The last 48 hours have more-or-less been total wastes for me. I’ve got some things done in the evenings, but days have been totally shot. This is the one week of the month that S. works regular people hours (8-4 the last three days) so I was home alone with M. on Thursday and Friday. No big deal; she’s getting older and more independent and I felt like I could still get some things done for all my assignments that are due next week even in her presence. Cue the Killer Cold and all those plans went down the drain.

M. battled a pretty nasty cold the last two days, which meant most of each day consisted of: her face being covered in tears, snot, and slobber; her being extra cranky and bursting into category five tears at the slightest disruption to her plans; her spending a ton of time just laying on me as we watched TV. Seriously, the kid got a good 12 hours of TV in each day because she would whine until I turned it on, then lay across my chest and fall asleep so I couldn’t move. A couple added bonuses to this cold. Normally, she’s a big fan of medicine. Motrin, Pediacare, Benadryl. Doesn’t matter, she slurps it right up. Not the past two days. She fights to get away, clenches her mouth shut, then sputters and spits. She does this for the first spoonful, then acts like it’s no big deal. Also, she’s been refusing to eat. That’s not unusual, lots of sick kids lose their appetites. She, however, likes to make her signs for needing to eat, allows me to strap her into her chair, and then when I try to feed her, flings her body around and screams. She’s not making this easy on me at all. We had a talk about public versus private schools this afternoon, but I’m not sure if she understood my point.

I take that back: the days weren’t total wastes. She learned two new body parts today. She learned back and elbow. Naturally, after a horrid day, she improved to her normal mood about 15 minutes after S. got home from work tonight. For the next hour, M. said “ba, ba, ba,” and pointed at her back, or “elmo, elmo, elmo,” and pointed to her elbows. Funny stuff. Didn’t quite make up for the rest of the day, but close.

Coming sometime over the weekend, or perhaps Monday morning, some thoughts on the Olympics and the end of the Quin Snyder era at Mizzou.