Germs, Big Babies, Playtime

Last week was highly irregular. I had to take 3 days of sick leave, for starters. I wasn't well enough for work Thursday and Friday, but there was work to be done and since I thought I could work in bed anyway, it wouldn't be so bad. It was a "meh" idea. The thing about that is I wouldn't get better without getting any real rest and, in this case, antibiotics. My throat was killing me, but the pain's almost gone now... so's the cough. We did miss church yesterday since I was still feeling poorly. I'm still not a hundred percent today and my mom thinks I should just ditch work again, but this isn't a good time for me to be absent again, so I'm just praying for help and healing.

Cameron is already 8 months - that flying time, eh. Childhood is fleeting and infancy, even more so. Because I'm working this time, I feel as though I'm not getting to enjoy Cam's babyhood as much as I did Marguerite's. I'm not about to gripe though. I don't have to leave him while I go off to work at all. I just don't get to be as obsessed as I was with M. That's probably a good thing. Anyway, everything's on track with Cam's development. He's even longer than some  one-year-old children at 78 cms. (The pic above is about 2 months old, btw. It was taken by my boss when he came over for a visit.)

Marguerite, who gave me the germs, is better herself, so she's going back to her swimming lessons tomorrow. How's this for dumb? All the time M was coughing right at my face (she insisted on sleeping beside me while she was sick) I was somehow thinking that my immunity was high because I was breastfeeding. When I got sick, I was like, "Oh wait, it's the baby whose immune system gets all the benefits..." And yeah, breastmilk, really wonderful. Anyway, these days, M is into the Littlest Pet Shop (Mark just gave her a box, before that she would make do with her Little Ponies and Polly Pocket pets -- she likes making up stories and getting the little toys to act them out) and giving makeup tutorials (I'll have to videotape her play moments). I was all set to have her turn out more outdoorsy than me, but this is where her interests lay at the moment. When we spend time outdoors, she'd run and ride her bike some and then she'd settle on the blanket to play with her little toys. I hope we get to expose her to many options, but I'm determined to support and encourage whatever her interests are.

When I'm not working, parenting or being sick, I watch a lot of Pawn Stars, The Pickers, Rick's Restorations, and Storage Wars.

Supermoon, Kiddie Updates and Free E-book

There's a Supermoon (perigee-syzgy) to watch out for later tonight, but the crazy May showers have arrived and the sky will probably be full of rain clouds. Oh well. We'll see if we'll get lucky.

Marguerite came down with a fever yesterday. She may have a cold (it comes and goes), but she usually doesn't get fevers from that. I think it's probably exhaustion. I know she ran a fever before from getting so tired. Is that scientific? lol. Anyway, she started swimming lessons on Tuesday, so I think it has something to do with that. The fever's gone, but we'll probably wait until next week before she resumes her lessons. In any case, the coming week is already promising to be really busy for her; she also has DVBS in the mornings.

Cameron already knows how to sign milk, but he does it only when we say "milk". He doesn't actually sign it to ask for milk. Marguerite started signing to communicate at 8 months, so Cameron will probably start doing it soon. He turns 8 months on the 15th.

Listen, Joan/Sharkbytes recently added another installment to her cozy cool series of Anastasia Raven mysteries. Its title is "The Hollow Tree at Dead Mule Swamp" and you can read it for free. I read it in one sitting; it's that engaging.

Ice Cream Commercial's Dangerous Premise

Is it because I watch too much news and crime TV? I recently saw a TV commercial with the following storyline: a boy is left behind by his ride home from school; he sees the ice cream man who offers to bring him home; he helps the man sell ice cream until they get to his house, whereupon the boy's mother is waiting and on seeing how her son got there, expresses her gratitude and pleasure... Isn't anybody else bothered by it? It's a sweet scene and we certainly love the idea of a young boy being friends with the neighborhood ice cream man or of the latter being so trustworthy mothers wouldn't think twice about letting their kids ride around with him... However, doesn't the idea of your kid going off or accepting a ride (albeit the ride being a mere ice cream bicycle cart - but, hey, with a portable freezer! Okay, that aside was mostly hours and hours of Criminal Minds talking) from somebody no matter how familiar horrify you? Some time back a 7-year-old girl was raped and murdered by the very person paid by her own mother to take her to and from school... I don't know. Am I making a big stink over nothing? The commercial just really caught my attention and I reacted to it quite strongly. People probably dismiss it just as a commercial (I couldn't find any sentiments about it similar to mine online); certainly their kids know better... Maybe no kid as yet has gotten the idea from it that it's okay to go off with somebody who's not entrusted by his parent to take him home, but I still think that it's dangerous to put even the merest hint of a suggestion out there. What do you think?