Strep in the Magic Tree House

This winter has really knocked us out with illness. Nothing major or life threatening, but bad enough to receive the "your child has missed 10 days of school and we may have a social worker contact you" letter. Since Christmas there have been only a few weeks where I haven't had someone home sick. Strep has been the major culprit. I try to roll with it, and adjust my plans to whatever the morning brings, but sometimes it just pisses me off. (my apologies to my mother) I had my entire week planned last week, each day with a list of chores to complete, a couple of days volunteering at both schools. All canceled. Sophie was home on Mon and Tues with allergies. Wed they were all at school, but it was early release. Thurs and Friday both girls were home with strep. Big sigh. Big pity party for me.

It finally hit me....I can't control this so I may as well enjoy it. So what if I have loads of laundry to do, the house is a disaster, I have no idea what is for dinner, and I can write my name in the dust in the bedrooms? My kids won't be sick (or young) forever, so I should enjoy them while I can. Living in the moment is so much better than planning your life away anyway, right? So on Thursday when the test came back positive for both Sophie and Emily, I told them we could have a "spa day" in the morning while Michael was at school. They loved it, and I loved seeing them having fun, even though neither was feeling well. It was a much more enjoyable morning than if I had tried to get a bunch of stuff done, all the while trying to keep them busy and away from me.




One of the plans that we had made was to go to a book signing on Friday night. Mary Pope Osborne was signing (well, really stamping since her hand and wrist surgery) her latest book in The Magic Treehouse series. Sophie discovered them last year and loves the series. The books are about a brother and sister, Jack and Annie, who travel back in time to help historical characters with their dilemmas. I was hesitant about her going, but she really had her heart set on it, so we went. (She had taken two days of antibiotics by this point, so she wasn't contagious anymore...or so I told myself...) I wasn't jazzed about going either, all I wanted to do was get the kids to bed and have some time to unwind. Again, just go with it...we went with friends and saw even more friends there. It was great to see 200+ kids all excited about reading and meeting an author. I enjoyed the message she gave to the children, which was that she had 7 drafts for her first book rejected before it was finally published. On the way home I tried not to hammer that into Sophie, but couldn't resist commenting on how glad I was that she kept trying, or we wouldn't have 43 Magic Treehouse books to read.



The girls are both much better today....and I am hopeful for this coming week, although the nurse did joke with me as we were leaving the pediatrician on Thursday afternoon. His parting shot was, "Bye Mrs. Gould, we'll see you next week with Michael." That is just wrong on so many levels....