Cooties and the like

I love fall. I do. The cooler weather, the decorations, the holidays and get-togethers and baking and everything good. Every year I get so excited for those first crisp, cool days that I totally forget what comes hand-in-hand with the cold.

COLDS!

And sore throats and coughs and sneezy sounds and every other bad thing. Stupid classes and stupid germs and stupid cold-weather cooped-up cooties anyhow.

After Joe and I spent a shivery, feverish, sleepless night and everyone stayed home from school the next day, I made a round of appointments for the pediatrician and I said, without thinking "I hope we all have strep throat". And Joe looked at me like I might have turned insane.

"Because" I went on as if this was making perfect sense to me, which it was "Then there will actually be Something Wrong with us all, instead of the vague 'probably a virus' diagnosis and there are actually antibiotics to take and we'll all be better".

It is perfectly reasonable, when you think about it.

So, after some taking-of-temperatures and some throat swabs and some wrenching-open-of-someone's-jaws (because the oldest, in spite of her cleverness, will never submit to any procedure, no matter how small, without a 5-star tantrum) it's official. We all have strep throat. Except the baby. He has a sinus infection.

We brought home a bag from the pharmacy that probably weighs as much as the baby, and Happy Meals for all. My dear, darling visiting teacher dropped off Sprite and popsicles. New Netflix movies arrived in the mail (a miracle!) I've confined everyone to the house for 48 hours to try and get better.

I've decided that sick days would be a better experience if you're not actually sick. I keep thinking that I'd like to sleep late, curl up by the fire and maybe crochet the remainder of Smitty's Christmas hat. Instead I lay awake all night trying not to swallow because of the cantaloupe-sized ball of ouch in my throat and wander around in a haze all day because none of the kids believe in sleeping in.

I decided to put a bit more effort into today, so instead of slouching around in Joe's pajama pants all day, I showered, put on an entirely new pair of Joe's pajama bottoms and crammed my contacts into my eyes because Smitty doesn't recognize me in glasses. Also I washed everyone's sheets, applied disinfectant spray to the house with a crop-duster.

Have you actually made it to the end of this post? Well, here's hoping that tomorrow will contain more wellness and less annoying illness than today.

To my Scrabble girls

For a while, I was doing really good at keeping up with a few Words With Friends games. And then this guy, Smitty McSmitten Mittens, discovered that he too, loves that iPod.

And if you think you're going to play a great word, or maybe toss an angry bird or two, you are confronted with this.

Oh! The iPod? Are we going to play Peekaboo Barn now for the maybe three millionth time?

Do you think it will be the sheep? Or the rooster? Or maybe even the dog! We must know!

And then you think to yourself how heart-meltingly cute his little giggle is when he hears the kid say "peekaboo barn" and you absolutely and completely give in to him, every single time.

And you lose all your Scrabble games.

This is me not caring

On kid #3, sometimes you flatter yourself that you are starting to figure things out. Then you get slapped in the face with (yet another) thing you failed to consider.

Holiday decorations and a pre-walking munchkin bent on terror and destruction, for example.

I left the nice nativity sadly tucked away in its box.

I put up the little tree which will, probably, most likely, I tell myself, not crush any little someones when they pull it over on themselves.

With the shatter-proof ornaments, because my kids have been known to eat tree-related holiday decor and, you know, safety first!

And the old, old, like from our haunted house old, gold garland.

And told the type-A part of my self that it's perfectly fine and everything will survive and he'll eventually lose interest and next year we can trust him with more of the decorations out.

Which is, I'm almost pretty sure, totally what's going to happen.

Apps for kids

In the last week I've been on a quest to find good apps for the Smittens. He loves the iPod but how much Plants vs. Zombies does he need to play? So I've been browsing interactive games and books for little kids. What I've found is that a lot of them have
a. super annoying voices
b. lame graphics (this bothers me... a lot)
c. ways to make you (or the kids) "accidentally" buy more stuff

Grrrr, right?

So in the middle of my quest, guess what happened? My friend released an app.

How often do you get to say this? Let's say it again.

My friend just released an app.

I KNOW!!

And it's a totally great one for little kids - counting, letters, shapes, colors, all in these interactive little games. Love it.


Oh, and did I mention that it's totally beautiful?


So yes, totally check it out! Click here or search for Make it Pop in the app store.