as frequent blog-readers probably surmised, a gap in coverage usually indicates 1 of 4 things: vacations, guests, end of the semester grading, or illness. as the guests are gone and it is mid january, you may have guessed that it is illness that has hit our house. while dad has been suffering through the annual loss of voice and chest cold that are his signature illness, it is ms. k who has been hit by the virus this time. usually she succumbs only after her brother, but this time, it is only our littlest who is suffering.
we had gotten a message that she had been coughing at daycare during nap and had had to have her cot elevated last week. i hoped that it was passing. i was wrong. as is the way of toddlers and preschoolers who do not know how to rid their bodies of mucous, it eventually collects in their stomachs and makes itself a new way out. k was not happy when the contents of her stomach emptied saturday night. "i no like yuckies" she protested. the rest of the night involved some coughing and fever. but we were able to give her some tylenol so she could sleep peacefully through the night. sunday morning the fever was more or less gone, but the coughing was worse. she was quite clingy all day. but she was happy and asked for daddy soup at dinner though she barely touched it. we spent most of today under blankets while it snowed several inches outside.
r was a boisterous fellow this weekend. he assisted his father with grocery shopping on sunday. he has also been practicing his rudeness on us. i have started to refuse to talk to him when he is so mean, bossy, and yelling. it certainly mellowed by sunday. i hope it is a phase. we keep reminding him that it is a house rule not to yell at each other and be mean. i had a long talk with him about whether or not he liked it if i yelled at him.
last week, we watched finding nemo with the kids. r is usually too frightened to watch films. i have been trying to talk him through it or forward through sections to assure him that there are points that he will enjoy. the first night we put the dvd in, he was terrified and wanted to stop almost immediately. dad and i watched it that night. the next night we tried again. i know it sounds odd but watching and responding to films or theater is not natural in any way. it is learned. and for r, the whole experience is too intense and frightening. we think part of it is that he is sensitive to the emotions and fears in the film. very understandable. why aren't other kids terrified by sharks or barracudas? on the other hand, we want him to feel safe in the world and know that one can confront frightening experiences and overcome them rather than cower. we want him to not crumple when overwhelmed, to name his fears, and try to find a way through them if possible. i do not want to toughen him up. i am proud of his sensitivity. but i don't want him to be fearful. dad and i have talked about this and think that introducing him to film slowly is a good way to do this. so we watched nemo together and helped him through the hard parts. we think both kids enjoyed it. k spend much of the time cuddling as she was not feeling well.
let's see. last week, the kids and i went to noodle and company while dad worked late. the kids spent a terrific morning with masee and tom. k talked about the sleeping meows. r did experiments in their brand new beautiful bowl sink. he mixed a variety of household products -- soda, baking soda, vinegar, cinnamon, etc. together. i ran around to the minneapolis school fair and the st paul school fair. more on this later. by the way, r was quite excited about eating his dinner (black bean burger and spanokopita/spotted feta) the other night. he remarked, "my mouth will burst with happiness [when you give me my food]." i figure that is quite high praise. furthermore, it is not an inconsequential statement for my texture adverse son to say. i am pretty damn proud of all of our hard work in that regard.
unfortunately, the kids watched a bit of television this last week. it has been cold and with k sick, it has difficult to do much out of the house. r always wants magic school bus and k wants elmo so our choices are not so bad. when k was watching a particular skit on sesame street, she inexplicably turned to us and said while pointing to the screen "that is nani and nana." what made this quite humorous, besides her imagination, is that the skit was between grover (in his role as the waiter/flight attendant who never gets anything right) and the always disgruntled customer whose order is never properly served. dad commented that he did not want to know which one was nani and which one was nana.
ms. k stayed home today as she had a rough night. she kept coughing herself (and me) awake. so i ended up holding her most of this morning while she slept. she has not eaten much in several days but is hydrating fairly well. she looks and seems really tired. she is chipper and ate some of dad's noodles and tofu at lunch.
r had OT today and he seems to be left-handed (something i was pretty sure of) and he seems to be getting stronger. i guess we are doing something right. dad and i were joking that even if goes to ice skating and just stands there, he still gets a core body workout as it requires stamina and strength to stand on skates. the ice skating, yoga, OT, etc all seem to be having their impact. i have not had a chance to work on his fine motor writing since last week. when someone gets ill all good plans go out the window.
r came home all excited about his microscope. so we looked at different things magnified. he also was quite chipper but not hungry. he was boisterous but fairly well behaved and cooperative. he at one point yelled for his dad. and dad replied something to the effect of it was not necessary to yell. to which r responded, "but dad i am echolocating." well there you have it. he is our son... not to mention a bat.
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