Of Illnesses and Genetics

One Sick Mother

I'm on the recovering end of a cold this week. The cold itself wasn't too terribly awful, just the usual sore throat, sneezing, coughing, chills, blah, blah, blah. But I happened to be experiencing women's difficulties at the same time so the fatigue was incredible. My body just basically threw in the towel - "What, you expect us to fight off a virus while losing precious iron? Forget it, we're shutting down."

Exercise?   No.
Personal appearance?   Shoddy at best.
Level of caring?    Negative.

I just didn't want to move. I wanted to lie on the couch all day, reading historical novels and watching House, until it was time to fall into a Nyquil-induced slumber. And really, that's one of the worst things about being a mom - no one's there to take care of you because it's your job to take care of everyone else. It's right up there with with pushing big-headed children out of your delicate lady bits and catching someone else's vomit in your own hands while soothing them with "It's ok, it's alright..."

Matt tried to help, letting me sleep in as late as I wanted and bringing home pizzas for dinner and such but someone had to go to work so I could continue to live in the way to which I've become accustomed. Every morning I would give the same speech:

"Mommy is sick and she doesn't feel good. Please be good and watch out for the little kids, ok?"

They would nod solemnly and then go about their usual business of poking each other and getting into the nail polish.

Exhibit A:

We've watch countless movies this week, including an introduction into the wonder that is The Neverending Story." You know you're firmly entrenched in adulthood by the way you react to Disney movies:
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Watching The Little Mermaid as a child:  "Why is her dad so mean? She's 16 for crying out loud! She's practically an adult and can make her own choices?

Watching The Little Mermaid as an adult: "Why is she so selfish and disobedient? Her dad is only trying to keep her from making bad decisions. She's 16 for crying out loud! She's practically a baby!

Also, Ursula calls Ariel a little tramp, a line that went completely over my head as a kid.

My saving grace was that I have no school this week. I'm particularly thankful that my nutrition class is over. It was slightly uncomfortable to write scathing remarks on the evils of sugar while eating a Cadbury egg.

Question: How bad is sugar?
Answer: On the spectrum of evil, it falls somewhere between the restrooms at Walmart and Hitler.

Also, I ended the class with an A. I may celebrate with some ice cream. In your face, Nutrition Professor!

These Are Not My Children

All parents have those moments of "Who are you?" when it comes to their children and I am no exception. Kate loves to clean and cook and I thank my lucky stars everyday for that. She makes the salads, she cleans the toilets, she vacuums. Matt and I look forward to the day when she will be making all the meals (and so is she). The other day I told the kids to go clean their rooms and she came back with a list she had made:

Floor, dressers, vacuum, beds, shelf, closet, and check up.

At least I'm pretty sure she meant shelf. Although self is good to keep clean as well. She told me she wrote "Check up" at the bottom so she would be sure to check her work at the end. She then bounded happily back to her room to clean and check her list. 

I just don't know who she is sometimes.

Likewise, how Jack emerged from my loins is also a mystery. He's watching this high school biology DVD course I bought and although I find it pretty dry, he really likes it. Like it's a treat for him to be able to watch it. While going through the aquatic animals the other night, he called me over for every single animal's organ layout. He would excitedly point out the air bladder and intestines and such. Here he is, wearing a train conductor hat, pointing out the body parts to a starfish:

And then last week I was reading our Middle Ages history book and read a passage on Galileo. The story goes that he went to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped two objects with different weights. I read "One weight was heavier than the other, and according to old theories about the way the universe worked, this heavier weight should have landed first."

It was here that Jack looked up from his Legos and said "No, that's not right. They would land at the same time and let me tell you why." He then launched into a passionate tirade about the force of gravity being the same and something about physics. At one point he said "You see, it all comes back to E=mc2."

I just don't know about my kids sometimes. I really don't.