Sick, sick, sick
Ok - so by Monday I really didn't feel sick anymore, just have an annoying tickle in my throat that will probably stay with me now for the next two months. Standard for me. However, by the middle of the week both kids started hacking and sneezing and sounding like they were coming down with the same crap I'd had. I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't progress further but sure enough, Jack had a fever last night and had to stay home today. More scrambling around trying to figure out my work schedule. I'm already out hundreds of dollars due to my home confinement last week (when I don't work, I don't get paid). Fortunately John was able to come home halfway through the day today so I could go out to see my three patients - all of whom chose today to be somewhat argumentative and cranky. SO glad it's Friday.
Jack's fever last night made for some interesting night terrors. Usually he just yells something out in his sleep like "Hey, guys, guys, GUYS!!!!" and then falls back asleep. Last night he was in rare form. He shot up in bed screaming and yelling. When I came in to check on him he kept saying "Mom, Mom, Mom . . ." over and over again in a frantic voice. Then he kissed me a few times, hugged me and then started grabbing my cheeks and squeezing them repeatedly. As he's doing all of this he is asleep - he may look like he's awake but he's asleep. The weird thing is, I can say something to him and he'll answer back, even though he's asleep. It's very bizarre. When he finally stopped squeezing my cheeks I told him to lie down and said "I love you" to which he responded "Ya tebe lyublyu" - which means "I love you" in Ukrainian. Funny, he never speaks Ukrainian to me when he's awake.
Ella Gets her Ears Pierced
After convincing her Daddy that she was ready to get her ears pierced, Ella finally took the plunge. Yesterday we went to Claire's at the mall and she got tiny little blue flowers stapled to her tiny little ears. I was very proud of her. She had many opportunities to back out - and as we waited for the slightly sullen lady with the heavy Caribbean accent to get the piercing supplies ready I was almost positive we'd be leaving Claire's at any moment. But Ella stood her ground, even after the first ear was pierced and the tears began to flow. Unfortunately I'd assured Ella that both ears would be pierced simultaneously, so she was quite unpleasantly surprised when her left ear was on fire and the right ear still needed to be punctured. But she stayed in her seat, squeezed my hand and screwed her eyes shut as the job was finished. She looked quite pleased about five minutes later as we stood in line for Blizzards at Dairy Queen . . .
Funniest moment: As we stood waiting for the piercing lady to get everything together, Ella looked around the store and asked "So where's Claire?" I guess when I told her we were going to Claire's to get her ears pierced, she thought I was talking about an actual person named Claire. Silly girl.
Unpleasant Encounters
I had two encounters this week with two very unpleasant women. I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but in these two cases, I was dealing with two people who must completely suck the joy out of life for anyone who regularly interacts with them.
The first one occurred during my workday. I was about half an hour early to an appointment, so I did what I usually do in that circumstance. I parked about two blocks away from the patient's house, turned the car off and took out my computer to catch up on some paperwork. Suburban neighborhood, quiet street, public parking I might add (no parking restrictions). Keep in mind that I drive a minivan and look completely non-threatening. About twenty minutes into my peaceful hiatus on the side of the road I was startled by a sharp knock on my passenger side window. I rolled the window down and a lady was standing there with a suspicious look on her face.
"Can I help you?" she asked (and not in a friendly way).
"No," I replied.
"Well," she said. "You've been sitting here for a while."
"Yes," I replied slowly. "I'm on my way to an appointment and I was a little early so I pulled over to catch up on some work." (why I felt the need to explain myself I have NO idea - it's public street for crying out loud)
"All right then," she said and stalked off.
Ok - I'm sorry, I realize that someone sitting in a parked car for an extended period of time on a residential street might raise some suspicions, but holy crap! I'm sitting in a minivan with a booster seat in the back and I am so obviously NOT a criminal that it's ridiculous that she even bothered to ask me why I was there!!!! Sometimes I wish I were a little more assertive and that I'd thought to say "You know, this is a public street and I could park here ALL DAY if I wanted to." But no, I'm too nice so I just smile and wave and drive off. Grrrrrrr.
But wait. That was the first unpleasant lady of the week. The second one was worse.
The second encounter took place at the ice rink. Ella and I had arrived for her first ice skating class of the session. I had spent about ten minutes lacing up her skates, putting her helmet on, making sure she had her gloves on, etc. Then we realized that we had no idea where she was supposed to go. The place was in complete chaos and it appeared that the classes that were taking place were in the process of testing for the final class, not starting a first lesson. After running back and forth and still not being able to figure out where Ella was supposed to go, I tapped the shoulder of a mother who was standing at the glass watching her kid skate. I politely asked her which class she was watching and if she knew where Ella should go. She looked at me like I had just crawled out from under a rock and said:
"This is the last day of class."
"Well, my daughter is signed up for a class that starts today" I replied. "Do you happen to know where we are supposed to go?"
"This is the LAST day." she said and practically rolled her eyes at me.
"Ok - well I'm looking for Robin, do you know who that is?" I asked, still being nice.
"Yes - this is Robin's class but it's the LAST day."
"Well, what class is this?" I asked, wondering if it was the same level Ella was supposed to be in and maybe we were early or something.
The lady looked at me (still not smiling) and said "ICE skating."
Oh. My. God. I could have slapped her. But I didn't. Instead I said, "I meant what level is it?"
Unsmiling, horrible, I-hate-the-world lady made an annoying sound and said "Uuuuhhh, I don't know - the first one, whatever that is." Then she turned away from me and that was that.
Wow. If that is how she plans to go through life, I feel sorry for her. Then again, maybe I don't. We all have a choice as to how we interact with others. It would have been so easy for her to smile and say "I'm sorry, I don't know where you should go. My daughter is in this class and it's their last day. Maybe you should go ask someone at the desk." But no, that would have been too easy.
Then of course we went to the front desk and found out that they had left a message on my home voicemail (which I hadn't checked) to let me know that our class was not starting for another two weeks. Poor little Ella had to take her skates off and we went home. I give her lot of credit for not completely melting down at that point.
Lessons of the week
Don't park anywhere for more than fifteen minutes. Don't ask frizzy-haired jaded moms at the ice rink for advice. Revel in glorious moments like your son speaking to you in another language in his sleep or your daughter getting her ears pierced by a lady whose name is NOT Claire. Smile, smile and smile some more. Smiles never killed anyone and they can only make things better.
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