My Day

Both Greta and Lucia are sick. Greta got croup last Thursday and, though the cough is much better, now has a killer cold. Lucia is now also coughing, and also has a terrible cold. I kept her home from preschool today, and the day went pretty much as I knew it would: whining and more whining. At one point it got so insane that I just stopped responding. After a few minutes, when the whining pitch left Lucia's voice and she said, "Mama?", I acted surprised to hear her. "The strangest thing just happened!" I said. "You were whining so much my ears stopped working!"

Truly one of my finer parenting moments. Sigh.

Greta was no walk in the park either, testing and asserting her will by repeatedly trying to climb on top of the girls' small table, and boneless-tantruming on the floor when I would stop her. She would also throw herself to the floor when she couldn't shake play-food out of a bag, when she couldn't maneuver her shopping cart around a pillow, when I offered her a snack, and when I would try to give her a bottle of milk or take away a bottle of milk that she was shaking everywhere.

We used hundreds of Kleenex. No one ate any dinner. I let them watch extra Sesame Street. Somehow we survived.