The Pig Flu and Other Tales of Woe

Well, I have almost defeated the swine flu. My fever finally broke last night and I have been increasingly better today. Andre's IV's were very effective. Evelyn kept pointing to her arm and whining then pointing to my arm. I'd say, "do you want an IV too?" And she'd nod "yes." She was completely fascinated and wouldn't stop fixating on it.

Evey seemed well today. Rowan on the other hand woke up with little pink spots all over her. Plus, she was cranky and kept pulling her ear. Andre took her to the pediatrician and she had a rash caused by the virus she had, plus an ear infection. The pediatrician put her on medicine for her ear, plus flu meds for both girls just to be on the safe side. By this evening she seemed better too.

In other news, this is what we caught Evelyn doing tonight. She was climbing on top of her play kitchen so that she could kiss her own reflection in the mirror. She climbed up there by herself and quite fast too. The funniest thing was that she kept looking at herself, laughing, and kissing her reflection. If only we all had such a great self-esteem.


Rowan hasn't figured out how to climb on it yet and Evelyn is already at the very top. It just shows you that the girls have their own strengths, and sometimes Rowan will be the first and sometimes Evelyn will be the first. Every child is different.

She has amazing balance and upper body strength. She can hold onto ledges and almost pull herself up. She even carried my big heavy skillet to put it away today--I was helping her with it, but she was carrying most of the weight.

I'm feeling a bit piggish

So I've been sick since last Wednesday, and wouldn't you know--I have Swine Flu. Yeah, I can't believe it. I actually thought the doctor was joking when he said it.

The twins are both sick too, but they don't seem to be as bad. I took them to their pediatrician on Friday and she thought they just had a virus.

Poor Andre is playing nurse-maid to all three of us. He's hooked me up to an IV, so I'm getting plenty of fluids and I'm on meds. Being sick is the worst.

9-11-09

Andre played the bagpipes for the Annual 9-11 Memorial.

just playing

Play is underrated.

Kids understand the importance of playing. Of finding joy is the most basic thing. Of laughing. Of being silly. Of spinning around in circles, or making noises, or playing some funny game you just made up.

There are adults who don't know how to play. Who spend too much time trying to control the world around them and can't just let go. I don't really understand this. I've seen it, I've known these type of people, but it doesn't make sense to me.

My job, if anything, is a depressing job. People sit in my office and cry and tell me how their lives are falling a part. And I guess maybe its because of that, and maybe because of my own suffering that I value those moments when you can just run around the house chasing after your kids and acting like an idiot. I never once forget how quickly our lives can change.

So today after work, I let go of the fact that I was exhausted and played "duck, duck goose" and ran around the house. My favorite game to play with them is my version of Jack and the Beanstalk. I'll say, "Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the blood of a Bolivian." As soon as they hear that they both start giggling and running. I'll walk slow and heavy like a B-movie monster repeating the line until I finally catch one and say, "And here she is!" By then they are in hysterics. Rowan always wants to be caught and usually runs away then turns around and runs right into me so I can catch her.

Playing is good though. Its a great stress relief for us and a good coping mechanism when times are tough. People often comment on how happy the girls are, how much they laugh, and I have to think that at least some of that is how much we play with them. I want them to grow up understanding how wonderful life is and how to create joy. They'll learn soon enough how sad it can be, how hard it can be, and how disappointing it can be.

The girls definitely have their own sense of humor. Rowan loves anything really silly. Funny animals, silly songs, she loved Chucky Cheese--that sort of thing. While Evelyn really likes slapstick comedy. If you accidentally fall, she'll start cracking up.

The other day, Andre was holding a bag of crackers and when Evelyn reached in to get a cracker he shook the bag and made sort of a barking noise as if the bag was going to bite her--she thought it was the funnest thing ever. He tried the same thing with Rowan and she got really upset. On another occasion, Rowan was intentionally hitting her head against the wall because every time she did Evelyn laughed. I think Evelyn's going to appreciate darker humor. It will be fun to see how much of their sense of humor will remain and how it will evolve as they get older.

Labor Day Weekend

We celebrated Labor Day the traditional way, pool party and barbecue with friends.

I bought the girls new two piece swimsuits, which Andre did not approve of. I have discovered that the toddler bikini is a controversial subject. Where some people find it cute, others see it as a slippery slope to becoming a hoochy-mama. First the bikini, then the stilettos, before you know it its booze and late night partying. You really have to keep on your toes with this sort of thing. Luckily, Rachel came to the rescue with the explanation of the difference between a bikini and a two-piece.





