Thursday, August 27, 2009

Swine Flu?

These days if you turn on the evening news, or flip on the laptop, you will undoubtedly hear how the Swine Flu is taking over the world! And being a family with two kids in two daycares, we were sure to run into the drama of it all. And we have. Last Friday Parker's daycare provider, Toni, called me in a panic to tell me that there was a "confirmed" case of Swine Flu at her daycare and went on to tell me how she was certain she'd be shut down by the health department. Blah, blah, blah. I was not sure what to do. We had plans to meet up with a bunch of neighbors that night, and of course lots of kids. We'd been at the gym all morning with the girls in the Kid Zone. We were STANDING in Jill's living room while she was on the phone freaking out at me and I was supposed to be leaving the girls there to meet with clients 10 minutes later. What to do, what to do? So, I ran out the door with the EXPOSED child and met my clients 5 minutes late and frazzled carrying a baby that might be exposing the world. Called the pediatrician (love this woman's grip on reality) who confirmed my thoughts, that it's a freaking flu and to go on with life. If she gets sick, give her Tylenol and fluids. Skipped the family evening out in the hood, and low and behold woke up to a baby with a pretty good fever come Saturday morning. Darn, now I started waiting for the vomiting and diarrhea, but it never came. She did have a fever over the weekend, but then just a runny nose come Monday. And on Tuesday we went in for her 15 month check up, and being the cruel mother that I am, I let her get 4 shots because the pedi confirmed that she just had a cold so it was ok. So the poor kid is now a complete mess! She has a nasty cold (or Swine Flu), 4 shots, and 4 new teeth coming in. Really, could I be any worse? I have at least not sent her away, and have spent every waking moment with her for 7 days. And I still like her. Hummm, maybe I am ok at this mom thing after all.

PS - AFTER the dr appt Tuesday I called Toni to tell her we were in the clear only to learn that the "confirmed" case was really just suspected, and that the health department wasn't involved at all. Toni didn't like that Parker hadn't been tested, and treated as some of the other children had been. That Toni BLEACHED everything in the house (I think even the light bulbs). I also learned that Toni tried to rat me out to Payton's daycare. I may have been a bit to vocal in my frustration over her overreaction when we talked. She in turn called Nancy to get her opinion of the situation. I'm SO not impressed by this, but only 5 more weeks then Grandma will be here and I won't be dependant on Miss Toni anymore. Ah, the joys of day care. Next year I think Parker's on her way to Allie Gator.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Kids come up the funniest stuff, and Payton, well, she's ahead of the crowd in this area. Here are a few recent conversations to prove my point.

To set the stage for this one you must know that Payton rarely gets genuinely frustrated with her sister, maybe at us, but not so much at Parker. But being sick for a couple weeks must have been wearing on her. We were driving down the street and both girls we buckled in their seats behind me. Both yapping away, Payton pro baby telling me some great fable and Parker repeating her favorite word, Dacky, as she's talking to her stuffed animal. Suddenly Payton whips her head around to Parker and yells, It's not Dacky, it's a DUCK!

A few weeks ago I may have set a bit of a bad example, shame on mommy. I was driving the girls home from Naples through a nasty storm, one of those where you can't see the highway in front of you. I don't recall what happened, but I mumbled "Shit" under my breath. of course, as kids will, Payton somehow caught it and started repeating it over and over and over. Being the witty woman that I am, I quickly corrected her and told her that I thought we needed a SHIP to get home in all of this rain! She went right along with it, and for the next 20 minutes wanted to talk about the ship that we needed to get home. Now any time it starts raining (every day in Florida) and she and I are in the car she tells me "Mommy, we need a SHIP!" She's so proud of herself.


And here's a picture of my not so adventurous little girl, screaming NOOOOO...... Last weekend we took the girls out to dinner for some BBQ, their favorite. Afterwards we were wandering around the mall and I thought that maybe Payton would enjoy the big bouncing swing thingy that is set up there. We watched a few other kids do it, and she seemed like it was an OK idea. I handed over my $10 and my big girl to the attendant. As soon as he started strapping her in I realized this wasn't going to go well. But, I pushed her and kept talking her up, reminding her how much she LOVES to jump on the bed, and how she's always walking around the house showing us how high she can jump. This apparatus would help her jump REALLY high. She was not buying it. We got her to jump once or twice, but then she was done. And begging to get down. She is so my offspring - she was wearing a skirt and whining about how it hurt her legs. I knew exactly how she felt, but wanted so much for her to get over it and just enjoy the trampoline!