1m2aSandbox

Yep, Cora got sick too. She’s
twenty-four hours behind Maddie, and as is Cora’s standard
operating procedure for any virus, she threw up. Many times. That
girl could have gout in her leg, and her main symptom would be
vomiting.


Of course, Cora came down with her croup the day I was supposed to
take Maddie out for a special day to make up for missing her school
outdoor carnival, so I left a wan and puking Cora with my mom as I
took a mostly-recovered Maddie out for ice cream and a wander
around the mall.


Things looked good until after naptime, when Maddie again spiked a
fever. Wednesday night was not pretty, with both girls up
complaining many times. Cora stopped vomiting relatively early on
Wednesday, so at least that wasn’t part of the picture. But I
was nervous about how they’d be when they woke up on
Thursday.


Cora was up singing at her usual early hour, much to my
sleep-deprived chagrin. Maddie slept until after 9 a.m., but both
girls were fever-free all day. Some crabbiness, and easy tears, but
they seem (knock on wood) to be pretty mended. We’ve got
Cora’s birthday party coming up on Saturday and I’m
praying hard that the girls are completely mended today so I
don’t have to make any hard calls.


Wish us luck.

Maddie’s preschool is winding down
with a variety of fun activities, including a carnival-like field
day today. The entire morning Maddie’s class gets to spend
the time outside, with bounce houses and face painters and splash
parks and more. Then they head inside for lunch and a movie to
finish off the day.


Unfortunately, Maddie is not a part of it.

Both of my girls have this tendency to
gather things – anything, really, but preferably small and/or
sparkly – into bags, and then leave them all over the house.
Heaven help us if we try to unpack them and put the items away, and
heaven help us even more if we actually need one of the items in
one of the ten bags currently in use.

Is this a childhood thing? Or is it just
my kids? Their play kitchen has a cloth lunch sack, packed to the
gills on a daily basis with what are mostly – but not
exclusively – food items. Then you open their play fridge and
find another small grocery sack, also dearly packed, whose contents
are memorized and which must stay JUST LIKE THAT in case some
long-forgotten game needs to be resumed with the bag.

First, a little background:


You probably know that Maddie loves all things Ariel. She knows
more about that little mermaid than Hans Christian Anderson ever
did, and has three or four of the Ariel Barbie-type dolls that she
loves to dress up. They’ve got a variety of different
clothing – fins, wedding gowns, pink dress – but they
all have the standard purple-shell-bra-and-green-fin/skirt
ensemble.


Ok, so now to the story.

Yep, it’s that time of year again!
Flowers are blooming, and everything’s coming ripe. What
better way to spend an afternoon than picking strawberries?


This year I had to take Maddie out of school to go: the
farm’s only open Wednesdays and Saturdays, and since I teach
most Saturdays we sacrificed some school. Which, if you know
Maddie, actually was a sacrifice on her part. But at lunch time
yesterday we picked Maddie up and headed off on our adventure.

Both girls have birthdays coming up in the
next month or so, and as I work on their birthday wish lists I've
got one eye on our summer family vacation - we'll be driving
cross-country for the first time as a family, and I'm, um, a bit
nervous. So I'm looking at toys and games that will be good for
the car.


I'm thinking about the Leapster 2, but it seems to have pros and
cons: Cora's about to be 3, and will have some years with it, but
I worry that with Maddie about to be 5 she'll soon outgrow it.
Anyone have any strong opinions on it?


I've also been looking at trays that fit onto car seats and think
I've found a decent one, but since it's catalog there's no way
to know until we put it into practice. Does anyone have one they
just love?


Finally, I'm really open to books on CD, puzzles, that sort of
thing which are car-appropriate. I've got a Seuss collection on CD
done by Hollywood actors like Robin Williams, a few Little Mermaid
stories, and the entire Beauty and the Beast story on CD. I also
have an interesting collection of Bible radio plays on CD, but am
always looking for more of that sort of thing.


Oh road-seasoned parents, please spill your secrets!

I feel like I have no time to even blog
about this!


I know I’m somewhat obsessive compulsive and a bit of a
perfectionist (I see all my friends laughing out there) but I do
try to set boundaries and keep my priorities straight. Sometimes,
though, everything seems to come together at one time and I’m
left scrambling to get it all done with no casualties.