Sick

Last week I had to take a day off work to stay home with this little guy. 

Sicky-Squiggs with his best pal and constant companion, Ruff Ruff

I had been with students either on the bus or at a school event for 13 hours the day before, so I have to say I wasn't too torn up about it. Not that I want my baby to be sick, but if ever there's a time where a little low grade fever is ok, this would be the it. 

Ryan had put the kids to bed the night before, and he warned me there was a good chance Squiggy would need a day home. He'd been sleepy at church, a little feverish, and didn't eat well. So I e-mailed good sub plans in that night and when my alarm went off at 5 a.m., I did the "mommy test" on his forehead and called in. I may or may not have done a tiny happy dance when I crawled back into bed. Just keepin' it real. 

Reed and Calvin got to ride the bus all the way to school from our house for the first time, so that was exciting. Even more exciting was waving down the bus that doesn't usually stop at our house in my jammies and crazy hair. 

Squig slept until 7:30. When he got up, I wondered if I was staying home for nothing. Though he still looked a little pale and had the "sick eyes," his fever was very low-grade and he seemed happy enough. And his appetite was back - he insisted on a cookie for keeping his diaper dry (our compromise since we stopped rewarding pooping on the potty--our argument, "Mommy and Daddy don't get treats for pooping." But we so should!) 

But after noshing on a cookie, he didn't want much to eat and he mostly wanted to snuggle on the couch. Twist my arm! After one or both of us slept for a while, I decided I needed to accomplish something with my unexpected day off. Thanks to all the recent snow days, there won't be another day off until the end of May! So, I started working on laundry and other chores, but I had a little shadow. He followed me around and made conversation about this and that. 

The convo turned to Mufasa and Simba (we'd recently watched the Lion King) and then we had an argument about weather Simba was a boy or a girl. I decided to prove it to him and put the movie in. He was so happy that he was proven right - Simba IS a girl, Mommy! (Sorry JTT - he's got a point...you do sorta sound girly) When I corrected him, he burst into tears and ran away, heartbroken. So I did a little damage control and consoled him while we talked about voices changing and then just changed the subject. Little Man was fine, but also warm and snuggly, so I decided to sit with him, just until the scary parts were over. Well, the whole movie was so scary that I ended up sleeping through it like a lazy lioness with Cuddle Bumpkin on my lap.  Hakuna matata!

We ended up having a super-relaxing Mommy/Baby bonding day. He wasn't super sick, but he wasn't quite himself either. And after his extra-long (and, for me, extra-productive) nap his fever spiked a little and he said he had a headache, so Ryan went ahead and asked for the next day off just in case. 

How did Daddy's sick day go? Little Simba popped out of bed at the usual time, and was a chipper, talkative, and needy little guy the whole day! Sorry, Mufasa, but Sarabi lucked out this time! 

Managing Chaos

In order to try to stay organized (and sane) this summer, I've developed a schedule. I only follow it on weekdays and, let's be honest, not even all of those. But so far, it's made our days pretty darn productive. Here it is, in all it's glory:

Ungodly hour o'clock - Wake up to a whispered, "Can I have my DS turn?" Mumble yes, give a death threat for waking up Max, go back to sleep while big boys get their technology fix.

Still too early - Wake up to wallowing third party in the bed. Snuggle, kiss, and try to keep from being kicked in the face. Encourage him to watch Reed and Calvin play DS or hand him the iphone for his "turn."

7ish - Wake up to a bowl and a package of some sort of cracker or trail-mix-type snack shoved in my face accompanied by a sweet smile and, "Can I havva snack?" Finally give it up and start the day with breakfast. Try to read the Bible and pray between refills and spill clean ups.

7:30ish - jog/walk

8ish - Garden work with the chitlin's

9:30ish - popsicle pay time and reading a "buttload of books" on the porch swing.

10ish - "School at home" - our attempt to stem boredom and supplement their education

12ish - lunch/nap/quiet time - Max sleeps while Reed and Calvin play quietly in their room so they can't talk to me for an hour have an opportunity to rest their growing bodies. I clean one room in the house (theoretically--this is where it's broken down most days so far...), then start of one of my eleventy billion projects.

4ish - Start supper, because we have to eat at:

4:45 - Eat supper, because we practically live at:

6:00 - The ball field for parent pitch or T-ball

7:30 - Rinse off the grime and try to have everyone ready by:

8:00 - bedtime (though, realistically, it's usually a lot closer to 9:00). After we finally get the munchkins settled down, Mommy and Daddy hang out, watch Netflix, and/or stay up until the wee hours in the morning surfing the World Wide Web.

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During the downtime in this day, there's a whole lot of this going on:

Every pillow, cushion, and jumbo teddy bear in the house

The Lone Ranger and His Faithful Sidekick, Randy

My summer naptime bribery is that if either big boy actually falls asleep (and the other boy doesn't make a peep) they can watch a short movie after naptime (Oh, how I pray they will comply, since it means double Mommy time!). Since we currently have ZERO television stations and have grown a little tired of our Scooby Doo DVD, we checked out some old-school entertainment from the library: The Lone Ranger. After watching their first episode, they were hooked. They donned cowboy hats and boots and convinced me to make masks out of old stretchy headbands. Eventually, they recruited Papa to draw a pistol on cardboard so they'd be armed and dangerous. But in the early days of playing Lone Ranger, one of them decided that they couldn't both play the Ranger (he is lone, after all). So, being the little brother, Calvin got demoted to sidekick status. That was OK by him once he found a headband and a few feathers. He dubbed himself Randy, insistent that he heard on the show that was the name of the Lone Ranger's friend. No amount of arguing would convince Randy that maybe he has misheard his name. So, I let him go find his friend and get back to outwitting bad guys, galloping around the house.

Several episodes later, two things happened. First, I downloaded the William Tell Overture onto my iPod so I could illicit galloping on a whim. Second, Randy magically changed his name to Tonto, insistent that I had misheard him - he was never Randy. Whatever.