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sick days

My Brain on an “Extra” Day Off

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Oh dear, Nora has a cold.  She’s in good spirits, but she’s a sneeze factory and she’ll get other kids sick if she goes to school.  Better stay home.  I had a terrible line up of meetings today, anyway.  But too bad Ben can’t stay home, as it’s his birthday and he’d have a fun day with his girl.

Wow, a free day!  What should we do?  I can write a bunch of blog posts during nap time! We can make tamales instead of doing it on Saturday! After cleaning the kitchen of course.  I can get some exercise!  Yoga? Elliptical trainer? I can clean out some closets and gather some of Nora’s old clothes for Libby.  I suppose I should do some laundry.  And I should finish that elephant for the auction or I could work on Nora’s leg warmers.  And I was going to make a bunch of breakfast burritos and throw them in the freezer to use up some eggs and that chorizo.  And we need to frost Ben’s cake.  And we can make party hats!  Oh, and it’s payday, I need to pay bills.  And I haven’t filled out the tax planner yet.  And of course, no sick day is complete without a tea party — in our pajamas!  What a great day this will be.  Maybe we should just take it easy though?  Yes, after the tamales…

Blog Posts

Clean Kitchen

Tamales (2-1/2 dozen)

Frost Cake

Laundry

Exercise

Tea Party

Party Hats

Clean Closets

Bag of Clothes for Libby

Finish Elephant

Knit Other Leg Warmer

Breakfast Burritos for Freezing

Pay Bills

Fill Out Tax Planner

Swollen Glands & Purple Circles

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If I’m asleep, I’m snoring.  Not so my husband.  He only snores when he’s sick. 

Nora doesn’t snore either.  So, last night, as she began snoring shortly after falling asleep, I thought, uh-oh.

During the night, she began crying.  Her head hurt and she had a sore throat.  As she put it, “It’s sore way back in my mouth.”

It’s rather amazing when your child can finally articulate an illness.  Though I’ve never had trouble telling if Nora was sick, as she gets tell-tale purple circles under her bright blue eyes.

Anyway, this morning, despite being more chipper than I thought she’d be, she has swollen glands and purple circles. 

This is actually her first sick day of the school year.  She had a cold over Thanksgiving break, and one other cold that fell on a weekend.  It’s nearly February and she hasn’t missed a single day of school.  This is unprecented.  All those early illnesses appear to have built her one heck of an immune system.

So, I get to spend the day thinking of calming activities for her.  She’s already painted a picture, made some oatmeal and explained to me that, “Everything that is in my brain and in my heart I love and take care of.”

It’s going to be a beautiful day.