Flu Shot

On Wednesday, my parents had planned to take the kids, but the plans changed when my mom hurt her back. We are hoping that she'll make a quick recovery, but it is clear that it may take a long time. Jeff borrowed my mom's car and got the kids as I had the Element, which has our car seats. I had class and office hours, keeping me at school until 6:30PM. Jeff had a good evening with the kids. With the train room operational, the living room isn't getting as messed up as it usually does. I came home to find the couch cushions in place.

Wednesday night was rough. Miss R's cough was pronounced. We ended up bringing her to bed with us. She used Jeff's chest as a pillow. This kept her head up high, allowing her to breath easier.

On Thursday, Jeff went to Miss R's CFT meeting. Her parents were not there and neither were her siblings, who usually attend. The meeting mainly focused on her siblings. It is a messy situation. I think that Jeff left the meeting feeling down. After the meeting, he returned my mom's car and then came home. I picked up the kids around 4:30PM.

Miss R was excited to see me as usual. Her teachers said that she'd been sneezing all day, so her nose was quite red. Henry was sporting a head injury. Apparently, he'd been laying down, like he does, and another kid sat on his head, giving him a rug burn on the temple.

We went home to get Jeff, but his meeting took a lot longer than planned. So Henry, Miss R, and I picked up Poppy, and we headed to the county health department to get Henry his standard flu shot. I wish his pediatrician had preservative free flu shots because it would be a lot easier. Poppy stayed with Miss R in the lobby, while Henry and I filled out the paper work. We had to stand in line for about 15 minutes. Henry was by far the loudest person in the building. All of the other kids were very quiet. Henry was nothing short of a chatter box. He liked the poles holding up the ropes for the lines. He held onto one and jumped up and down shouting "Stinkies! Stinkies! Stinkies!" Then he'd sit at the bottom of the pole and use his arms to pull himself up saying "Pull up!" as he did so. At one point, he told me that he wanted to sit in some nearby chairs. I told him that he could sit in them. He sat in one quietly for about 30 seconds and then decided to rearrange the furniture. I had to get out of line to get him. Then it was back to the pole and yelling out "Stinkies!"

Henry was calm during his shot. The person administering the shot hit a blood vessel though. It gushed. He got a SpongeBob sticker out of the experience, though, so all was well.

We headed to my parents' house. Jeff arrived with food. But he had to head to my parents' office to use the computer and continue with some work.

I took the kids home. Jeff remained behind. Miss R was OK about the nebulizer but was awful when it came to teeth brushing. I bought stickers the other day as incentive for good teeth brushing. Henry was fantastic about brushing his teeth. I refused to give Miss R a sticker because she was so bad during the brushing. To see Henry get a sticker but not her made her go into tears. Then it was time for bed. That's when Jeff arrived.

This morning, Jeff had a meeting. He got them breakfast but then I did Miss R's nebulizer (she was the worst ever sitting still). I brought the stickers with me to the bathroom. I showed the kids the stickers and explained again, "If you are good brushing your teeth, I'll give you a sticker." Henry was excellent. Perfect. Miss R wasn't bad. Every time she clamped her mouth shut, I said "Do you want a sticker or not?" Then she'd open her mouth for 10 seconds. We repeated the mouth clamping and question several times. The end result was that I didn't have to wrestle her to the floor. So despite the repetitive questioning, it was easier in the end than it has ever been. Both kids got two star stickers and were very happy about it.

Jeff helped me get the kids to the car. I asked Jeff if he wanted me to pick him up a breakfast sandwich from the Glass Onion. Henry said, "I want to go to sandwich." Jeff said, "Sandwich is in England." Henry replied, "I want to go to England." He then announced that he wanted "hand sanitizer." The kids were cute as usual holding hands from the car to the doors of the daycare.