A Week, Briefly (12/11/17)
We've crossed off all of our Christmas bucket list items. All that is left is to wait for Christmas Eve for the traditions that belong to that particular day. Our Christmas Eve and Day will be one day earlier than it will be for most folks because it is Sir Walter Scott's turn to work . . . people are critically ill even on Christmas.
We do "Santa" at our house, and the littles are all relieved to find out that he's a flexible fellow.
We made graham cracker gingerbread houses on Sunday.
We toured Christmas lights on Monday. And the teens and I had great end-of-semester mentor meetings. I'll have to write about them before I lose my notes.
We drew pictures of Mary and Joseph and an angel on Tuesday.
We took Mister Man to the doctor on Wednesday. He's been vomiting intermittently for 7 weeks now, and when there was blood one day, I decided enough was enough. I've done extensive research myself, and I have a firm opinion of what it is, but if I'm right it's the kind of thing that can't be diagnosed until all other possibilities have been investigated and disproved. Our family doc told us to try a teaspoon of antacid before bedtime, and the next step is a referral to a GI specialist. I'm hoping to avoid that utterly by following the GAPS diet with him. As of the end of the week, we're just starting stage 2 of the intro diet, and he's been such a faithful little fellow . . . but oh! . . . he's getting thinner each day.
On Thursday we had a very quiet day.
And on Friday we had a visitor to our compost pile! He really was the highlight of the day. The kids watched him for a solid couple of hours, and Theo barked himself hoarse. :)
Friday was rough, though, because the kids and I had special plans to have a dinner picnic and movie in the living room while the teens headed off to the homeschool "Ugly Sweater Dance." (Not one of my girls would actually wear an ugly sweater!) Unfortunately, Ladybug, Brother, and Beowulf wreaked havoc in the living room, breaking rules that they knew they were breaking. The picnic was cancelled, and they went to bed as usual while the other kids stayed up for the movie and a treat.
It's just as well, because the picnic would have been cancelled anyway when at 4:20 I was changing Lola's wet shirt (long story--don't ask), and she cried that her ear hurt. I looked at it and discovered that it was swollen and oozing something horrible. I put the teens in charge and ran her off to urgent care.
By the time a doc examined her (less than half an hour later), she had blisters forming all over her ear and spreading to her face. Her eye had already been red and swollen for a couple of days, but because she had a cold, and there wasn't any drainage from her eye, I ruled out bacterial pink-eye and figured it was a side effect of her cold. The doc said it seems to be impetigo, but she wasn't really sure because it's presenting like shingles, but Lola couldn't possibly have shingles. She wanted to put Lola on two antibiotics to cover staph and strep as the causes, but Lola is really sensitive to antibiotics, so she chose just one and told me to be sure to head to the ER if Lola's blisters and swelling got any worse--or if she developed a fever. I headed home to let the teens leave, but then the prescription got lost in cyberspace . . . so now I have some work to do today (Saturday).
I treated Lola with some probiotic and a vinegar compress, and she slept safely all night.
Over the course of the week, we had 5 Morning Meetings, 5 Academies, and 2 Symposiums. The littles had 4 or 5 days of one-on-one school with me, and Lola and Baymax are into EVERYTHING! The teens and I manged 2 nights of reading aloud together, but the littles and I read every night.
My absolute-complete-and-total-hands-down favorite Academy Advent resource so far is A King James Christmas. The illustrations are reprints of gorgeous art from around the world, the pages are thick and glossy, the organizing of the story of Christ is wonderful, and I love the King James Bible. We borrowed our copy from the library, but it's on my list for personal purchase.
We've found our winter rhythm. It has meant changing from almost constant outdoor play to a mixture of in and out time, trying to take advantage of the sunniest, warmest times of the day for outdoor play. Our days look like this (for the elementary 8--the teens have their own personal routines):
Wake, dress, chores
Breakfast and Morning Meeting
One-on-one school and indoor playtime
Snack and Academy
Outdoor play time
Lunch
Language video
Outdoor playtime
Quiet time
Dinner
Evening routine, read aloud
Bed
How grateful I am to have a mudroom with a hundred (give or take) hooks on the walls so that the children can dress and undress themselves with relative independence (except Lola and Baymax)!
(Linking here)
We do "Santa" at our house, and the littles are all relieved to find out that he's a flexible fellow.
We made graham cracker gingerbread houses on Sunday.
We toured Christmas lights on Monday. And the teens and I had great end-of-semester mentor meetings. I'll have to write about them before I lose my notes.
