A Few Good Things
On a day when you’re stumbling around after a single five-hour stint of sleep, and your daughter has a probable case of hand-foot-mouth disease (the good news about that being that it’s not the same as foot-and-mouth disease, which affects cattle rather than humans, the bad news being the likelihood of painful open sores in her mouth), and you've just lined up a new course to teach starting on Monday (which is good news, on the whole, but a change nonetheless, and change is bad), and you’ve got thirty essays to mark and no day-care until the children are out of quarantine – on a day like that, it’s good to have a friend who sends you a nice package in the mail, full of fadiddle-esque wonderfulness:
And it’s nice, too, to have the following conversation with your drooly, slightly feverish, but still-able-to-bust-a-move baby girl:
Pie: Where’s belly?
Me: (lift shirt)
Pie: Itsa button!
(repeat as needed)
(Please note that the really thrilling part of this conversation is not so much my 14-month-old’s ability to speak in complete sentences, but rather her ability to recognize and label the bits of collapsed flesh under her mom’s shirt as a "belly button" – as something related, however distantly, to the tidy little knot that emerges everytime she pulls up her own shirt, proudly declaring "Belly!")
And, finally, when you have a little boy who bolts out of his bed at least once every single night, it’s not only nice but really worth pointing out that he spends his days in a mood of truly Jekyll-ish cooperation. Most of each day, to be sure, he spends re-enacting scenes from his new Fred Penner concert video, but even that involves the exchanging of pleasantries such as "You! No you! No you! No you!" and "Ma-me-mi-mo-mu – Go! Ta-tee-ti-to-tu – Go!" And at the end of the day, when he’s told that it’s time to go to sleep, he sobs "no no no no yes" and then heads upstairs obediently and climbs into bed, where he’ll remain peacefully asleep until Mr. Hyde makes his appearance sometime between 1:30 and 5:45 tomorrow morning. 
They really are nice children, she reminded herself.
32 comments:
The mouth sores are not for sure, only possible. (My gal got through that one without the mouth sores.) Also, it goes away fairly quickly, thankfully.
(I was much relieved upon making the distinction between the cattle and child diseases. Cause otherwise yuk.)
I have been amazed and pleased that my son has become very compliant about bed. We tell him he has 5 minutes until bath or he will take his bath after a video ends, and he takes the initiative to turn off the TV, run off to the bathroom, and begin to strip.
And we went through night waking not too long ago and managed to get past it after a few weeks (but they were hard!).
Just found your blog through another one I read. Love it! :) It rings so true.....I write about a lot of the same stuff....we Moms, it's quite a sorority.
What a perfect package to get on a day like you've had. Lil'Debbie is cool like that. I hope Pie heals quickly and that you don't suffer too much pain from the new changes. Congrats on the new course.
Aww! Very cute and totally stylin'! (Of course. Fadiddle.)
You've got two gorgeous kids there. Bub's eyes are amazing - so large and deep.
Ugh, night wakings. I don't want to even think about that. We're going to transition Cordy from a crib to a bed at Christmas, and I have a feeling I'll be seeing her up between 1:30 and 5:30am as well.
The "where's you belly button?" question/answer session is my all time favorite - I can't wait for J to start doing it!
There is something so cute about those tiny fingers poking your belly, isn't there! Congratulations on the new course; and I hope the Pie escapes the worst of the plague.
Bub and Pie are adorable!!
What cuties! I hope Pie is feeling better soon.
Both my daughter and I had the hand, foot and mouth disease (I know, it's rare that an adult gets it in that form - but what can I say, I am rare!) Neither of us got the mouth sores. Still, it sucks to be sure! That said, bud and pie are just too adorable, sick and all!
Congrats on the course!
Cute kids! We've had two bouts of hand-foot-whatever, and it never made it anywhere near anyone's mouth - so take heart. I don't think mouth sores are THAT likely.
Swee'pea had hand-foot-mouth disease and it really wasn't a big deal at all. In retrospect, I almost wouldn't have noticed it. I also panicked that he had the thing that caused all the burning piles of cattle in the UK... thank goodness for the Internet... cleared that thought up right away.
And you don't need to quarantine them. Our doctor said that they're contagious for a really long time, like possibly months so there's no point in quarantining them.
Ahhhh, so sorry about the sleep and the sick. What is it with kids, that they insist upon waking us up forever and ever? Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one still getting up at night.
Your kids are adorable. Hope Mr. Hyde stays in bed and Pie gets better soon.
How cute are your kids??? Ahh! Such fond memories of having little ones.
I was going to write a sleep post the other night that simply said the following: "ARUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
'Cause really what else is there to say?
Thinking of you in your miasmic cloud of disease and wakefulness.
BTW, what is the course? Can I sign up?
Aw. They are too cute. But GOSH do they have BIG FEET! (Kidding!)
I've been trolling around and came across your blog and am really impressed. I'm new to this whole thing, but I'm so glad to have a chance to read your thoughts (and to have been introduced to Frog and Toad are Friends as well!).
I'm glad that you don't have blog ennui just yet. Looking forward to further posts!
Oh, how I miss the belly game! [insert longing look and slightly whiny voice here] But, oh, how I love sleeping all-the-live-long night! May Dr. Jekyll depart soon!
I had forgotten about the belly button game.
I can't wait.
I had also forgotten about the mouth sores, when Bug suffered the same affliction.
That, I can wait for. Yuck.
Your kids are dreamy.
Your little ones are stunning! Just beautiful.
There really should be an all-night drop in center for mothers and children who refuse to sleep through the night. They could tear around candlepin bowling or doing arts & crafts with some nice, cheerful teen on workstudy and the rest of us could go back to sleep or enjoy a greasy breakfast and commiseration.
jrkLove the picture in the shoes!
I could listen to "Itsa button!" for a long time without ever getting bored.
Is it wrong to want to have children simply for my own amusement...? ;-)
They're so gorgeous, B&P. So sorry about the illness and upcoming change, though - that makes the night waking even more frustrating and exhausting. Hang in there.
I never get over the eyes on those kids of yours.
I remember poring over a medical reference dictionary looking at these blisters on Colin's fingers. At first I thought it was chicken pox but no, it was the hand and mouth disease. Crabby times, people, crabby times. The chicken pox came the next year. Sigh
Baby belly buttons are the BEST. I can't stop kissing pumpkinpie's lately, it's just so cute and soft and ticklish so that she erupts into sweet toddler giggles. Errrrrr.
Not only are they nice children, but they are pretty darn adorable too. ;-)
I loved the belly button comment. Tessa does that all the time--often, in public places, she'll pull up my shirt and remark on my belly button which must be somewhere in there, although I can't often find it.
I'm so jealous! PB has definitely been swinging to the Hyde Side of things lately... Enjoy it!!
So, so, unbearably cute! Cuteness definitely helps the kiddos survive when they keep their parents up all night.
Oh my. So adorable.
When I was pg with the twins, if you asked Elliot (then 18 mos or so) where his twins were, he'd pull up his shirt and point at his own very round little tummy.
Sigh...believe it or not, someday you will miss toddlerhood.
I, too, have wondered how my 3 year-old can identify my belly button. It's so cute when they are proud of their little body parts.
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