Home sick with the little one again. Thank God I have a job that is very flexible with sick days and vacations. I don’t know how you working mommas with 7 sick days a year (or however many or few you have) do it. Like me, I’m sure you’ve never once used a sick day on yourself. They all go to the wee ones. It’s hard enough to make the decision about pulling the trigger to send her or keep her home, especially when she’s borderline sick, but having to save sick days for an emergency or more serious illness would be even tougher.

At first I thought it was just allergies for E., but then the snot turned green. Uh oh! And she’s been coughing up a storm since Saturday and is super clingy with me. I took advantage of the fact that it’s a quieter than usual week at work and I’ll try to get as much done at home as I can today during Disney movie marathons and countless Jake and the Neverland Pirates episodes. Please don’t judge me. One day full of TV now and again won’t kill all her brain cells. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

It hasn’t been all TV today. There was an obstacle course that kept her busy while I cleaned up the kitchen:

 

No joke, she climbed Mt. Chair at least 13 times proudly yelling “ta da!” at the end of every climb.

Morning calisthenics were followed by arts and crafts, courtesy of the Ni Hao Kai-Lan felt bracelets I hid away after our last trip to Michael’s. Martha Stewart I’m not, but even I can attach velcro Ni Hao characters to felt bracelets.

They were way too big for her wrist, so now they’re fashionable armbands.

Meanwhile, as we were making the bracelets, I realized that the bug bite I got on Sunday is looking worse and worse.

It’s actually a really hard, hot knot. I get KILLED by mosquitoes all summer long and unfortunately E seems to take after me. Apparently my blood sings to them the same way Bella’s sings to Edward. I actually overheard a woman at a restaurant last night complaining about the same fate and she said she’d heard that it has to do with your veins. The more veins visible on your body, the better they smell you. Who knows if it’s true but I certainly have blue veins all over the place. Whatever the reason, it’s one of my least favorite parts of summers in Florida.

Before I return to my Nurse Mom duties, I leave you with some random thoughts:

• I’ve just started Peggy Orenstein’s fascinating “Cinderella Ate My Daughter” and I’m loving it. Like her, I’ve struggled with the princess culture and how to keep it from infiltrating every aspect of my daughter’s world. As you may recall, I was SO THRILLED when E. chose a pirate birthday party rather than a princess one, but I fear pirates are quickly losing ground to Belle, Ariel, and Cinderella. I’ll save all the issues I have with those damsels in distress for another day but if you have a daughter or struggle with the genderification of our children, I urge you to get this book. I’ve already learned a few mind-blowing facts. Did you know that clothing manufacturers — not doctors — first coined the phrase toddlers in the 1930s? It was developed as a way to sell even more clothes to parents by creating a new third category of clothes between infants and kids. Woah! She also spends a lot of time tracing the current pink craze for girls. Like her, I don’t remember it being so popular when I was a little girl. Turns out, pink used to be a “boy” color because it was a pastel of red and blue was the “girl” color because of its historical links to femininity (think the Virgin Mary’s robes). And this morning while we were watching “Peter Pan” I noticed something I’d never noticed before: Wendy is wearing a blue nightdress and Michael is wearing pink pajamas! That would NEVER happen today. Fascinating stuff.
• Speaking of things I love, I’m newly addicted to Scary Mommy‘s (one of my favorite bloggers ever) new Anonymous Message Board. I first started this blog as a way to vent but now too many people in my real life know about it. That’s great and the more the merrier, but I sometimes miss having an anonymous place to air really personal things, get new perspectives and just get it off my chest without everyone I know worrying about my loose grips on sanity. If you ever need such a spot yourself, head on over there. It’s a place for people to stop pretending everything’s perfect all the time and unload about what’s really consuming their thoughts. And no, I’m not “Submissive” on the boards. I actually had to Google what a D/S relationship is (I’m apparently more sheltered than I thought). Thank you, Scary Mommy, for allowing us to not bury our dirty laundry!
• I’m freaking out about my running training schedule. After doing my first 5K last month, I bit the bullet and signed up for a 10K later this month. I was doing good but then E. got sick. I should have pushed through and gone this past weekend or yesterday, even without sleep, but I just couldn’t do it. This morning, I finally got up, I was dressed, sneakers on, Garmin synched to the satellites and almost out the door when she woke up. As soon as she saw me about to leave, the hysterics started. “I want to go running with you. Take me!” I don’t have a running stroller, so that’s not possible. I tried to talk to her but she’s just so sick that there was no reasoning. Another day missed. At this point, I may be walking the 10k — if she lets me out the door for it. Sigh.