Swine Flu and the Female Species

We had a great Halloween, overall.  Unfortunately, it began with Caleb waking up with all the signs and symptoms of H1N1.  He was able to get the seasonal flu vaccine, but not the H1N1 one, so we're working on the assumption that is what we are dealing with.

However, Halloween was also the day the clinic was part of the neighborhood trick or treating during the day and we knew we could likely expect about 250 kids coming through the clinic.  So we packed up a pillow and blankets and a movie and quarantined Caleb in Brian's back office while we greeted kids and I took the other two boys to the other villages.

Just prior to the night, Caleb begged to go out, so we doped him up on Tylenol and let him go for a bit.

He has been pretty down and out with the flu since then.  We're in to our second day of missed school.  He does okay during the day but nights are another story.  But I am hoping he can get back tomorrow.

Just a few funny kid comments to close out this post.

Driving Eli to daycare yesterday we were on the lookout for pumpkins (or pump-pums, as Eli calls them).  We drove by some that had been smashed in the street and Caleb asked about them.  I started to explain that sometimes teenagers do stuff that isn't very cool.  That they are trying on different parts of their personalities to try to figure out who they want to be.  And that sometimes, they try on personalities and behaviors that aren't very cool.  So Caleb asked me what kinds of personalities I tried when I was in high school.  Which kind of stumped me.  I told him I tried serious, funny, quirky, different, and so on.

And he paused for a minute and then asked, "So what personality did you decide to go with for being an adult?  Serious?"

Hmmm, guess I need to work on upping the quirky a bit.

Second story, Noah got his report card yesterday (which was great.  Go Noah!) and with it was a pre-conference form to have us let them know what Noah was saying at home about his likes, dislikes, favorite subjects, etc.  The last question was "Does your child have any fears we should be aware of?"

Similar to Caleb awhile ago, Noah has been expressing that he really would prefer not to die someday.  So I figured I'd note that on there.  I did ask Noah the question and he paused, looked up from his homework and, as seriously as he could, said, "Well, I don't want to die and I do have some fears about breast cancer.  Well, I am not sure about that one.  Which species gets that more?  Men or women."

I told him it was more common in women.  He seemed relieved and told me, "Well then never mind."

So the moral of these stories is...Mom needs to up the quirky quotient and convince Noah that, even though I want him to flush the toilet, and wash his hands, and not pick his nose, I really am a member of the same species.