Sick Week

This week has been unique because we now have two girls too sick to let out in public. Mary Lane has an ear infection as of Monday and here we are Thursday and I still think she's not feeling 100%. Erica then got pinkeye Tuesday so we have missed two days of school/work and it has really thrown my week off. It is just the low-key, moping around kind of minor illnesses but still very isolating to try and keep away from friends and prevent spreading germs.

Staying home all week has inspired me to do some unusual cleaning tasks. I'm washing bedding (including Erica's beloved purple blanket) every day and boiling pacis. Fun stuff.

This morning Mary Lane woke up at 5:30 and only had about 30 minute nap a few hours later, so by lunchtime she was getting delirious. Wasn't crying, just rolling around on the floor instead of sitting up gleefully playing with toys. It was close enough to Erica's naptime that I thought it would be good to try and wait to put Mary Lane down at the same time. Continuing some of my unusual household tasks, I was turned away folding curtains out of the dryer or cleaning a fan. The girls were across the room very quiet and I cautiously wondered what they were doing.
Cute girls have been playing together more and more, so as long as Baby wasn't screaming like Toddler was trying to pinch her cheeks off her face, I figured everything was OK.

Went into the living room to find them both sleepily reclining on the floor, switching pacis back and forth from each other's mouths. Sharing was very sweet to observe, but so much for preventing the spread of germs!

Reunited and it feels so good

Seriously it seems like Erica has been ignoring my Dad for about a year and a half. It was the summer of 2009 when he had a long hospital stay and some setbacks with his Parkinson's disease and when he got home it seemed like Erica didn't have the time of day for him. She doesn't usually want to sit with him or talk to him, but would rather find something to play herself or hang out with more energetic relatives like Grandma, Aunt Nette, or Daniel.

This afternoon Dad had a fall and spent a couple hours in the ER getting his head glued back together. I wanted to tell Erica about it before Russell came home because I knew she would overhear me telling him the details and would have her own questions. I asked Erica to come to me so I could talk to her. I said, "Grandpa fell and hurt his head. He's at the hospital getting the doctors to look at it." She was very sympathetic. "He is bleeding and needs a band-aid." (Side note: I guess she thought that was the ultimate luck for Grandpa because she always wants band-aids and I tell her she needs to be bleeding to get one." She had a few more similar comments and then trotted back to her toys.

When Mom and Dad arrived for their visit (celebrating Nanette's birthday), Erica ran to her Grandpa and said, "You got a boo-boo on your head." They had a very meaningful set of exchanges, including Erica saying, "You don't have your glasses no more. You broke them and threw them in the trash."

I asked Dad to tell the story of his fall. He takes a while to tell stories, pausing to remember details and get the right words to flow from his brain to his mouth. Russell and Mom were giggling in the kitchen imitating Erica, "Yeah, yeah, you fell, went to the hospital, now let's have some birthday cake!"

Not happy about more falling, but for some reason this child is more interested in her Grandpa now and seeing them reunited is super!