All Quiet on the (South)Western Front

It's been a quiet week--having a couple of sick kids can cause that. Let me recap:

Last week, the weather was still quite cold but we had a couple of sunny days so the kids played out in the yard a few times. Seeing as I am not a clone, I can only be in one place at a time and, believe it or not, things occasionally slip by me. Like the fact that Sawyer doesn't always wait for help with his shoes before going out to play. Or his jacket. And occasionally, his pants. Hey, I'm busy, okay?! You'd think one of my "responsible" older children would send him right back inside; instead, I am usually alerted to the fact that Sawyer is outside in various stages of undress by hearing this: "I see London, I see France, I see Sawyer's underpants!!!" Who teaches kids these things? Anyway, by Friday that old saying, "Come in--you're going to catch your death of pneumonia" was running through my head. Sawyer was barking like a seal and had an incessantly runny nose to boot.

Not surprisingly, Darcy (runner-up to the winner--that would be me--of the prize for person in the family LEAST likely to pass by Sawyer without giving him a SMOOCH) was barking on Saturday. And when Darcy gets a cough, the WHOLE house hears it. Bless her heart, I am going to have to break down and actually take her to the doctor eventually, because I'm running out of ways to treat her myself. She invariably gets me up at 3 a.m. in a panic because she can't take a deep breath and I give her a breathing treatment with the nebulizer, but these episodes are happening more and more frequently and I wonder about the state of her lungs.

By Monday Darcy's cough was no better, but her new rotation of gymnastics classes just started last Monday and she was loath to miss her second class. The class she is in is for 8- to 10-year-olds, but I signed Peyton up for the same class and crossed my fingers in the hope that the Parks and Rec dept. wouldn't notice her birthdate and refuse her admission. I also cautioned Peyton to give it all she's got so that the instructors wouldn't be sorry for letting her in!

This week the girls were using the uneven bars and they were told to grab the top bar, swing through so that their legs were on the top part of the lower bar, then release the top bar and grab the lower bar and do a backflip. Can you picture it? Well, first off, Peyton is the only one in the class who can't reach the top bar when she jumps (though, for what it's worth, she is SO close). And because her arms are shorter than the other girls', she had to put extra effort into reaching the lower bar when she let go of the top bar. I have to say, her flips were actually really good, but EVERY SINGLE TIME she flipped she landed flat on her face. The first time it happened her instructor was horrified, and she immediately knelt by Peyton to make sure she was okay. But, as only Peyton can, she popped up off the mat and let out this long string of giggles and assured "Miss LaDonna" that she was just fine. Two flips and face-plants later, the hilarity of it just struck me and I laughed out loud, then immediately felt my face get hot and a feeling of shame washed over me. Was I really laughing at my daughter for falling on her face?! I'm sorry, I couldn't help it--and Peyton obviously was none the worse for wear!
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Our kindly old neighbor, Russ, passed away on Friday. He was the sweetest man and I know he took a lot of pleasure in watching our kids grow up. He was always so complimentary of Randy and me, of the way we spent so much time with our kids instead of turning them loose to fend for themselves--of course he didn't know how often we THOUGHT about doing just that! :-)--and he never failed to give Randy a figurative pat on the back when Randy would complete another home improvement project. Randy reminded us all that when we first moved here, Russ actually made it difficult to complete said projects because every time Randy would set foot out-of-doors, Russ would amble over for a little "chat." An hour later, Randy's window of opportunity was very often closed. But Russ was an excellent neighbor and we'll really miss him. His funeral was Tuesday morning and the kids were determined to go so we went to pay our last respects.
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Day after day of being cooped up for the most part is beginning to take its toll on all of us, and today was an unusually (and thankfully infrequent) nitpicky day. All of the kids seemed edgy at one time or another (truthfully, so did their mom) and at one point Darcy, being exasperated by Sawyer one too many times, headed for the stairs and apparently "nudged" Sawyer's truck with her toe. Sawyer took exception to that, so I headed in to check out the situation. I stopped Darcy mid-way up the stairs and asked her what happened (with Sawyer at my hip, I might add), and she began, "Well, Sawyer kept messing me up (she was making a picture for her drawing contest with Tyler) and I kicked his truck." I stood there looking up at her, thinking that I would talk to her about the Golden Rule and how Jesus expects us to turn the other cheek when someone wrongs us, when I heard Sawyer say very calmly, "Go ahead, Darcy, say it . . . say it . . . . Say you're sorry for kicking my truck." Darcy and I both burst out laughing, which of course tickled Sawyer, but he stood his ground. "Go ahead, Darcy." After Darcy offered her apology, Sawyer turned to go and I said, "Now, Sawyer, what would you like to say to Darcy?" And he said very sweetly, "Thank you, Darcy, for kicking my truck." Oh well, close enough.