The boys and I were sick today- so we were cooped up in the house because the weather is pretty cold outside. It was 60 degrees yesterday and I can see the confusion on their faces. Todd had some obligations tonight so, after all day inside (we tried to ride bikes for a minute- was just too cold) we came back inside and went stir crazy some more. Here is what we came up with. The boys are Batman and Robin, if you can't tell. No, they have not seen the movie. We're talking about us after all. Kira was the costume designer with a bit of help from Mama on Batman's mask. She copied it off a ball they had been given. All this with construction paper and tape. Just imagine when she graduates to cloth and thread. I started teaching her to sew (I'm really poorly equipped to teach something I know very little about) on the sewing machine yesterday. We had pieces of cloth and thread everywhere. But came out with about 4 new outfits for her home-made doll. She is creative, to say the least (she did not get that from me). Todd's busy again tomorrow morning- who knows where that will take us!
Have you ever had quiet coffee? T did this am. He started feeling pretty bad yesterday and by this morning had a fever of 101. He had decided not to share it at work last night, so we slept in. Sort of. I awoke to the sound of a little menehune going through the cabinets- well, the bottom ones. Menehune are short. or so I hear. Back to the story. Lots of clinking of dishes, I was thinking " Oh wow, is my diswasher going to be empty when I get up?" ( I wish there was a house fairy.She's a sister to the the tooth fairy, right?) I hear little feet coming up the stairs and into our room. K goes directly over to Daddy and tells him she made his morning coffee. I see T start to melt. Then away she goes to do something else- to bless someone else, I'm just sure of it. I drag out of bed and get downstairs. As I am looking at the coffee pot to start my own cup, I notice that there are no used grounds in the pot. The pot was still warm, the carafe was still half full. Does the house fairy really exist? Did she throw away the grounds and clean it all up? My heart lept at the thought. Visions of breakfasts prepared when I awoke and the kitchen cleaned, filled my head. I had heard of these thing happening, but could it be? Here? at my house? Talking to K, I asked her about the coffee, how she made it and cleaned it all up. Perplexed, she looked at me and said, " I could not grind the coffee without waking everyone up". Well, yes, that's true. So she made him "coffee" -just without the loud part. ( Duh, I should know that, right?) Quiet coffee. Special, not only for the original thought to bring daddy a cup of coffee, but for the thoughtfulness to make it without waking the sick Hero. My sweet girl. It was brown from the instant Nestle Quik she put in it to make it chocolaty- you know, like what he gets at Starbucks. I am humbled, and feeling the need to take a play from her book. No menehunes. No House Fairy, but never have I been so happy to clean up brown dribbles on the carpet.
OK, this is not a posting against eating sugar. Those who know us, know that we don't feed the kids much sugar. Over the years we have gotten a lot of "feedback"for our decision (depriving our children of childhood, etc), but we have chosen to do this in our family. Let me just say, we don't think it's wrong to eat sugar, we have just chosen to eat very little of it (for many reasons that I won't go into here). However, one of the things I LOVE about that choice is that when they do have sugar, whether fruit or straight, they seem savor every bit. This is C after surgery soaking up the sugar- he did not cry after surgery, he was too busy looking forward to the sugar! It does have it's benefits!
We are waiting for C to come out of surgery and just got a knock on the waiting room door. The doctor , Dr. Kim comes in and tells us everything went as planned. They repaired the right hernia and explored for the left, but did not find it.Ok, as I expected. Then comes a funny question. “ Does C take any type of martial arts?”Ummm…what? And after a moment I tell him “Uh, no, no martial arts, why?” “Well, there aretwo nurses on either side of him holding him down and as he is waking up he kicks toward the faces of both of the ones holding his legs in a perfect V.”Oh, dear- and this is after having surgery to the lower abdomen (both sides). Todd and I look at each other and feel much relief after we hear the doctor laughing. My next thought is that the Dr told us that he would need about a week to recover, but I’m thinking C may have other plans.
It was really pitiful taking him back to the OR.I usually do not prepare the kids much for what is going to happen, they all seem to do better when we are there with them and they are only given enough information for the time- and not too much time to think and worry about it. So, the anesthesia nurse went over the procedure with him, but maybe a bit too much detail too early?- the wobbly legs, that the anesthesia would smell like old gym socks- not pleasant things for him to think about for 45 minutes while we waited.He did well for about 5 minutes and then C started to cry and tell us no wobbly legs, he did not think he’d like that.He got more worried as the time passed.Now, I know some children like to know exactly what will happen and when- I was like that- but all of our kiddos (even K who likes to know everything and then asks a million questions) do better when we only give them the information right before or sometimes as it as happening - sometimes not at all. I think most of the fear is bound up in that waiting time, when they are helpless to do anything and cannot change the anticipated event. So, they cry, and cry and tell us how much they don’t like it.Talk about feeling helpless.
He put on a brave face,kissed Daddy bye and walked with me and nite nite (he got to keep it during surgery even though I am certain it is anything but sterile) all the way down the big, long hallto the OR. He did well, but after I lifted him to the table, they asked him to lay his head on the funny pillow. Ummmmm… no- don't think so. He did not like that idea;you could see the anxiety rising, but he did comply, with tears from those big brown eyes. We got him down on the table and they put the mask on.After a couple big breaths I told him to cry big ( the bigger the breaths, the faster it goes) and the eyes started rolling and he went to sleep.Oh my, just seeing my little one there- it was so hard to leave.
We got to see him in recovery and as we were walking in, before we even saw him, his nurse said, “he’s double fisting it already.” We walk in to see him sitting with a blue popsicle in one hand and a full cup of apple juice in the other. If that was not funny enough, he had a flexible thermometer stuck to the center of his forehead as well.What a sight, and what a relief.He proceeded to alternately drink and go back in and out of sleep. I got some good pictures. I know , I know, I am not usually the lunatic that wants to bring my camera into the hospital, but I brought it as well as my computer to download our photos from Florida. So when the opportunity arose, I just happened to have my camera. I will have to rethink my stance on camera addiction- I got some really cute pictures. We got home and T took him to the door and we got our first BIG smile- Bear Bear and Fran Fran had sent a teddy bear with balloons to cheer him up! Thanks you two! The last picture is for you. He has asked to lay down ( where is MY child??), so I am going to go sit with him.We have a lot to be thankful for this thanksgiving, not the least of which is me getting to share a piece of smelly, slobbery nite nite with one that I love. With a truly thankful heart, Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Holly- these are for you. And yes, I know how long it has been since I posted :). But with no schoolwork, housework or other responsibilities, it just makes sense to post them now, before we get back to reality! Enjoy!
