1m2aSandbox

Cora’s been down about her best friend being out of town for two whole weeks, and if there’s one thing that’s been just as consistent as Cora’s moping, it’s her sister’s kindness.

All week Maddie’s been solicitous towards Cora, putting up with Cora’s crabby moods and showering her little sister with attention. A couple days ago Maddie made a fake restaurant in the living room and “served” Cora her afternoon snack off a tablecloth, providing a menu from which to choose and everything. Maddie’s been patient in the morning when Cora’s surly and snapping as she contemplates another day without the bff, and truly I’m seeing Maddie rise to the occasion and live out the role of Big Sister like I’ve never seen before.

Cora’s best friend has taken a leave from school for a two-week vacation, and Cora is, in a word, bereft.

She left school on Friday, climbed into my arms, and burst into tears, having just said goodbye to her friend. Cora was able to put it out of her mind for the weekend, but when Monday morning came a thundercloud followed Cora around all morning. She stalked darkly into school, and if I’d thought a day at school would help I was wrong. When she came out she was barely talking.

Our family first went to see FROZEN over Thanksgiving break, and we’ve been huge fans ever since. Such big fans, in fact, that for the first time EVER we paid to see a movie a second time IN A FIRST-RUN THEATRE, over Christmas break. The girls have matching FROZEN shirts that say “Sisters Forever”; we’ve bought (and memorized) the soundtrack; and we’ve downloaded all the karaoke tracks so the girls can do their own performances.

We’re FROZEN fans.

So when the girls got gift cards to Target for Christmas, I wasn’t surprised that Cora wanted to spend hers on the FROZEN dolls. As we walked through the store a couple days before New Year’s eve, Cora was tense with anticipation to hunt down and find the sisters.

This week’s been a bit off with school being closed on Monday, so everything’s felt a little off-schedule. I worked as usual Monday evening, allergies notwithstanding, and both girls felt it was me working “extra”, sort of like working on the weekend.

Then on Tuesday Cora stayed home while Maddie went with me for the afternoon and evening, as she had a little class of her own at my school. So for four hours Maddie tagged along to coachings and classes, hanging out quietly, doing homework, eating dinner in the corner, and having a fair amount of Mommy Time while we drove from place to place.

Which meant that by Wednesday I was feeling a little empty in the Cora column. Wednesday afternoons, I usually take Maddie to ballet while my mom stays home with Cora, but yesterday I felt like Cora was in danger of becoming the “other kid” off in the corner all the time – the “also ran”. So I asked Mom to take Maddie to ballet and Cora and I had some one-on-one time.

Yesterday Maddie told me that she can’t wait until the weekend. Amused, I asked her, “What are you looking forward to doing over the weekend?”

Maddie sighed a deep sigh. “Oh, just resting, and hanging out in the clubhouse. I really need some down time.”

Yep, we’ve got our own clubhouse here. Also known as Gramma’s room.

My mom has a very sweet window seat in her room: a nice, wide window, with a large bench built-in, deep enough for two people to sit facing each other and wide enough for them to stretch out their legs. A few months ago the girls discovered this niche and how it turns into a fantastic sun-bathing spot in the afternoon, and promptly claimed it for themselves.

Cora has an insatiable love for all things artistic and crafty. She’s got a stack of things to do in her room at bedtime, including but not limited to: a rainbow loom set; an actual cross-stich (yes, she can do it all by herself); several beginning sewing kits; several sticker mosaic sets; a stack of notebooks, maze and puzzle books, and coloring books; and a full desk set, including scissors, tape, erasers, crayons, and more.

What she does not have is a desk.

Cora has a plastic lap desk that she uses for crafting in her bed. She’s also got a very nice dressing table with a big mirror, the counter of which will quickly become buried under cut up construction paper and stacks of homemade fans, which then precludes her using the storage of her dressing table.

So I’ve been looking for a desk for Cora for nearly a year now, but I had a few requirements:
1. It has to be used. I’m big on recycling/reusing whenever possible.
2. It has to be real wood, so I can re-finish it to match the rest of her room.
3. It has to fit into a very narrow, small space that’s the only available spot for a desk.
4. It has to be cheap. ‘Cause that’s how I roll.

It’s been a wild ride this week: Maddie’s had a severe case of hives come and go – and come again on Wednsday, only to leave again Wednesday night. She’s had horrible stomach cramps all week, throwing up Tuesday night and being hungry and wanting to eat, but feeling the pains intensify every time she put water in her stomach. As a result, she’d eaten nothing since Monday morning and could barely walk.

I’ve spent the week thinking the hives were a side effect of the flu shot, and going back and forth on the stomach thing: was it a virus? Was it part of the flu shot? If this was all a reaction to the flu shot, would next year’s flu shot be high risk? Should I have insisted on getting the exact flu shot I wanted, and not the one they had when they’d run out of the one I wanted?

By Thursday morning I’d worked myself into a fine case of Mommy Worry, with a nice helping of Mommy Guilt on the side. People are dying here in Texas of the flu – relatives of friends of mine – so the flu and the shot are no small topics of conversation around here.

Maddie came into our bedroom late Sunday night complaining of being itchy all over. Myself being sleepy all over, I told her to climb in bed with me and go back to sleep.

Monday morning she woke up looking like she had little bug bites across her trunk. Unsure as to whether or not it was bites or an allergic reaction, but not seeing anything severely wrong, I sent Maddie off to school with crossed fingers.

By the time Maddie came home after school, the poor girl had giant hives – I mean, a single hive four inches across – in her armpits, across her chest and back, down her legs, and starting onto her neck. Pretty certain by this time that it was a reaction of some kind rather than bites, but wanting to be sure, I took Maddie straight to my dermatologist to get an expert’s opinion.