Ding dong, our colds are gone

We’ve been home since Wednesday night and have yet to make it to the grocery store. We haven't even made it outside. The raging colds we all caught knocked us out and made these past few days miserable. When the boys are ill, we can manage though our days are more fractious. When the boys are ill, and one of us is also hit, it’s tough-even tougher when Gabriella is working, and I’m the one sick at home taking care of the boys-running around after them with tissue trying to catch the incredible amount of ick that they bionically expel with every sneeze before it hits the floor. It’s amazing how much one small child can produce with one sneeze. I’m tempted to take a picture but not only would staging be next to impossible, but it’s really and truly yucky.

Both Mom and Mommy have been sick. Gabriella is rarely ill, but she tends only to get sick when I do and somehow she always feels infinitely worse than I ever could. She can't deny it. Levi has had an ear ache that’s kept us up each night. Asher is our resident uber sneezer and also our reporter from the field. Just in case we are unaware, he lets us know about every 15 minutes with a pathetic whine, “I don’t feel weeeelllll!” Yesterday morning, I offered Gabriella $500 to get the boys dressed and take them out for the day so I could sleep. No deal. Perhaps she knew I was bluffing. Or maybe she was actually just as poorly as I. Anything's possible. The days have dragged...until today.

The clouds parted, and suddenly, we could all breathe, and no one has sneezed all morning. We celebrated (read escaped our empty kitchen) by going to the diner for breakfast. An outing! How very exciting. Good food made to order. Friendly wait staff. Activity placemats and crayons. Excellent people watching.

Deborah: Did you hear that Dad who was sitting behind us? He told his son that he’d give him a quarter for every word in the word search puzzle he could find.

Gabriella nodded approvingly.

D: You like that idea? The kid should expect to be paid to do a puzzle?

G: Incentive to learn. I like that.

D: Really? What about the incentive to learn for the fun of learning? The joy of working out problems for yourself?

G: Yes, that too, but I think that cash adds a certain fun to the game occasionally.

D: Monopoly money is fun. Cold hard cash is not.

G: What about the treats we give the boys for eating their vegetables?

D: That’s different.

G: How?

D: We’re teaching them something. We teach them that treats don’t give your body the right kind of energy, so that if they want to have a little sweet, they need to make sure that they’re fuelling their bodies with plenty of good, nutritious food first.

G: mmm hmm

D: And, when he was up to ‘a buck twenty-five’, his father told him that he was ‘doing really good’. Maybe I should have leaned back in my chair and asked for a quarter for every egregious grammatical error.

G: I’m not judging.

D: I am.

G: You go ahead.

D: I will. And I don't need your permission.

I couldn’t really be that offended by the exchange of words for cash. It was a 15 minute game in a diner that was not evidence enough that this child was learning bad life lessons. What’s an academic scholarship if not the exchange of cash for good grades? And I’m forever torn about the treats for veggies deal that I put into place. Some parents present nutritious meals and offer no sweet after the main course. If they’re hungry enough, they’ll eat something healthy off the plate even if the broccoli is forever left behind. Others hide vegetables in sauces and burgers and even in desserts with creative recipes that sound absolutely disgusting like chocolate cupcakes with cauliflower puree. Then there’s the drown-veggies-in-melted-cheese approach. Whatever it takes, right?

All I know is that we’re on the mend and that we’ve got an entire week to plan while Asher is on vacation from school and Gabriella is on leave for the foreseeable future. The time is right for dancing in the street-or at least a trip to the grocery store. Cue dancing boys! (I blame/thank our carpool mom-friend for introducing Asher to ABBA. Asher and Levi insist on listening to Mamma Mia - INCESSANTLY!)