Transitions and crud

What a week, the house looks great after scrubbing off the last remnants of "old lady" decor, but both girls (and Mimi) have been sick and to add even more chaos we seem stuck in a transitional phase with no schedule to rely on.

Zoe is not yet a walker but will just pick up and walk across the room suddenly. She's capable of doing it, even though she looks like a tipsy duck, but she isn't very secure and has not chosen it as her preferred method of transport. She falls all the time, often hitting something on the way down. I find huge welts on her forehead or cheek and she just brushes it off without a cry.

The other day Zoe sneezed and hit her forehead on the edge of the t.v. stand, really hard, and then went about her business without a sound. Both Athena and I were right next to her when it happened, Athena looked at me and said with amazement "Mommy, Zoe no cry!"...this coming from the child who sobs when the wind blows.

Athena will go a whole diaperless day without any accidents then the next day have three. So, we're never completely confident that she will inform us before she has to go and I have to carry around a couple of changes of outfits at all times. We're trying very hard to keep our emotions out of it so that we don't stress her out, but it can be a bit frustrating.

Then there's the napping, Zoe is showing signs of being able to skip her morning nap one day and then the next day she begs for it (crawls into my arms and says "NaNa" meaning "Night-Night") . Athena completely resists her afternoon nap, but obviously still needs one as without it she falls asleep at dinner. Then when she does get a good nap, she's awake (singing songs in her bed) until after 10.

This week has also brought us a full progression of the kind of crud that starts in your head and ends up as a hacking cough. Athena skipped school on Tuesday, and then was able to convince her teachers that she was still sick the next day (even though she was really quite fine). The school called us to pick her up because she was just lying in the sensory room not doing anything and telling her teachers "I sick." As soon as she got home, however, she was her normal self, full of energy, just with a little bit of a runny nose and a new, interesting understanding of how to get special attention. I kept her home the next day because the hacking cough had started and it just sounded awful. Luckily Shrek 3 came out on DVD...see the photo that captures the Shrek "stare" ?

Hopefully we'll get everyone healed for the 12 hour drive we are planning on Tuesday (how crazy are we?).