Remember Today 6.5.09

{remember} sitting at the kitchen counter, munching fruit snacks (I needed a sugar fix) with the boys sound asleep upstairs, and being so grateful that this week is finally over: a stomach bug for the youngest, stitches for the middle, and strep throat for the oldest. There's a reason I didn't take the nursing career path.

Will winter ever end?

My littlest man is sick. The poor thing has barely spoken 10 words all day. His nose is a faucet. He has a fever, and a cough that sounds like it couldn't possibly come from someone so small. I put him in the rocking chair in the playroom snuggled up with his favorite blanky, teddy bear, and "puppy", and a sippie of water so I could take a quick shower. When I got out and checked him he was sound asleep. He has now been sleeping for nearly 3 hours (something I would never let him do typically), but I just can't wake the poor little guy.

Brotherly Love

Conversation while playing Gameboy:

L: Camden, we're going to Grandma and Grandpa's tomorrow
C: I know
L: And we're bringing the dessert
C: I know
L: It's Oreo cake
C: I know
L:I'm gonna have the biggest piece
C: No, you're not
L: At least bigger than yours

Ah, brothers. Is there anything else like the rivalry they share?!

Love Letters

In honor of Valentine's Day, Camden's preschool class is doing an adorable unit on letters. Every day for the past two weeks Camden has come home with a letter for someone. On Monday it was Maddox. The letter read, "Dear Maddox, I love you. I love you. I love you. Love, Camden" Tuesday's letters were for two friends from his class last year that are in his same classroom in the morning. These letters stayed at school for delivery. On Wednesday, Camden came bounding into the car asking, "When will Daddy be home tonight? I have a letter for him." After much pleading he called Perry and worked his sweetness to get Daddy to come home before bedtime (an amazing feat!). This letter read, "Dear Dad, I love you. Love, Camden" I volunteered in his classroom on Thursday. The letter he secretly wrote while I was there read, "Dear Mom, I love you. I love you. Thank you. Love, Camden" He later told me the "thank you" was for coming to his classroom. Monday brought another note for Daddy: "Daddy, I love you." On Tuesday, he carried two envelopes to the car. One for our neighbor, and if I had time to steam it open before it was delivered, I would have. The other for his big brother: "Dear Logan, I love you. I want to play with you when you get home from the bus. Love, Camden." How much sweetness and love can one little body hold?!

Who knew a ball of yarn could be so much fun?

"I did" came the reply from my 4 year old. And he did; all three of those boys did. From playing catch at karate the day before, to running in circles while holding two ends, a simple ball of yarn provided endless hours of fun. The boys found the ball given to them from my good friend Kayla (let's just say a knitting project gone awry) this morning and immediately set to work unravelling the entire 30 miles (just an estimate) while running from room to room, upstairs, downstairs, and everywhere in between. Was I freaking out with the web of yarn through every inch of the house? Heck, no: I was doing dishes, changing 4 beds worth of sheets, and throwing in a week's loads of laundry. And when the ball of yarn had been exhausted, I handed them each a pair of scissors and a ziploc bag and told them to snip and collect it. The clean up was just as fun as the play! Sorry, Kayla, that we could not salvage any of your yarn ball, but thank you for giving me a chance to get some Saturday morning chores done!

Their little world

My four year old started a conversation about death today during lunch. I'm not really sure how it all began. Perhaps it was in regard to my upcoming birthday and how old I am getting. He seems to be very interested in how old everyone is, and specifically how old he will be when others reach a certain age. He might have been talking about how old people are when they die. He retrieved a framed picture of his Nana (my grandmother) who was in her 80's when she died, and spoke about how old she was in the picture, and how old she was when she died. Then he stated quite definitively that "babies when they're first born can't die." I asked him why they can't and he matter-of-factly replied "it's not allowed." Oh, their little world of innocence and happiness, their world where only the old, after having lived a long and full life, are allowed to die. Then he asks me, "Is death forever?" me; "Yes, yes it is forever." him: "For always?" me: "Yes, for always. When you die, you don't ever come back." him: "Unless you have a magic wand, right?" It broke my heart to tell him that there is no magic wand. In real life, there is no magic wand.

Notes from the Sick Bay

I have a bit of cabin fever after being home with my sick children all week. The poor guys have had fevers, headaches, stuffy noses, coughs, chills, sweats, stomach pain--the whole gamut-- since Sunday. It began with Logan, who of course didn't complain of anything until the ride home from a friend's birthday party at 6:00 Sunday night: from the backseat, "I've had a headache all day." Temperature of 101. Like clockwork, Camden starts the fever about 24 hours later. I'll spare all the details, but this is one nasty bugger of a virus. It just won't quit. On Wednesday night, Logan finally got himself off his bean bag chair and wanted to dance around the family room with me. Whew, it's finally over, and he's bouncing right back. He made dinner for us (pasta, Ragu, and frozen garlic bread--right up there with his ol' Dad's culinary expertise!). But, nope, fever of 104 in the middle of the night, and crying on the bathroom floor at 4 am because his legs are too weak to stand. This week has held a whole lot of tv watching and video game playing, lots of snuggling on the couch, and laying on the floor playing toys. I've managed to stay virus free, at least so far (though Perry, who's not home with them 6 out of 7 days a week, is not feeling well). Isn't there a saying, "Mom's don't get sick." Let's hope there's some truth to that!

Needless to say, I'm a bit behind in my blog, but I did fudge the dates on my Remember Today entries, and at least got them caught up. Haven't been able to do anything creative all week to speak of, so am hoping to kick out, or at least get started on a page tonight. That is if I don't fall asleep on my keyboard first. ZZZZzzzzzz