A Lousy Christmas Tradition

Last Christmas Princess Ana came down with bronchitis and a patch of pneumonia in one lung. We made a couple of visits to the ER to get that under control. She also gave some variation of that illness to everyone in the family. We promised ourselves that this year would be better. She would be older, stronger, and we'd put her in a bubble the week before the trip so she didn't get sick.

The virus beat us to the punch. Ana came down with a cold a week and a half ago. Last Thursday she also caught a stomach bug that got her kicked out of daycare when she vomited twice. We hauled her into the doctor and thought the worst was over though when her ears and throat were clear. Friday she played hard at home all day and seemed ready to go. Saturday morning we were up before the sun and trekking to the Panhandle.

Saturday evening the family Christmas was great. Princess Ana and her cousin were the stars of a gift unwrapping bonanza. I didn't know that two little girls could make wrapping paper fly that quickly. It was a wonderful time.

Sunday morning the little miss woke up with a very high temperature, so for the second year in a row we found ourselves in the ER. We thought it wouldn't be as bad when we learned it was just one ear infected. However, Ana didn't respond to the antibiotic prescribed this time, so we packed up Tuesday morning and left before we infected the entire family again. Back in College Station the doc found both ears infected, her little chest congested, and she was wheezing due to inflammation. Armed with a bag full of medications we began nursing her back to health (antibiotic, steroid, breathing treatment, and Tylenol, oh my!).

She's responded to the new medication and a return to humid weather. Hopefully in a couple of days she'll be back at full strength so she can master her new tricycle and also guide dad on morning runs from her new jogging stroller.

I asked in the ER on Sunday if we could reserve space for next Christmas. The doctor here, knowing I'm an Aggie, also pointed out that this has happened twice now and is therefore a tradition. I think next year we'll try to break tradition by making Ana live in a giant ball starting at Halloween. She can trick or treat as a hamster and we'll just keep here in there until we've reached gramma's house in December.

Foxtrot reruns are on the way

I just spotted this announcement that Foxtrot will be going to a Sunday only comic and the daily strip on the website will begin reruns. While they don't consume much of my day the funnies at Foxtrot (along with Dilbert, User Friendly, and everyone's favorite first-grader Calvin) make each day a little brighter. Calvin and Hobbes have been in reruns for years, so this isn't something new to me. It is just a little sad to know that Jason, Paige, and Peter will be around less often with new material to make me chuckle.

An Unwanted Plunge

Tonight my wonderful daughter threw my cellphone in the toilet. She has always played with our phones and never done any damage to them. Once she was able to open the phone and hop on the web in a few seconds (I still don't know the key sequence she used to do that) I kept it locked and thought it was safe for her to use. She's so cute when she flips it open and says, "Hello." How could I not let her play with it?

I handed her the phone tonight and told her, "now go play." so I could catch up on my web surfing for the weekend. A few minutes later I heard a splash from the bathroom and knew I was in trouble.

As I ripped the battery out everything appeared to be ok. The phone hadn't shorted out yet. Here's hoping that an overnight drying and a little Lysol will save the phone.

These are the moments when you realize just how much you love your children. Anyone else that dropped my phone in a toilet on purpose would have been shot.

Update: The phone survived the bath.

P.S. Bubba's Sis, the toothbrushes are out of Ana's unattended reach. When she has grabbed a toothbrush and tossed it in the potty (which has happened a couple of times already) she has been supervised and a new toothbrush put in its place. It'll be another 6 months to a year before she's good enough at climbing and I have to worry about having a potty mouth in more ways than one.