ear cramps part two

I bet if I were to go back and read my early December blogs for the past two years, I'd find that I was sick then as well. This year we're just marching right ahead with the festivities in spite of our illnesses. Today was tree farm day for us, the only day we could do it for a while, so when Dennis woke up, we were very excited. And then he said his throat hurt too bad to eat the special French toast breakfast we'd planned. He went back to bed with a peppermint, and then he vomited all over the bed. After a couple of hours of frequent bathroom visits, we called the doctor's office and they urged us to bring him in. Not strep, as they ruled out, but a raging ear infection. Of course, by the time we got there, he had eaten crackers, finished a Sierra Mist Natural (like Sprite but with actual sugar, and it's what the gas station had), and felt quite great. He told us he wanted to get the tree today, and then he fell asleep in the car. We ran errands while he dozed, and when we made the left turn onto the road for the tree farm, he woke up happily, ready to pick the tree. He carried the saw for a while, helped David cut the perfect tree for us, and rode back up to the barn on the tractor train with the tree. We got it home and installed in the stand, put on the new psychedelic looking LED lights, and headed to the town Christmas parade. Dennis laughed and jumped up and down and waved and shouted "Merry Christmas" and picked up TONS of candy (how convenient--we just ran out of Halloween candy). Then home to decorate the tree, which turned into "you decorate the tree Mommy and I'll direct you" which THEN turned into "you can decorate it now, Mommy, and I will go play with my Legos." When it was all done, he reappeared in the den and asked "now can I put the train under it?", something he's been waiting to do!

It was a wonderful later half of the day, and yes, we ARE the worst parents ever, taking our sick kid out to a tree farm on a warm afternoon and then to a parade on a cool night. He's had his antibiotic, and I'm nursing my own illness tonight with hot herbal tea; he's asleep and I hope to be soon myself. We have the weekend to recover and some very happy memories to hold onto forever.