Today I am thankful my son has friends.

Lex went to school this morning without fuss. I’m thankful for that too! He kept talking about how he only has one and a half days of school this week, so maybe that made it easier for him to get there this morning. When we walked into his classroom a little girl yelled “LEX!,” ran over, and gave him a great big tackling hug! They both hit the floor. Lex laughed and said, “It’s a Sierra attack!” (where’s my camera when I need it?!?) While that was happening several other kids were chatting excitedly, saying, “Lex is back, Lex is back!” As Eve and I left we passed several other classmates in the hallway and each of them smiled and expressed happiness that Lex was back in school.

They are a super friendly group of kids and I’ve seen them express similar enthusiasm when other kids have returned, but it was so sweet and heartwarming to see it expressed towards Lex. He was smiling and happy to be there. A quick hug and kiss, then he was off to start his day.

Life is good.

Lex went to bed with a low fever, low energy, and spots on his face. (He is cuddling with me right now and reading this post as I type!) He woke up at 1:30am and came in to my room to tell me his ear “felt like it was going to explode.” Ouch! We went into the bathroom where I looked at his ear and touched it. All of which caused him pain. Already at the end of my medical diagnostic abilities, I gave him medicine and sent him back to bed. I went back to bed and started crafting a “today I’m thankful for growing children who can tell me where it hurts” blog post.

He got up with Alan at 5:00am (remember, Alan went to bed early last night too!) and Alan gave him more medicine. When I got up at 5:45 Lex told me he felt great. I was ready to send him to school, until Alan told me about the second dosage. He was still spotted too, although the spots have not changed or increased in number at all.

Sick boy

I kept him home from school and got him a 9:00am doctors appointment. The verdict is not chicken pox, thankfully!, but something called impetigo (the spots) and a big ear infection (the exploding ear feeling). The doctor gave us a prescription for antibiotics and a cream for the skin. After the doctor’s visit we went home for another hit of pain meds and then off to the pharmacy. Lex was happier by then and the kids enjoyed some quality time in the toy aisle. Now that we’ve hit November it seems half the store is filled with toys!

Waiting, somewhat patiently, while I check out at the pharamacy.

After the pharmacy we had a time for a quick lunch at Panera (where I hope we didn’t infect anyone!) and then off to bring Eve to school. She was bounding with energy all day and I felt bad that the morning was quite dull for her. At home I was hesitant to get involved in much because I wasn’t sure where our day was heading (I’m learning about myself that I really, really like to know what the plan for the day is. I’m just more settled that way.) and when we would have to go to the doctors office. Eve was happy to get to school and have her friends to play with. I hope she isn’t infecting anyone now too! The doctor said to keep him home for 24hrs after his first dose of antibiotics and she said it was ok to send Eve to school. So we did.

Lunch!

Lex will be home again tomorrow, then hopefully off to school on Wednesday and 1/2 day Thursday. They have early release Thursday (“I didn’t know Thursday was early release,” he says.) and Friday is Veterans day. He gets a 1.5 day school week this week! :)

Now I’m off to entertain the boy for awhile before we go get Eve again.

We had another quiet, do-nothing weekend. The mornings were frigid, but both days ended up being warmish (high 40s/low 50s) and sunny. Despite that we did nothing. I felt guilty for not getting everyone out for a lovely fall hike or something, but alas, I’m lazy. And Lex is sick. Again. This time it’s low fever, low energy, and lots of snot. He also has a few weird red spots on his face that had me researching chicken pox, post vaccination, on Google. Best I can tell through self-diagnosis is that it’s not chicken pox since he doesn’t seem to be getting any more of them and they are all on his face, not his body. We shall see what the morning brings though.

Tonight Lex fell asleep on Alan’s lap at 5:30pm. I brought him upstairs and put him to bed. He woke up enough to use the bathroom first and ask why he was going to bed at 5:30. I told him he fell asleep on the couch so I thought he was ready for bed. He said, “Oh, ok. I am pretty tired.” and he fell asleep. Alan went to bed at 6:30 and Eve practically put herself to bed at 6:50. I don’t know if it’s the time change or sickness or just a general feeling of lethargy in the house this weekend. I had a few things to finish up downstairs but I really SHOULD have gone to bed with everyone else as I have eaten a day’s worth of points in about an hour. Ugh!