We drew pictures of Mary and Joseph and an angel on Tuesday.
We took Mister Man to the doctor on Wednesday. He's been vomiting intermittently for 7 weeks now, and when there was blood one day, I decided enough was enough. I've done extensive research myself, and I have a firm opinion of what it is, but if I'm right it's the kind of thing that can't be diagnosed until all other possibilities have been investigated and disproved. Our family doc told us to try a teaspoon of antacid before bedtime, and the next step is a referral to a GI specialist. I'm hoping to avoid that utterly by following the GAPS diet with him. As of the end of the week, we're just starting stage 2 of the intro diet, and he's been such a faithful little fellow . . . but oh! . . . he's getting thinner each day.
On Thursday we had a very quiet day.
And on Friday we had a visitor to our compost pile! He really was the highlight of the day. The kids watched him for a solid couple of hours, and Theo barked himself hoarse. :)
Friday was rough, though, because the kids and I had special plans to have a dinner picnic and movie in the living room while the teens headed off to the homeschool "Ugly Sweater Dance." (Not one of my girls would actually wear an ugly sweater!) Unfortunately, Ladybug, Brother, and Beowulf wreaked havoc in the living room, breaking rules that they knew they were breaking. The picnic was cancelled, and they went to bed as usual while the other kids stayed up for the movie and a treat.
It's just as well, because the picnic would have been cancelled anyway when at 4:20 I was changing Lola's wet shirt (long story--don't ask), and she cried that her ear hurt. I looked at it and discovered that it was swollen and oozing something horrible. I put the teens in charge and ran her off to urgent care.
By the time a doc examined her (less than half an hour later), she had blisters forming all over her ear and spreading to her face. Her eye had already been red and swollen for a couple of days, but because she had a cold, and there wasn't any drainage from her eye, I ruled out bacterial pink-eye and figured it was a side effect of her cold. The doc said it seems to be impetigo, but she wasn't really sure because it's presenting like shingles, but Lola couldn't possibly have shingles. She wanted to put Lola on two antibiotics to cover staph and strep as the causes, but Lola is really sensitive to antibiotics, so she chose just one and told me to be sure to head to the ER if Lola's blisters and swelling got any worse--or if she developed a fever. I headed home to let the teens leave, but then the prescription got lost in cyberspace . . . so now I have some work to do today (Saturday).
I treated Lola with some probiotic and a vinegar compress, and she slept safely all night.
Over the course of the week, we had 5 Morning Meetings, 5 Academies, and 2 Symposiums. The littles had 4 or 5 days of one-on-one school with me, and Lola and Baymax are into EVERYTHING! The teens and I manged 2 nights of reading aloud together, but the littles and I read every night.
My absolute-complete-and-total-hands-down favorite Academy Advent resource so far is A King James Christmas. The illustrations are reprints of gorgeous art from around the world, the pages are thick and glossy, the organizing of the story of Christ is wonderful, and I love the King James Bible. We borrowed our copy from the library, but it's on my list for personal purchase.
We've found our winter rhythm. It has meant changing from almost constant outdoor play to a mixture of in and out time, trying to take advantage of the sunniest, warmest times of the day for outdoor play. Our days look like this (for the elementary 8--the teens have their own personal routines):
Wake, dress, chores
Breakfast and Morning Meeting
One-on-one school and indoor playtime
Snack and Academy
Outdoor play time
Lunch
Language video
Outdoor playtime
Quiet time
Dinner
Evening routine, read aloud
Bed
How grateful I am to have a mudroom with a hundred (give or take) hooks on the walls so that the children can dress and undress themselves with relative independence (except Lola and Baymax)!
(Linking here)
My husband always used to work Christmas when he was employed by a public hospital (he now works for the Veterans hospital). He worked second shift so it wasn't so bad. He left right at lunch and nap time. I hope everyone is feeling better for Christmas week. That advent book sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Hope Lola's feeling better soon! It's not fun when the doctors don't know what's wrong. :/
ReplyDeletePaul has worked many Christmases. I'm fine with moving it to a different day now, but it was hard to get used to. He'll actually be home this year! (But I'll be missing a daughter in New Zealand and a son on the East Coast, instead.)
My December bucket list is never ending. To top it all off, my fiancé and I are getting on a plane the day after Christmas. I do not like December! The visitor you got is why my dad made me get a compost bin lol
ReplyDeleteI hate that the littles are ill. Constant prayers.
ReplyDelete