Sunday, February 28, 2010

The germ festival

On Thursday morning, CC (the baby Mimi and B are babysitting) came to the house after having thrown up during the night.

On Friday, Mimi called me to ask if B could take Jupiter to the Bounce Zone after school, and they would be back by five pm.

At 4:15, she called me back to say she was now sick and had to leave school; and that B would bring Jupiter home when they were done at the Bounce Zone. I went to the store I hate most in the world to pick her up some supplies that B could take home to her when she dropped Jupiter off.

On Saturday, we went to basketball. Jupiter came over to rest three times. Then we headed over to Falmouth for dance class. When we got to the Falmouth branch of the store I hate most in the world, Jupiter told me her stomach didn't feel good.

I talked her out of dance class. We went home instead. She ate a few bites of lunch and I put both of us down for a quiet time. She spent 90 minutes of quiet time shouting every few minutes, asking if it was time to go to riding. Then she fell asleep.

At 3pm I went to wake her up. Couldn't do it. She was burning with fever. So I called her riding instructor and cancelled. (I was very sad because Heidi told me she had all different "Olympic" events set up for the girls that day. But fever= no riding.)

She woke up around 5pm miserable. But she told me I'm the best Mom for taking care of her when she feels sick. We read most of Little House in the Big Woods.

Today we stayed home and rested. Her stomach is better, but now she has a horrible croupy cough. Her fever went back up to 101 this afternoon. So she has a mandatory day off from school tomorrow. They can't go back to school until they've been fever free without fever reducers for 24 hours.

I called to check on Mimi and found out that B also got sick Friday after she dropped Jupiter off. They're both recovering at this point.

It's supposed to snow tonight too. This after the 3 inches of rain and slightly less than hurricane force winds we got last week. The weather really can't decide what it wants to do. But the daffodils are poking up out by the brook. Or possibly the small stream floodwaters just washed away all the soil around them.

So we might be home sick tomorrow. Jupiter asked if we could stay home together. I could be enticed into that fairly easily. Not a whole lot of enticing required.

I just figured out I never took a shower today. I was busy using disinfecting wipes on everything remotely disenfectable. At least my hands are clean, I guess.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Yet another Health Insurance Rant

One of those topics I just can't leave alone, I guess.

One of our part timers came to work not feeling well today. His heart was racing and felt strange, he said. He was dizzy and felt faint.

Our senior manager moved to call the ambulance.

The employee said no. He has no insurance. A few weeks ago he was rear ended by an oil company van and had to pay medical expenses for that.

Even though our company offers insurance, this particular kid (I am now old enough that the college kids are kids in my eyes and not contemporaries.) is paying other expenses, (like education) and doesn't have health insurance. So he was unsure if he was having an anxiety attack or something more dire, and took the risk of not being certain because he knew he couldn't pay the bill.

As far as I know, he's okay. He got picked up from work..not sure if his girlfriend convinced him to go to the doctor.

I don't think it's right that people in this country make the choice not to recieve health care because of money. We can do better than that.

The end.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Saturdays

8:00


10:30


4:30



2:30




Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Sweet Sound of my Daughter's Voice

The title of this post is going to sound odd when you first start reading. Go with it and keep reading, though.

This morning I went in to wake Jupiter up, as usual. I rubbed her back for a few minutes before getting down to the process of actually getting her out of bed and dressed. Since it's vacation, she can stay in her pj's for all I care. She wanted me to pick out her clothes. So I went to her dresser and chose blue athletic pants and a matching shirt.

She told me she didn't like those. They weren't stylish and she wanted leggings. I asked her why she wanted me to choose her clothes if she wasn't going to wear what I picked. I went back to her dresser and got leggings. She said she was tired and wanted me to help her get dressed. (BTW, I LOVE the mornings when she wakes up, gets up, and dresses herself independently. She can so totally do that when she wants too.) But she laid on the bed like a big floppy lump and didn't really let me help her get dressed. So I informed her if she wanted help, she needed to cooperate.

She said, "What are you, a dumb dumb head?"

I dropped her shirt on her head and left the room. She yelped in protest, because she thinks I should A- continue to help her, and B- speak disparingly of me the entire time I am trying to help her.

I went to the kitchen to put on my coat and start the car. From the kitchen, I loudly informed her that "Speaking that way may be alright for other children, but it is NOT okay for you."

I started the car and turned the heat on to warm up the inside. I went back in the house and back to her room for round 2.

Jupiter still had not put on her shirt. I told her that I was going to count to five, and if she didn't put on her shirt I was putting it in my coat pocket (it has huge pockets) and she could go without it.

