Thursday, November 06, 2003

The Cavalry Has Arrived!!

I do indeed know what it is like to be a cruise director... to one tiny little hard to please customer! Bethany was definitely feeling better today and kept ordering me to produce new activities whenever she got bored. Of course, having some work to do, I didn’t always respond fast enough for her liking. She is still sick enough (and at 4 still egocentric enough) that this produced several tantrums today when I didn’t bow to her every wish.

But now Nanny and Grr ( Erin couldn’t quite say Granddad when she was little and the nickname stuck) are here and there is an endless parade of new things to show and share that they haven’t heard 14 million times like Mommy and Daddy have!

I am also looking forward to retreat... so if I am not blogging much in the next few days... you will know that I am off relaxing and recharging batteries. I’ll try to post tomorrow before I waltz off and leave the girls in the capable hands here.... (hee! Hee!)

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

I Think She Must Be Feeling A Bit Better....

Isn’t it amazing how you know when your child is on the mend... because they want to be entertained... and yet they have the attention span of a fruit fly!!

I have felt like a cruise director all day! Thank goodness that I had some beads to couch down on a model, some yarn to knit with and graph paper to draw on during the brief DVD break today...because other than that this has been a day of playdough, paints, bead necklaces, construction paper to snip and “help” with the household chores.

I know that she still isn’t herself because whenever she meets with frustration, such as spilling or not having something go her way, there are the tears and tantrums that only a 4 year old can pull. We’ve had one less baking soda bath than yesterday and no new crops of spots... so perhaps we’ve crested the hill on this.

My Mom and stepfather arrive tomorrow and the girls are also in that pre-grandparents high of not wanting to sleep tonight. Is it selfish of me to be looking forward to the escape of the stitching retreat this weekend? (I can’t wait!!!) I’ve been tempted to just take someone else’s design up with me... yes, stitch something that’s NOT mine just to have fun (because even though I like stitching my stuff, I KNOW what it will look like... there’s no fun of anticipation!) The only fly in that ointment is that I just got a really neat idea for a design....
We shall see!!

I have a graphics job for a client that has been almost impossible to work on this week, even though they understand about Bethany being sick, so I am going to work on it tonight once I get the girls down instead of going to choir practice. Maybe I will just hum as I type tonight!

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Mommy Dragon Wishes She Could Flame the Germs Away!

There is something so frustratingly helpless about watching your child suffer. I wish that I had magic enough to flame germs at the microscopic level in which they exist... but all I can do is watch how they are making Bethany suffer. Yesterday, it got so bad that we had to take her into Outpatients at the hospital. She has developed a host of chicken pox in a place that little girls (and even big girls) do NOT want to have them. The doctor said that it was one of the worst he’d ever seen and gave us some topical anesthetic to use VERY sparingly. I think she would live in a baking soda bath 24/7 right now if she didn’t keep looking like a little pink raisin!

This morning, I think that we have turned the corner (although she still has a crop of new ones elsewhere on her body) because she is in much better humour and at least willing to eat a bit of food or play.

How hard it must be for parents who face more serious illnesses with their children. At least I have had the comfort all along of knowing that, though painful as this outbreak has been for both my girls, it IS something from which they can recover. It has been a wonderful way to teach them both to count your blessings even in the midst of a yucky experience. It is also good to know that when 30 years have passed, thinking back to this illness, as I have been remembering my own bout with Chicken Pox, the memories will be vague and distant instead of vivid.