gag me with a microphone

I was astonished to go in and check on Dennis in bed and find him holding his shirt up and out and looking panicked. He said "I was about to come and get you--I coughed and coughed and then I threw up." This concerned me, but I thought it could be attributed to his ear infection. He told me he was dizzy a number of times today, but I thought he was kidding (he just barely knows what dizzy means). So as I was cleaning up just small spots of yuck, I asked him for details. He had gone to bed crying, asking us to take his temperature (crying because we wouldn't--he was fine!), and when we didn't, he stuck the end of his new microphone (which has a flexible plastic rod) in his mouth to 'take his temperature' himself. He said the microphone made him throw up when it went in his throat. Yuck. Lesson learned, he says.

The picture shows a Roller Racer. I had never laid eyes on one before yesterday. I don't think Dennis had either. We arrived at preschool to find that we were going to play in the church gym instead of outside (because it was COLD). I went in with my class, and there was Dennis' class already there. There were ten of these scooter racers (with very happy children on them) scooting around the gym. What a COOL cold weather activity for the kids! They scooted, they ran, we played at basketball, we raced (yes, I played too--wouldn't you?) many races across the gym. I did some research on the racers and found that they are popular at roller rinks and amusement parks--you make them move by working the handlebars back and forth. The teachers said it was like Christmas when they got the scooters out and the kids saw them for the first time! I spent the rest of the day trying to convince myself that Dennis doesn't actually need one at home despite the fact that he LOVES LOVES LOVES it and can ride it like a champ! I kind of wanted to ride one myself, almost did today when I stopped by to meet the class I'm teaching on Friday and ended up taking them to the gym to play!