many of my favorite things in the South – excellent
margaritas, even better Tex-Mex food, and winters without shoveling
the sidewalk. What I did not look forward to, though, was the
return to southern bugs, especially chiggers and fire ants.

Monday was a day off school to celebrate
Columbus Day and after the whirlwind of the weekend – a
women’s retreat for me, birthday parties with school mates,
and more – I felt like we deeply needed some unstructured
down time together. Time to veg and hang out and play and bake and
watch movies.


In other words, a Pajama Day.

I love the changing of the seasons. It
doesn’t even really matter which change we’re talking
about – I love them all. Every winter I feel a yearning for
hanging out on the grass on a warm spring day, watching trees bud
and listening to birds sing. Then after a few months of that, I
become restless and develop a yen for sunscreen and lazy pool time
– those endless days that seem to stretch on forever, when
your kids scream and play for hours and you laugh and chat
desultorily with your girlfriends.


And then I have a hankering for the fall.

I spent yesterday getting ready for the
fall and its inevitable rounds of sickness: I made my homemade
cough syrup, a few pots of lip balm for the girls, and some
homeopathic cold medicine/immune system booster. I was racing and
sweating, bags of dried herbs strewn about the kitchen and pots
simmering on the stove. I now have several jelly jars safely in the
fridge, with even a couple left over to give to friends if need be.


I think I've officially crossed over into Uber-Crunch Land.

A few days ago, Maddie’s class had a
competition to give themselves a name – you know, the
All-Stars or Cougars or Champions or whatever. Her teacher, Mrs.
Hall, stopped me at pick-up that afternoon and said, “Ask
your daughter what name she suggested for my class.”


A little while later, I brought it up and said, “So what name
did you come up with, Maddie?”

Said yesterday morning while getting ready
for school:


Cora: “Mommy, can I ride my scooter to school this
morning?”


Me: “Of course!”


Cora: “Yippee!”


Me: “Why are you so excited about riding your scooter to
school?”


Cora: “Because I really love the sound of my shoe softly
tapping the pavement when I push.”


And she ran off.