Injuries and Illness

Knock wood, I am so lucky that my kids are so tough. Magician has a pretty high threshold for pain (so far) and Supergerky rarely gets sick, and when he does it usually lasts a couple of hours and that's all. Thank goodness. Last weekend Magician was invited to a birthday party. His very own party. His big brother wasn't invited. This, per Magician, was the greatest thing ever! Unfortunately after a party in the morning, a play at the shopping center playarea in the afternoon and then this party, this child was pretty tuckered. It was a gymnastics party and Magician zeroed in on the trampoline and jumped his little heart out for about 30 minutes straight. I finally talked him into trying the zip line. Well, this was the greatest invention since the birthday party and off he went - about 10 times straight. I imagine by then his little arms were tired and down he went. He fell on his foot and has been limping ever since. He looks like a little quasimoto. But, other than that first couple of minutes, if he is in any pain, he ain't talkin. The pediatrician thought it was his hip. The orthopedist thinks it's his foot - there was a bit of swelling but no obvious break. I have never seen a kid with a presumably badly sprained foot running and jumping like nothing was wrong. When he had his x-rays this morning, while lying on the table we told him they were going to just take a couple of pictures of his foot. When he heard the x-ray machine turn on, he gave a big grin and said "CHEESE." Too funny. The orthopedist said if he has any symptoms still in a couple of weeks to bring him back in. But other than that, just monitor him and no gymnastics for a few days. Tell that to my kid who was doing jumping jacks last night. And headstands off the couch. And chasing the cat. And tackling his big brother.

SuperGerky has an amazing constitution so far. The child has amazing recovery powers. I guess every superhero needs super powers - maybe that is his. One can only hope. There is a nasty bug going around. I don't really know much other than it is an awful cold with fever, sore throat, and incredible fatigue. The other day I got a call from my nanny that he wasn't himself - he actually took a nap in the middle of the day. And didn't eat his afternoon snack. You know there is something wrong when my creature-of-habit-who-lives-for-morning-and-afternoon-snack child refuses his afternoon snack! I got home and sure enough, he had a fever pushing 102. He had a bit of a meltdown when he "couldn't breathe" which I assume was some congestion. I braced for a long night and a few days home. Well, I gave him some Motrin and put him to bed. He woke up 9 hours later at the usual time raring to go. He was absolutely fine. Not even a sniffle. I refused a playdate for the afternoon because I was expecting him to be tired or sick or something. But nope. Nothing. He is an amazing kid. Both of them.

I am very lucky. I hope I didn't just jinx it all. If so, a note to the powers that be that can control this sort of thing, just ignore this whole entry. :)

Nannies

I just learned that our nanny will be losing her driver's license in March. It's amazing how one small simple statement can turn my life completely upside down. All of a sudden I have to find new childcare! ACK! Even before this revelation, Supergerky declared to his nanny that it was time for her to go home and for him to have a new nanny; preferably a boy nanny this time. Perhaps he is a bit clarevoyant? Unfortunately, me not working is not an option. We are toying with the idea of Daddy leaving his job and freelancing but that's pretty scary and unpredictable. Although then I would stop worrying that one day the kids would turn to me and say "daddy? daddy? do I know a daddy? the name is vaguely familiar but I just can't seem to place him...." So I obsess over how to handle this crisis. At least I have a few months to find someone or to figure it out. I am amazed at the nannies that are asking for salaries that are larger than mine (almost) and then accusing me of skimping out on my kids because I can't afford it. Um, hello? I am not a corporation, I am a mother who is working to earn enough money to pay the bills - would you give me the slightest break please? It would be nice to find someone to watch the kids who is truly motivated by the fact that he/she loves kids - oh but needs some money to live too. Does these type of people exist?

Halloween. Halloween was a blast. Magician was Tigger and still wants to wear the costume every day. It's a bit ironic that now that Halloween is over he wants to wear it because it was a huge fight that day to get him to play. I guess once he figured out the candy was involved he was more agreeable. He did the cutest little bounce too. Supergerky wanted to be supergerky again this year (that's what he was last year - an interesting costume since no one but he really knew what supergerky looked like - and we had a bit of trouble with the laser beams coming out of his eyes, but the moon boots were a nice touch!) but then decided to be something scary instead. We went with a Zombie, complete with white and black face paint and a plastic sickle. Okay, the sickle is more Grim Reaper than Zombie, but the sickle was cheaper than the machete and he didn't really care. After a while he got tired to carrying it anyway. He put it down and Magician picked it up and would not let go. We started to call him Psycho Tigger as he went to the doors. Too cute. They made out pretty well all in all. They have pretty much all but forgotten about the candy by now. I'll probably end up throwing most of it away. Ah well, at least I didn't have any of my own left over. It's easier to waste someone else's money than my own I guess.

Well, it's back to work for me for now.