I hope everyone wakes up happy, healthy, and full of energy tomorrow!

Block house

Inside block house

Block trees and person

Fall trees

Tops of trees

Roof of block house

Block structure

Another picture of block house and flowers.

Whole block town

Entrance to block church

Block car in parking lot

Another car in parking lot

Block mini person

by lex

This time it’s Lex’s turn.  They are most excited for the small chairs and free snacks.

I woke him at 2:30 to go pick up Eve. He was hot and feverish. I gave him more medicine, hoping he would feel better by the time we got to school. No such luck. Instead I was faced with the decision of leaving a sick boy alone in the car, clutching his vomit bowl just in case, or bringing him in to the school, bowl, sick germs, and all. I let him choose. He crawled up on to my back, I held the vomit bowl, and we made our way in. He PROMISED me he would not throw up on my neck. Ick! I sat him down in the hallway with his bowl and I got Eve all signed out, then back to the car we went. When we got back home he still wasn’t feeling well. I asked if he wanted a movie on the couch, but he asked for his bed again instead. I carried him upstairs, sat him in bed, and he threw up. A LOT! Luckily that vomit bowl was still in hand. After that he slept until we woke him up at 6pm for dinner. Actually he got up once in the middle to use the bathroom. I’m still impressed that I didn’t have to change wet sheets today with all that sick sleeping. (I did change the sheets tonight anyway, just to give him a fresh set for the night.) At dinner he said he felt much better. He ate some oatmeal, took a shower, then cuddled with Alan on the couch for awhile. Back in bed at 7:30, saying he feels fine. He still has a fever though, so we’ll see how tomorrow goes. Fingers crossed he’s 100% again! :)

Poor Lex woke up this morning feeling rotten. Achy body, achy head, rumbly tumbly, sad all over. I took his temp (under arm because he was scared of the oral method) and it was 101.5° After cuddling for awhile I dosed him up with acetaminophen and managed to get a little breakfast in him. He’s so sweet and polite and adorable when he’s sick. The medicine made him perk up a bit and we spent the morning playing blocks on the floor. I played off and on, while getting a few long overdue chores done in the kitchen as well. Yay! The medicine was wearing off when we brought Eve to school. On the way home I asked Lex if he wanted his normal quiet time (on my bed with a book) or something special, like TV on the couch. He chose my bed. Hmmm… halfway up the stairs (on my back) he decided he wanted his bed instead. He was asleep before I left the room. He’s still napping. Sadly I’m going to have to wake up in up a few minutes so we can go get Eve. I’ll probably dose him up again to get through the afternoon. I hope it’s a quick fever!

Blocks = hours of fun

They make pretty elaborate setups with the blocks. Lex likes to make airports. In the very front is a baggage train bringing baggage to the airplane. The yellow block with the red triangle on top is the driver. In the right, middle is a baggege screening area. Green and brown people with red heads are standing in line to put their luggage on the conveyor belt. Another green guy with a red head is standing between two red screens, viewing the luggage on the x-ray machine. In the back of that little group is another green guy and a purple guy waiting to pick up their luggage. For some reason he always starts his airports with the baggage screening area. In the back Eve has built a group of cats and dogs out of the big plastic blocks. The animals weren't feeling well so she loaded them on to trucks to drive them to the vet. I love the imagination.. and the amount of time they are able to focus on this game!

Sometimes Lex gets very quiet and I find him standing in front of the easel, dry erase marker in hand, as though inspiration just struck! Lately he has been turning out complex drawings with lots of details. There was a great one last week, and here is yesterday’s masterpiece.

Starting from the top, there are trees, and a parking lot with cars (top view, I think) and a beach. On the beach is a golf cart (because their is a golf course nearby but "I didn't have enough room to draw the golf course too!"), a sand castle, a life guard chair, a person lying on a towel, and a kid playing with a bucket. In the water you see starfish and other fish and right at the bottom in the middle is a crab.

I LOVE his creativity and attention to detail!