A Fair, a Fever and a Purge

Yesterday afternoon, just after I put ten peeled, cubed potatoes in a pot on the stove to boil into potato soup, Olivia came to find me. She looked at me with tired eyes and asked me if I would hold her on the couch.

Of course I dropped everything (afterall the water with the potatoes needed to come to a boil and then cook for fifteen minutes) and we headed for the couch where she climbed into my lap.

It was at this point that I realized she was a little warm. Not burning up, but definitely on the way to hosting a fever.

And I should have seen it coming. We're working our way toward week four of school (though we've only had one, that ONE, full week of school in all these four weeks, sooo...yes, enough with the parantheticals, right?) and with school usually comes fevers and colds and viruses, oh ugh!

We're all home today due to the county fair. Yes, kids get the day off to attend the fair around here. I know. It didn't happen in my school district either.

Because I knew the girls had the day off, I scheduled a vacation day so we could go to the fair together.

Except...guess who isn't going to the fair because she needs a fever reducer every six hours? That's right, Olivia gets to stay home with her Daddy while Alyssa and I take in the rides, the animals, the cotton candy.

Alyssa is, of course, looking forward to an afternoon with me all to herself. And if I'm honest, I am looking forward to spending time with her too. We don't get it often enough. And I know that in the coming years, she's going to be begging me to let her run around the fair with her friends, promising to meet me by the ferris wheel at a specific time. Let me just state for the record that this will not happen for at least another five years. Seriously.

I actually feel good about heading out with Alyssa today and leaving a slightly (very slightly) less cluttered house behind. I managed to cross one thing off my Want to Do list. The coat closet has been emptied, purged and restocked with coats, jackets, hats, mittens/gloves that are the right sizes for each member of the family.

One step at a time. Sort of like one dose of Children's Tylenol at a time right?

Sure.