All kidding aside, the girls are becoming more and more comfortable in the water. They'll jump to us from the side and Andre's been working with them to float on their backs. I really want to get them into a swimming class. The gym we joined has a huge indoor pool and several "water babies" classes. Actually, that was the motivation behind the two-piece. The girls are growing so quickly, I figured the two-piece would last through the winter until swimsuits went on sale again next summer.


Anyhow, Labor Day is an interesting holiday that no one in our group remembered the underlying purpose of. I told Andre it was to celebrate all women who had been in labor and therefore they should be honored on this most important holiday. He didn't buy it. Apparently, the day is in celebration of an 8-hour workday. I spent the Monday-holiday working only 5 and feeling like it was a great vacation. Poor Andre worked a full 24 hour shift.


The girls really love to walk around with things on their heads. Here's a picture of them walking around with their towels. They're so funny. They found my wedding veil and love to wear it. They'll even wear one of my skirts like a big veil. I guess if the "toddler bikini" doesn't work out they can always wear the "toddler burka."





After a day in the sun, they were completely worn out. This is two minutes into our ride home.

First Day of School

The girls went to their first day of "school" today. They are such big girls now.

We let them play for a few hours today. Andre said when he went to pick them up that Rowan saw him but wanted to keep playing with her new friends. They're only going for two days a week and I think they're going to really enjoy being around other kids.

Chucky Cheese

Its hard to say what the girls will be like as they get older--but they certainly have distinct personalities now.

We took the girls to Chucky Cheese for the first time this Sunday. We began to take a seat right up by the animatronics, but Evelyn took one look at the blinking mechanical dog playing a banjo and started screaming. So we sat on the side, where they could see--but not too close. I think this picture of Evelyn shows her complete and utter shock. She is actually watching the person dressed as a giant mouse--"Chucky Cheese" walk out onto the floor. She was not impressed.

Rowan is a completely different story. She saw Chucky Cheese and started waving at him from across the room, smiling and laughing, as if he was some friend at a party and she was waving him over. She bounced along to the silly music and couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Neither girl particularly enjoyed the rides, even the little bitty kid rides. They did like Skee Ball, but couldn't throw the balls hard enough to go farther than a foot.

We tried to take some good pictures of the two of them--but they move so quickly it's like trying to take a picture of a firefly.

Andre is against Chucky Cheese in general, and in particular. He wants the girls childhood experiences to be something you would see depicted on a box of granola or illustrated in a fly fishing magazine. You know, where the entertainment is learning how to tie nautical knots and identifying various animal droppings.

That's all well and good, don't get me wrong. I love to hug a tree as much as the next Austinite, but I want the girls to have a wide variety of experiences. I think you can appreciate the natural beauty of something like the Redwood Forest and also enjoy the complete gluttonous joy that is Disney World. Why does it have to be one or the other?

Parents make these kind of black and white, this or that choices on lots of things. I'm not talking about health and safety decisions, but rather the kind of things that don't really matter. Its the "parental snobbery" if you will. Such as, "My kid, will never, ever, ever, eat McDonald's, it's only (fill in the blank) food for my little one." As if one happy meal, and oops, there goes little Johnny's cholesterol, he's ruined.

You hear this kind of thing all the time. When my sister's son (and first child) was born she dressed him exclusively in ultra-cute, if not designer baby clothes. She'd say, "I'm not going to put anything on him that I wouldn't want to wear." Unfortunately, by the time he turned 2 he decided the only thing he would wear was T-shirts, shorts, and his favorite cowboy boots. ha!

I can't say that I am immune from my own parental snobbery. When the twins were expected I insisted on using only organic crib sheets. Why? Not because anything else was harmful, but because they were my babies and therefore needed the best and in my obsessive compulsive way I had decided that organic baby sheets were the best. Parental snobbery at its finest. I have since bought normal cotton sheets from Target. That's the other thing about parental snobbery, it fades with time and/or additional children.

There were other things too. Like bottles. We spent so much money on buying the "best" bottles and when it was all said and done my favorite were the cheap $2 bottles from the grocery store. What can I say? I was a victim of advertising and parenting magazines.

I can only begin to imagine all of the moments to come in which one of us will draw a line in the sand and firmly say, "not any kid of mine is going to ...". That is, of course, until the day when even our best intentions are overruled by our strong-minded children who already have opinions of their own.