The Plague

There's been a bit of desperation in the Bouldin House these days. Mainly from Mommy. Both kids have been sick since Monday. It started out with lethargic, feverish children and by Wednesday had transformed into cranky, coughing, whiny, up-throughout-the-night, sleepy, needy children. It stayed that way for the rest of the week. Now Dave's got it, poor guy.

But enough with the whining ...

Yesterday, Julia felt well enough (and had been fever-free long enough) that we went to Mallory's birthday party at Mr. Gatti's. The party started right in the middle of Dax's naptime, so we left him and Daddy here at home to rest. Julia picked her outfit ...


We ended up compromising and she wore the dress and boots, but took off the leg (arm?) warmers and hat and left the sword at home. Dax ate a hot dog and some beans for lunch before we left ...


He looks really happy in that picture, but the truth is I just caught him mid-bite. :) By the way, it is very difficult to feed one child and not the other. Especially if The Other is a hungry two-year-old that really wants a hot dog. In that case, "You'll get pizza later/soon/at Mallory's party" doesn't cut it. So, Julia had a hot dog, too. (For the record, this is one of the first meals all week that they've been hungry enough to eat something other than smoothies or popsicles. Their poor throats hurt too badly to swallow.)

This makes the second weekend in a row that Julia had a birthday party to attend. She now talks all the time about wanting to go "buy a present for my frens." (translation: buy a present for her friends) She also wants to "go to her fren Miss Kenzie's house and eat cukcake and pway." (translation: go to her friend Mekenzie's house and eat cupcakes and play) I'm sure now we'll add in something about playing games and eating cake pops and pizza.

We only had one close call. :) Mallory's first present was a pink princess dress**. Julia was sitting on my lap, completely focused on licking all the icing off her cupcake until Mallory pulled that dress out of the bag. Then Julia sat straight up and said, "Oh, MOMMY! Boo-ful dwess!!!" (translation: oh, Mommy! Beautiful dress!) As soon as she finished her cupcake and cake pop (hey! it was a party! the sugar doesn't count, right?), Julia immediately rushed over to the bag to try to play with the dress. I called her back and she came crying to sit on my lap and listen to my explanations that "it's Mallory's birthday dress and we can't play with it right now, maybe when we visit her house." She told me, "but Mommy I want it!" (no translation needed)

She played video games for the first time. For the record, throwing the Skee Ball overhand does not work well. Also, if your child is two, just find a driving game and park her behind the wheel. No tokens necessary. If it is a toddler-sized version of the game where she can comfortably reach the gear shift, steering wheel and pedal then that's just a bonus :)




**Julia is currently fascinated by all things pink and princessy. We have the Little Mermaid on DVD and she asks many, many times during the day "Mom? I watch princess movie, Mommy?" (I do have to be on hand to skip past the climatic scene near the end where the sea witch gets very big. "Too scary, Mommy") At church one of the first things she runs to is the dress up corner. Sometimes with interesting results ...


Guess I'll be hitting the after-Halloween sales to pick up some beautiful pink princess dresses for our girl's birthday. Hard hat optional.