By the way, we read A Porcupine named Fluffy today and talked about irony. I figure that my kids should know all of their rhetorical devices by the time they start going to school for full-days, right? Oh my...
So this is a bit of a sob story in a couple of ways. First, the Abb-stigator came down with a super unexpected case of the pukes last night. Second, I'm felt on the brink of a mental collapse for a couple of weeks now. To understand the irony of the former, we must begin with the latter, however. I just didn't want to put ME first cause, seriously, not worse than waking up puking, right?
This week was the end of the 3rd 9 weeks, which is always a busy time as you scramble to get any and all last minute grading done and in the gradebook. Plus, I ever so cleverly gave 2 tests last week in 4 different classes, and I don't give many tests. So this has also been a lot bit of struggle getting them all written (it takes TIME to write tests!!) and graded, and that's before tracking down the large handful of students who are inevitably gone for whatever reasons the day of the test and then have every excuse there is before they actually make it up. Add this into a situation where I had too many failing grades (though I staunchly believe that these were and always are earned grades) makes for a stressful time at school. If you're the teacher of seniors in a core class, such as I am, there's a lot of pressure to get kids into the realm of passing, so you have to figure out how to hold some students hands without them knowing it and how to say the right pep talk to others. It's a lot of mental games at times. And, track season is going again, which means that Ben is not around nearly as much and swamped when he is. There are 2 times of the school year that are particularly challenging, and this is one of the two--and the longer one of the two. That's not cool that when the weather starts to turn nice again, I feel like I miss a lot of it because of demands of my job and keeping the house together. On top of that, we're in the midst of maintaining a showroom house as we're back on the market, and those showings, while always appreciated, never fall at an opportune time when you feel like you can afford to devote several hours to spit shining the place. Toddlers are awesome at trailing behind the cleaning process, subtly undoing much of the order and calm, too.
So this takes me to the invalid. We've b een struggling through something with her since about the beginning of February where she intermittently complains quite vociferously about her "hips" hurting, though that pain seems to be more of a lower abdomen/groin pain. And with toddlers, how much can you diagnose something that's fairly vague like that? It could be a large number of issues. But I've taken time off twice to check in at the doctor's about it and nothing concrete has ever been determined, yet it lingers. Could it be a mental issue? A controling game? Abby has hit the stage where she is having some separation anxiety when we immediately drop her off at her sitters' houses, though she thoroughly enjoys both places and the kids that are there. I always pick her up, and if she's awake, it's constant giggles and chasing and "Mommy, mommy, look at this!" She's broken down a few times with the sitters, admitting that "I miss Mommy and Daddy!" THAT is heartbreaking and really makes me want to quit my job and somehow figure out how to live on one teacher's salary. It's really affecting Ben as well, so the worry about the child has not helped the mental fatigue.
But then, Abby came down with a snotty nosed cold early last week, which meant that we each took a day off of work (count how many times I've said I've taken off of work since the beginning of February for this kid--up to three right now) and stayed home with her so that she would not spread the love with her healthy friend at the sitter's. This was good times insofar as it was nice to be with her, but when is it ever fun chasing a goopy nose all over the place, constantly wiping and fighting the tears around the "snot sucker"? Plus, she barely napped and my work time was sorely reduced. Remember how it's the end of the 9 weeks and everyone is frantically...????
She got over that with nothing more than a bit of a lingering cough. Until last night. I'm tucking in to enjoy The Office by myself while Abby has been asleep for an hour and Ben's at a church council meeting only to be interrupted by seriously frantic screams of "MOMMY!! MOMMY!! MOMMY!!!!!" And the fun times began. That not only reeks badly, but in a small kid's room, the smell is easy to be confined and hard to dissipate, AND my super preggo sniffer makes it even more toxic. But this kid is a champ when it comes to unpleasant nighttime puking. This is our second episode of it, and both times no fever, about 2 hours of constant unfun, and then the recuperation is already well underway by breakfast the next day. Still, the left both Ben and myself with uber restless nights--not sure what his problem was exactly. First, I was so hopped up on adrenaline that I couldn't mentally settle down even though it was way past my bedtime, and then I just laid there waiting for Abby to call for me, and then preggo pain settled into my legs good and solidly last night...uncomfortable no matter what way you lay! I know that I slept from about 1-3, but other than that, it was nothing more than dozing and shifting.
Back to the irony--I got my mental health day today. Yeah, Abby isn't near 100%, but it's been a day of solid cuddling. We even spent a good 30-45 minutes just sitting on the living room floor chatting. It was fun! This kid hasn't wanted to play and has been content for a good part of the morning to just sit on my lap staring at nothing. She's wiped out (the night we had last night is apparently what it takes to help her sleep until 7!) and it's been one seriously low-key day. Barely any whining, few complaints, no pressure to do anything or be anywhere, not much to pick up, and one soft head snuggled against me all day. She's a wiggle pants on most days, but even today, she has been pretty mellow. And NOW, I find myself with a sleeping child, time on my hands, no fatigue (I was really hoping to nap this afternoon!), and an absolutely gorgeous day to just sit and enjoy in silence. So I'm doing just that, knowing that Ben is bringing me grading home tonight and that I'll be called back into the role of Mommy soon enough. And to thnk, I could be working right now...!!!
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