The Baby still isn’t well. I have spent many hours the past three days holding her. She has been in a fair amount of pain, there is still blood so I have made an appointment for tomorrow morning. I hope that this can be resolved, both for her sake and for my own.
There is a reason that I never became a nurse : I am really bad at the whole ‘nursing’ scenario. With adults, the most I can muster up is a tiny, sympathetic murmur followed by two aspirin dropped into the palm of the outstretched hand, a glass of juice plonked into the other and the order to stay in bed ( and therefore, out of my sight) until they feel better. I’m also very good at giving a look that says ‘Go ahead, get out of bed, but don’t come crawling to me when you don’t get any better’.
Sad, I know.
I do much better with the kids, but still, it is tiring. I’m on day three of being compassionate, caring, soothing. I patiently (well, at least I look and sound patient) listen to the fourth request for a clean diaper in 20 minutes ( and this diaper is bone dry- Sahara…), I listen to “Cinderella” until mouse pie sounds good to me, I gently rock and smooth back hair. And look forward to a nice cold beer and some quiet moments once she is asleep.
Make that 5 requests in 20 minutes.
I’m really a lousy nurse.
It happens, I suppose.
Just back from biking The Baby to school. I had thought about just skipping it, as it is raining and I imagined the roads would be treacherous, but she enjoys it so much that I decided to brave the elements. One of her teachers, Nora, saw The Girl yesterday and told me that things were going very well – with the lovely weather, all of the children had gone swimming in a little lake and The Girl seemed to be having a very nice time.
The Baby’s other teacher, Chrisly ( who is The Boy’s soccer coach as well), told me there would be no training on Thursday ( there was supposed to be a training on Thursday ?) and no game on Saturday. Fine with me.
Home again to find The Boy is still asleep. It’s so quite here, without Fox Kids or Holland 3 blasting away on the TV – I don’t even want to put on any music, just enjoy the hum of the computer and the sounds of the birds.
When I was a teenager, we always had a big aquarium of fancy tailed guppies. Dad used to call it our polish color TV, as Mom and I would just sit and stare at the fish for long periods of time. I do that now with the tadpoles, just hang over their plastic tub and watch them. Yesterday, I moved them from the fancy glass bowl ( with much trepidation : I was sure one of them would wriggle out of the soup ladle and die- just simply die- on the floor before I could get it back into the water) into their ugly plastic tub and gave them fresh water. Unfortunately, The Boy decided that they looked hungry and gave them enough food to sate Moby Dick, so I had to refresh the water again this morning. It is still looking cloudy, though, so I will probably have to clean it up a few more times. ( Here a voice in my head is saying ‘These are tadpoles. They live in mud puddles- they are not exotic, tropical fish that have to be tended with care.’)
I spent a lot of time watching them yesterday. They all have back legs now, but only one seems to have any control over them . As this is one of the smaller tadpoles, I tend to think it this one as a ‘she’. She can bend her legs and can push herself a bit, while the legs of the other tadpoles just stream behind them, like banners floating in the air . They also nap ( ok, shoot me, sure they nap, but I’ve never seen it before), laying on the bottom of the tub, their eyes slowly close, then open again half way and slowly close again.
How am I ever going to let them into the wild again ( assuming The Boy’s over-feeding doesn’t do them in ?), where Herons are waiting to gobble them up ?
I walked The Girl to school this morning a little before 9. We had been up since a little after 7 and she was very excited about her school trip to Mill. Of course she had about a footlocker’s worth of last minute must haves that she wanted to bring, but we managed to trim it down to one, small backpack. She will be back on Friday and I hope that she has a fine time. It’s the first time she has been away overnight without any family around.
I started off fine. After I kissed The Girl goodbye and walked home, the only thing on my mind was how very much I hoped that she had a nice time, that she was happy. The Boy had gotten up while I was gone, so I got him something to eat and drink, then poured a fresh cup of coffee and sat down behind the computer. Within a short while, Marjan had commented upon The Girl leaving, saying that she hoped I slept well.
Why, that’s nice of her to say.
Sleep well ? Why wouldn’t I sleep well ? I suppose because of worry, but I wasn’t worried, just really hoping she would be happy.
Did the shopping ( including the purchase of a distinctly ugly plastic tub, to be used as the new home- sweet for the toads) then The Baby and I went to get fresh pond water for the toads, made lunch and then sat down behind the computer again, waiting for The Baby to settle down so that I could do some work-work, Then the half forgotten stories started floating up : wasn’t that little boy who died ? was missing? a few years back- wasn’t he at a school camp or something ? And what about that one who drowned a while back ?
I know, I know : wait until she is a teenager , going out in the evenings- god knows where and with god knows whom.
We finished the day up with watching You’ ve got Mail with The Boy and The Girl. This is a rather new development- finding films that we all can watch together, but sort of nice. During the week, I scan the TV guide, looking for films that they might like, tape them, and then on the weekend or on Holidays we watch them together. One thing is very clear though – we have to get more comfy chairs or sofas before The Baby joins the group, as we aren’t set up for 5 sprawlers.
Yes, today is yet another of the innumerable holidays we have here in May. We’ve spent the day ala Ozzie and Harriet : first we went to a plant store, hoping to find a new home for the toadpoles, but found nothing. Then we went for a walk in the dunes for about an hour. Once home, we’ve been playing Monopoly. I was the first one out.
Haven’t we been too wholesome for words today ?
Fortress Denmark ( via Tinka ), discussing the rise of the DDP, mentions many of the issues that Fortuyn brought up.
Like many of its neighbors, this country has reached a crossroads. In one direction lies a regressive policy of isolationism — one that idealizes a nostalgic image of an innocent Danish past. The other envisages a multicultural society, enriched by the benefits of cosmopolitanism but also beset by its challenges.
Music to listen to while helping The Girlpack for her camping trip.
Never saw it ? Here is a synopsis.