She chose not to put on her coat. So I put her shirt in the coat pocket. Then I suggested that she might want to put on her coat, or I was taking her out to the car in what she had on. I got to three before she decided to put on her coat. She didn't put on her boots, so I carried her out to the car, since I was shooting for a natural consequence and not frostbite.

She called me another name when I dropped her off with Mimi. I told her to have a good day and I loved her, and then I went to work.

At 10:30 this morning, I received an email from church. Kelli H, a young girl who has been fighting a cancerous brain tumor for over a year, died last night. Kelli was an acolyte on Sunday and we shook hands during the Peace when we came up from Sunday School. I am not sure what happened to cause her passing so suddenly. I imagined the pain her family feels at this time.

At 12:30, Mimi called me to ask a banking question, which I answered for her, then we talked about some other things, including Kelli's death. Then, before we hung up, I could hear Jupiter in the background, chatting about something or other. I couldn't hear any words..just the voice that is uniquely hers.

And it was the sweetest sound.

It went straight to my heart.

I love my child fiercely. Despite the battles. In fact, I love her steadfast determination and huge character. And beautiful voice.


Please pray for Kelli's family.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Jupiter and misappropriation

I came to pick up Jupiter today after work and she was sitting nicely on the couch, writing in a diaryish book. I hadn't seen the book before. So I asked where she got it. Mimi told me that Jupiter and I got it at the Christmas Tree store this weekend. Which was news to me. We certainly didn't have time to go to the Christmas Tree store at any point over the weekend. Then the story was that Tiana had let her borrow the book. Then she admitted that Tiana didn't let her borrow the book; and Tiana doesn't know that she has the book. Turns out she also has a new hat in her backpack. Which she managed to convice my mother that we had purchased at LL Bean this weekend. I guess we went there after we finished at the Christmas Tree store. In the real world, she found the hat on the coat rack and decided she liked it. And since it wasn't actually ON anybody's head at the time, she decided it was now hers. She also came home with the wrong shoes, but at least those shoes look exactly like hers, and Jupiter was genuinely suprised when she tried to put them on and they didn't fit her feet. The hat and the diary and the little purse which I don't recognize and the stuffed animal in the purse and the triangular pencil from school and a wooden wedge which I believe may be Mrs. Verdantland's doorstop did not belong in her backpack.

I seriously want to send her to school without a backpack. It'll be tough to carry around the shoes and snow pants and hat and mittens and spare pants and chapstick and lunchbox and all that stuff. But she is on a total taking things just because I want them and lying all the livelong day about it. At least she's proving that I didn't make up the whole lying thing. So now she either can't have access to her backpack during the day, or it needs to be completely checked before she comes home. She spent 10 minutes after we came home writing an apology note to Tiana. She knows that if Tiana is angry that Jupiter wrote all through the diary that was not hers, she will have to replace it out of her own money. But mostly, she doesn't really care.

Speaking of replacing things with her own money. Yesterday Jupiter had to give $10 of the money she got for Christmas to my sister for dumping out all of her body wash and foot scrub the other day when she was "going to the bathroom." She had to give me $5 to replace her toothpaste that she wasted and the 1/4 bottle of contact lens solution that she dumped out when she was "going to the bathroom." Yesterday while I was cleaning her room I found a pair of sissors and clumps of Barbie hair under her bed. You guessed it..she doesn't know how that got there.

So now she's on the velcro plan. (thanks to Tiruba for the great name for the velcro plan.) So if she is stuck to me like velcro she may get into less trouble. As for actually caring that she is stealing and lying.....I don't know.

Now I have to email Mrs. Verdantland and the behavior specialist that Jupiter sees on a daily basis. I'm hoping the behavior specialist can work "not taking things that are not mine" into Jupiter's daily behavior goals. I have to give Mrs. VerdantLand an inventory of all the items Jupiter will be returning to school tomorrow which do not belong to her and ask if she happens to be missing a doorstop.

School vacation next week. (It's Maine. We have one vacation in February and one in April, instead of a March Spring break like everybody else. That's because we LIKE to go to school until the third week in June.). They have this Friday off as an add on day because the budget dictates that we cannot heat the schools and run the busses to have school on Friday. It appears that it may snow on Thursday..another extra day off, maybe???

Mannitt!!!!!

I think this was Jupiter trying out a swear word. She was frustrated at the time with her legos, and said, "MANNIT!"

I couldn't correct her because I was too busy rofl..ing. No worries. I'm sure one of her kindergarten friends will correct her soon enough.