Friday Night Fun

So many things enter your life with parenthood. Love, tenderness and pride. Fear and worry. Responsibility and fatigue. Many you are prepared for, and some you are not. You get through them all. Sometimes with grace. Sometimes not so much.

And then there's the illness. The neverending illness. I do not exaggerate. I'm pretty sure that we have not gone more than one to two weeks since October with everyone in this household being well. I personally have not gone more than a week and a half since January without being sick. I had heard that having children in daycare often involves them bringing home bugs, but this is getting ridiculous. They are only there two mornings a week.

Last night my husband entertained the children while simultaneously getting a quote to replace our rotting deck, played with the children in the yard, and then fed them dinner. All by himself. I spent 2 and 1/2 hours at my doctor's office walk-in clinic and then waiting for my prescriptions at Walgreens. Diagnosis this time: Bronchitis.

Someone tell me this ends. Please. Tell me that I am not going to spend three out of every four weeks for the next 16 years sick.

Now I'm off to drink more hot tea and to try not to cough too much.

Magic Tree House Progress Chart

Michael and I have been reading the Magic Tree House books. The books are about siblings Jack and Annie who discover a Magic Tree House that travels through space and time to destinations found in books. The series is very well done and Michael is really enjoying them.

There is a companion website for the books where children can track their travels through the series in a virtual passport. They collect a virtual stamp for each book's location by answering questions about the book. Michael is really too young to enjoy collecting virtual stamps and the questions are a little hard for a three year old. I was kind of disappointed because I was hoping that the passport would be a fun enrichment activity that we could do together in addition to reading the books. (They advertise the passport in the back of each book which is how I knew about it.)

As I was wandering the sections of the website for teachers and parents, I discovered a welcome packet that included some bookmarks and a book list that has small images of every book cover.

I decided to make Michael a physical version of their passport. A Magic Tree House Progress Chart, if you will. I printed out the bookmarks and the book list on cardstock. I used the bookmarks and some title art to decorate a cardstock Magic Tree House themed blank progress chart and taped it to his closet door. I then cut out the pictures of the book covers we had already read. He loved sticking the books to the chart and excitedly talked about the books as we put each one on the chart.

He couldn't wait to start reading the new book and is already talking about how we get to put another book on his chart when we finish reading it.

The Weekly Review: Week Eight

Blog Post I Thoroughly Enjoyed:

I very much enjoyed Julia's most recent post. First, she often has pictures of her absolutely adorable children and this post is no exception. Second, she tells a very entertaining story about a marital debate. My favorite quote from the story, regarding her husband, is "putting the passive in our passion and the aggressive in our aggregate since 1996."

Apraxia Article of the Week:

A while back I wrote a post about Apraxia and Infant Bonding. I was talking about how I felt like the fact that both of my babies have oral apraxia might have had an effect on my ability to bond with them when they were little. I had never really seen any article mention such a thing, but I had lived it. And it made sense to me logically. This week I stumbled upon an apraxia article that begins by talking about this very thing. (The title of the article doesn't immediately scream "pertinent to this topic", but give it a chance.)

Sibling Moments of the Week:

• Michael pushing his sister on the swing.
• Michael asking Ava, "Do you want to go play in my room?" and Ava responding, "O-tay!". Watching them run off up the stairs together.
• Watching the two of them on either end of a string playing tug-of-war.
• Trying to decide if the two of them encouraging each other into an ever increasing fury of splashing in the bathtub was a good thing or a bad thing.

Quote of the Week from Michael:

"Mama, I need just one more hug!" from the doorway of his classroom as I drop him off at school.

Ava's Contrariness of the Week:

Finally, we got a barrette in Ava's hair. We snuck it in when she wasn't paying attention and for two adorable hours she had a pink bow in her hair. When she finally noticed it, she was hysterical until I managed to pull it out. I put it in my pocket. Five minutes later she insisted I give her bow back. She didn't want to wear it, mind you. She just wanted to hold it.

Incomplete Project of the Week:

Sorting through over 100 dvds we no longer want collecting dust and figuring out which of three different online vendors offers the most money for each dvd. This involved typing in the 12 digit UPC number for each dvd into each website. Next step is to print out the quotes, sort the physical dvds, box them, and ship them off.