September 18, 2006
finish this sentence for me, will you?
My weekend went like this: Friday morning, I had coffee with my friend Molly. We lounged around the Red Cup until nearly 11:00, when she had to leave to pick up her kindergartener. I tried not to gloat, because I had FOUR MORE HOURS until I had to pick anyone up at school. In my defense, I had a LOT of things to do, none of which were kid-friendly, so it wasn’t like I was going to spend the entire four hours shoe shopping.
Just maybe half an hour.
I left the Red Cup and headed north, possibly to a mall, where I may or may not have been looking at shoes. And my cell phone rang. It was one of Henry’s teachers, saying that he needed to come home. Which was good, because she probably stopped me from buying a pair of cork wedges that didn’t fit right but were REALLY REALLY CUTE.
Anyway.
I picked Henry up and brought him home where he proceeded to cough like a ten-pack-a-day smoker while concurrently REFUSING to even TALK about taking any cough medicine. On the way out to get him, I did a quick flip through my To Do list and decided that nope, I absolutely could NOT take the sick kid to the grocery, which seemed to mean that we would be going to Johnnie’s AGAIN for dinner. Stupid hamburgers.
(Do not ask why I CAN take my sick child to a restaurant but CANNOT take him to SuperTarget. That’s a whole other post.)
We pick Charlie up at school and maul through the afternoon and go to dinner and come home and have baths and put on our pajamas (all of us!) and then we start reading stories, even though it is nearly 7:30, which is lights-out at our house. Earlier in the week, when everyone was healthy and happy, I told Wade that OF COURSE we would come get him at the airport on Friday night! And that OF COURSE it would be fine if the boys were up until 10:00! I think I even got a little misty remembering when I was a kid and my mother would take us with her (in our pajamas!) to get my dad at the airport. It would be an adventure!
Whatever.
Wade’s flight was on time, the boys were totally excited to be IN THE CAR and IN THEIR PAJAMAS and NOT IN BED and they were very cute and nice. And then we tossed them in their beds and they went RIGHT to sleep. Of course, Wade and I stayed up talking about various Important and Slightly Stressful Stuff until very VERY late, which we figured was fine because the kids would CERTAINLY sleep in on Saturday, right?
Hoo, I’m so funny.
Henry coughed ALL NIGHT LONG, and finally got up crying and looking for Kleenex. Wade said this was about 3:00 am; all I know was that after a good two hours of listening to the boy cough, I was finally in a DEAD sleep when Henry woke me and I never really recovered. I spent the rest of the night in his bed, while he coughed and thrashed around and spilled water all over me. Finally, at 6:20, he said very politely, “Mom, can we get up and have some medicine now?” So we did.
Charlie got up about half an hour later and announced, very matter-of-factly, that he had fallen out of bed the night before. “TWICE!” he said. “But my floor is soft.”
Well. Okay.
The rest of the day is mostly a blur. I went to the grocery, Wade took the boys to the park, we met up at lunchtime . . . uh, some other stuff, blah blah blah. The park really wore Henry out; he spent the ENTIRE rest of the day moving from his bed to the sofa in the sitting room to the sofa in the family room to his bed to the floor. Every time he stood up, he would say, “I’m really SICK and I’m so EXHAUSTED.” It was freaky and also very peaceful.
He slept all night Saturday night, which was good, although Charlie came and got me up at 2:00 am because his nose was all stuffed up. “Mama!” he whispered. “I can’t SMELL. I need a KLEENEX. And will you come snuggle?”
Who could resist that? I should have; Wade had put Charlie’s bed rail up, because of the falling out thing, so I was all smashed against THAT for an hour. Good times.
Sunday everyone was feeling better but it was raining and cold (hooray for cold!) plus it was SUNDAY so everything was closed. We took the kids to the library in the afternoon and then went to Wade’s parents’ for dinner, where the boys proceeded to run around like lemmings, jumping on and off of everything they could. Henry was exhausted and was completely unable to talk in a voice designed for closed spaces, and spent all of dinner YELLING about the members of the Justice League. Then he flipped out while we were getting dessert and started announcing that he was PETRIFIED and couldn’t breathe.
We ate our cake and came home. After dumping the boys in bed, with lots of cheerful announcements of “Get to sleep! Sleeping helps you stay healthy! Night night! Have a good SLEEP!” which were designed to lull them into NOT GETTING UP AGAIN, we watched Tristram Shandy, which I highly recommend, if only because it was smart enough and funny enough to keep me awake the entire way through, which was no small feat last night.
After the movie I went to bed and had a horrific dream that Henry’s glasses were SHATTERED and it was going to take WEEKS to replace them and then Charlie really came in and poked me and said sadly, “Mama, I have a bloody nose.” And he did. So we cleaned him up and I got in bed with him, and he patted my face and sucked his thumb and I thought holy hell, if I don’t get some sleep soon, I’m going to . . . .
