Fevers and Fireworks

It's been a slow week around here. We've played ping-pong with a fever and cough combo that had each of us (except Eamon, thank goodness) down for the count at one point or another. It started with Liam Sunday night when I tucked him into bed, and realized he was burning up. He did, indeed, have a fever of 102 and thoroughly enjoyed taking his Children's Motrin while insisting "I not sick! I feel good!" First off... we are definitely breeding a generation of future drug-addicts because the kids BEG to take medicine. It's better than candy and it's only a matter of time until they thwart the child-proof caps and start swigging the stuff (granted, they've never had full-strength fruit juice either, so the first time someone slips them some of that, they'll be jonesing in the JuicyJuice aisle at the grocery store too.) Secondly, it is highly unfair that 2 year olds can be so chipper while they're sick. On Monday and Tuesday when I was down with the fever, I did not utter the words: "I feel good", not even once. (On a side-note, Liam suddenly switched from using "me" to using "I" this week which is a lovely testament to his growing language skills... only now he says things like: "Give it to me, I mean, give it to I!" and then I have to tell him "No, it's 'me' in that case". Entirely confusing to the little tyke and fortunately I teach biology and not grammar because, hey, I don't get it either.


Not to be outdone, Colin spiked a fever of 103 on Thursday. He missed school so I tried to cheer him up with a cool art project (the only measly photos of the week) which he sat down and did with me for well over an hour before he conked out and slept the rest of the day away. I guess at the advanced age of four, you start to run out of chipper when you're sick. A full day and night of sleep did a body good though and he's full of his usual vim and vigor today.


The boys had fun making their T-shirts though mostly I think they were just enthralled with the idea of touching the forbidden Sharpie markers. Colin made a big production of patiently explaining to Liam (about 40 times) that these are "markers only for mommies and daddies that NEVER come off your skin or the furniture". I really think upon exiting the maternity ward, they need to impart useful knowledge to new parents... "Chart your newborn's wet diapers in the first days to ward off dehydration... and NEVER let them alone with a Sharpie until they're 25." Good geek mom that I am, I tried to use it as a learning experience about chromatography and the movement of pigment in the right solvent, but Liam was all about the markers and Colin was all about choosing new and better color combinations and the "fireworks" that resulted from our "chroma-toga-fee-fee" as he called it. (Liam couldn't resist dipping his finger into the alcohol to taste it and then proclaimed: "Ugh! This water is bleck!!" It's only a matter of time until he finds the good Grey Goose "water" and acquires a taste for that, I'm sure.)