So, the long weekend became a bit longer today.
Once we graduated from the first year’s ear infections, we enjoyed three years of relative illness-free bliss. That seems to have come to a crashing halt as we enter year four. Starting with a mysterious virus that produced no symptoms for days except for thermometer shattering 104.5+ degree readings, moving onto a quick secondary lung infection requiring the pink goop, she quickly rallied a few days before her fourth birthday, and partied til the sun went down. We followed that with two quick weekend trips in succession, and then, again – a mysterious virus (doctor’s code for “we don’t have any definitive answer for why your child’s body could turn out pan brownies faster than an easy-bake oven, but this is what we think it is, and by the way, there is nothing you can do but wait it out”). Is it wrong to cross your fingers for a positive strep test, with it’s promise of that lovely goop which allows you to actually do something for your sick child other than bathe her in cold water every predawn moment since Sunday?
So we did the sick day swing shift – dad in the early hours, mom in the late. And what did she do in between?
Well, she started the day by labeling our closets with notes of hidden meanings and encoded directions. They all had elaborate explanations, and some had cryptic phonetic spellings, but I had to applaud her effort in writing these things out. I could watch this child form words all day.
One of my favorites was this one, below. It read “No clothes No shoes They are nowhere”. When I opened the door, the shoes had been moved, well, one of each pair was missing – relocated to a neighboring cabinet.
There was more taping of all things construction paper.
I worked a bit on my photo sorting for albums and this wall that I am working on.
It was a long day, but we all managed to get a little bit of our work done and hopefully, get a bit further down this road to a well child.
P.S. This note was hidden behind the bathroom door, to be discovered first thing in the morning by its lucky recipient.
