Saturday: playing

Amanda: next time you're not having fun it's going to be shower time.

The boys play really well.
After a bit Isaac runs into his room and slams the door.
Joshua starts to cry.
I go upstairs to start showers.

Joshua, through big tears: I'm still having fun playing with Isaac!
Isaac, opening the door: yeah, we're still having fun
Amanda: um, well, ok, you can keep playing then.
Joshua, tears leaving: yay!

Friday: no school

Isaac had the day off of school today, but he was rather convinced that he did have school.  He was obsessed with the fact that it was show and tell day.

So I didn't go in to help Isaac wake this morning and I was going to see what happened.  He woke up at his normal time and he and Joshua played.  Ben's alarm with off and I went out and said, "why didn't you wake me up?" Isaac said he didn't know he was supposed to...and he was rather unfazed.  He wanted breakfast, but I said he could have a graham cracker and I'd pack him a big snack.  He also got out a left over sandwich.

We hurried everyone into the cars (including Ben) and drove off.  We went to IHOP.  Ben was with Isaac, and got to break the surprise to him.  He was jumping up and down with excitement.  He got birthday cake pancakes.

I asked him what he wanted to do today and he said he wanted to go to a playground.  It wasn't really what I was expecting to do today, but it sounding much better than staying at home for another day. 

We didn't stay super long; Joshua got tired pretty quickly.  He's been getting very tired in the late mornings, but of course doesn't take a nap.  We went to the library afterwards.  (That had been my original idea for the day.  I think the other ideas ended up better.)  I was going to get just a few books for Isaac.  Then I remembered Joshua needed some more.  Before I knew it, we had more books than we normally get.

Thursday: teacher

Isaac does love his teacher.

Joshua was doing much better today.  He only woke up once last night and went back to sleep pretty quickly.  He's still not well, but I'm much happier with the progress.

Wednesday: I win...at least for right now

Right now, I have completed everything I need to do tonight.

*Joshua is sleeping (in his own bed)
*Grading is done...err, necessary grading is done
*Isaac's stuff is ready for tomorrow
*Everyone is fed.  (Although Ben is the one that picked up dinner tonight.)

It's been a rough week.  Joshua's sickness involved a lot of holding, often outside.  Some of my graders flaked out on me, leaving me a heap of grading, all at the computer.  This was in addition to the normal grading that I do Tuesday/Thursday mornings but don't get to this week because I have Joshua.  The two things don't mesh.

Things that I didn't do...
*Bring the rumba upstairs to charge
*find my missing key
*clean up the kitchen
*send assorted emails
*spend a normal amount of time with Isaac
*fold laundry
*fix any of the clocks after the power outage yesterday.  (I thought I fixed one, but it was about 45 minutes late.  So I don't know if I got distracted and didn't do it or if I put in the wrong time.  It was an odd feeling to look at it, because it was almost right but not really.)
*and most other normal house activities.

Last night I just opened the window up wide in the guest bedroom and we snuggled in the cold.  It actually seemed to work pretty well.  Joshua woke up often, but would go back to sleep quickly.  I left the window open all day, because it's a lot more comfortable to sit there than outside.

This is the cold room.  With draft protection.

We did go to the doctor again today.  He got tested for flu (negative) and so was put on some oral steroids.  The first doctor we saw on Monday didn't think the oral ones help as much, but Joshua perked up about an hour after taking them.  I'm slightly optimistic that I'll get to sleep in my own bed tonight.

In other news, we had an excellent report at Isaac's parent teacher conference.  He is extremely sweet, is very careful to follow the rules, well behaved, and works well at his work.  He understands all the material.  (Ben and I have noticed when we've been there that he is in the top portion of his class, but not the best.  A good place to be.)  He did very well on his initial assessments for reading and math.  He hasn't found a good friend yet...we were curious about that too...but also isn't a loner.  His pencil grip needs to get stronger.  We're going to get some names and pictures because he knows the names of about five people out of his whole class.  (One story we got was that they are supposed to ask their neighbor first if they have a question on an assignment.  There have been several times Mrs. Kreple has seen Isaac ask, but then the neighbor gives an answer that isn't right.  Then he raises his hand.)  We also found out that he makes sure to understand a task before starting it.  I'm not sure where this came from because I don't always do it that way...but it is a good way to do it!

Monday: croup

Ah, it's that time again.  Time to deal with croup. Joshua had a bad night last night and didn't get much better upon waking.  I brought him to the doctor as soon as I could.  They gave him a shot, but I'll admit, it didn't seem to help much.  This surprised me, because croup usually gets much better during the day, so along with the shot I thought it'd be smooth sailing.

We went outside for a bit a little bit before noon.  It was cool and the rain soothing and Joshua finally took a nap.  After a bit we moved inside so I could sleep too.

He perked up after the nap, but breathing was still labored.  We called the doctor so that we didn't start to worry once they were closed and bright him in for an x-ray.  The x ray was clear.

The evening, i.e., bed time, went poorly.  Joshua was probably milking it for all it was worth, but he did sound terrible.  We finally went outside and he feel asleep again.

And now we're in the guest room with the window wide open. We'll see if it is sufficient.

Saturday: life

I'm still dealing with this cold.  (Or allergies?  I didn't think I'm allergic to anything, but it's hard to tell.)  Yesterday and today have been better than earlier in the week, but I'm still wiped out.

That being said, a lot of stuff did get done today.  Maybe that's because our house cleaner came and she did a lot of the work.  Well, Ben and I did some work too.  Legos got cleaned up, the sprinklers were blown out, and paperwork done.

I leave you with this picture of Joshua.  It's hard to tell, but he's wearing two pairs of sunglasses and thought it was hilarious.

Friday: warm day

 It was a warm day out, so when we got home from picking Isaac up from school we did some outside stuff.  I got out Isaac's old Lego costume, which he'll be wearing again, so that we could update the color.  It will be silver.  We redid some of the tape around the holes and primed it.  We also found that the nubs we used weren't holding the primer very well, so we made some new ones.

While picking Isaac up two people said, "good bye Isaac!"  He still doesn't know anyone's names, but it was nice to see that people are saying goodbye to him.

We got his school picture earlier this week...