Uh, something. I can’t even think.
Posted by Susan @ 12:17 pm • Uncategorized
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September 18th, 2006 at 1:16 pm, Jenorama Says:
…drive my car into a tree, which will cause my airbag to inflate. This will save me, but it will also cause me to lose a contact lens, and will also cause me to have to get the stupid airbag tucked back in to wherever airbags go when they are sleeping. Fortunately! The only damage to the car will be a minor scratch on the bumper, because, like Charlie’s floor, the tree will be soft.
It will suck about the lost contact though, and so I will have to go and get some cute new glasses. You know, to wear until the new contacts come.
September 18th, 2006 at 1:28 pm, Velma Says:
…run away with the circus, which will seem like a great idea at the time, since it will involve leaving the boys and all responsibilities at home, but then will prove to be problematic once the job choice comes down to cramming oneself in that ass-smelling clown car or pulling on a spandex leotard and doing something dangerous at great heights.
Plus? You think *kids* are loud at night? Just try sleeping next to the monkey trailer after the 4th show of the weekend!
September 18th, 2006 at 2:03 pm, irreverentmama Says:
“It’s okay. My floor is soft.” I love that kid. Is his glass ALWAYS half-full like that?
In university, as required reading Tristram Shandy put me to sleep. Repeatedly. I’m really not sure if I finished it, or if I just dreamed I did. Is the movie better?
Maybe I’m now mature enough to appreciate Tristram? Should I rent the movie? Assuage some guilt? Live up to my expensive education? Stop squandering those years of Higher Education writing about spouses who fart?
September 18th, 2006 at 2:03 pm, M&Co. Says:
…come down with the same hacking coughing, sinus thing. You know how I know, cause that’s how it started at MY house. Aaaacccckkkkk! Run away. Run away!
September 18th, 2006 at 2:04 pm, irreverentmama Says:
HA! I must be tired. I didn’t even see that last sentence as my writing prompt. I thought you’d just fallen asleep at the keyboard.
Really.
September 18th, 2006 at 2:17 pm, Sheryl Says:
cry. Because that’s what mommies do when they’re really REALLY tired. Oh, yes.
September 18th, 2006 at 2:54 pm, Lauren Says:
irreverentmama and others,
Tristram Shandy, the MOVIE, is extremely funny. It really about people making a movie based on Tristram Shandy . . . it’s bawdy and witty and much more pleasant than the book!
September 18th, 2006 at 3:44 pm, Kara Says:
cry. that’s all i managae. that’s all i want to do. too tired.
September 18th, 2006 at 7:18 pm, Karyn Says:
…turn into that psychotic broad at Vexed In The City. Or 1/10th of her, since I am a twiggy , spry thing.
Poor girl. BENADRYL. Or Triaminic’s Nighttime cough / cold. Either works well. The Triaminic nighttime thing - my 2yo refuses all meds now. Joy. But I can shoot a teaspoon of this INTO HIS JUICY JUICE GRAPE JUICE BOX AND HE IS NONE THE WISER! If he is amenable to tablets, the dissolving kind work well as do the dissolving strips. About 10,000 x easier to administer than liquids. And I bribe my guys with M&Ms. (You take this and you get FIVE M&Ms. Mommy gets 500.)
I feel your pain, girl. Hang in there.
September 18th, 2006 at 8:28 pm, daysgoby Says:
….drop the wrong kid off at the wrong school (twice), then realize my mistake and crawl, whimpering, back to the coffeehouse, where someone kind will let me put my head down on their lap-top carrying case, and then I will doze off into sweet oblivion until they jerk me awake by yanking their drool-soaked bag out from under my head, the gleam in their eye letting me know that I was talking in my sleep about cough medicine and pirates again.
September 19th, 2006 at 8:59 am, slackermommy Says:
…tell hubby I’m on strike and check in a hotel.
I feel for you. We’re I mean I’m not sleeping well either. Hubby manages to sleep through most of these things or at least fall back asleep easily if he is awoken. Damn him!
I don’t know if you are using prescription cough medicine or not but Tussi-12 or the generic Tannate-12 is the bomb! Also helps with the stuffy nose. I swear by it.
September 19th, 2006 at 11:45 am, kfk Says:
..drink booze until I pass out for days. And then take some good drugs for the horrible hangover that is sure to follow, thus sleeping for a couple more days from all the morphine I pumped into my body. But it was all worth it because I got to SLEEP!
September 19th, 2006 at 4:59 pm, ieatcrayonz Says:
If you all get strep throat again, so help me God!