The Bug

Well, there's something you don't see every day ...

That, of course, is Owen at his pre-school. A building he's only seen for a full three of his first six days of enrollment.

Owen began his school week last week with a gluten ingestion at his morning snack that had him throwing up minutes after his afternoon nap. It was an inauspicious start to the week, but he made the best of things enjoying three consecutive days of fun from Tuesday through Thursday.

In fact, as we were driving home on Wednesday I asked him what he thought about his new school, and he answered with conviction: "I LOVE IT!"

A note came home from school on Thursday that a case of strep throat and the stomach flu were reported in Owen's classroom. A harbinger of things to come, we should have done what Uncle Daniel would have recommended and quarantined him in bubble room.

Instead, we soldiered on, and were mostly unsurprised when he woke up with a nasty case of the flu on Friday morning. A day of vomiting followed, preceding a weekend of upset stomachs.

By Monday, the flu had gone, but the worst was not over. Things, to put it artfully, were backed up on the other end. After he threw up in the car because there was nowhere else for the food to go, I took him to the doctor on Monday for a stomach X-ray and the assurance he was not impacted.

Fortunately, Dr. Rosa said he would be just fine. He was quite backed up. But she thought a regimen of liquids, fruits, and some Miralax should do the trick.

Given the circumstances, we had a pretty low-key weekend. We watched lots of movies (Wall-E and a few Richard Scarry titles) and played a bunch of Wii games. I achieved "professional" status on the bowling game, a proud accomplishment had I not used up all my college eligibility on Burger Time back in the '90s.

But we did have some other fun. Owen stomped a piece of bubble wrap into the ground on Sunday night, releasing some energy (or perhaps dancing away the first effects of the laxative).

The fun of the doctor visit was shared by all as Owen presented Maya with the Pooh sticker Dr. Rosa had sent home for her.

She enjoyed the presentation ...

... but I think enjoyed her view of it better when it was across the room.

There were two other highlights to our Monday Boy's Day at home. When we arrived at the hospital, I asked Owen if he wanted to bring his stuffed Sammy Salami toy in with us.

"No," he said. "Some people are allergic to cats."

When we got home, I put in the "Sound of Music" soundtrack I'd picked up at the library, thinking it would be light, fun music to have on while we were getting busy on some projects.

"Dad, this is girl music!" he said.

As an arts administrator, I was really interested that he'd formed this impression already by age 3. So I started playing other music to see if there were other gender associations.

Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" ... Boy music.
Bob Marley ... no response.
Little Shop of Horrors ... boy music, but mostly just silly when Dad started singing Audrey II's songs.

Maya's real highlight of the weekend was the tiny rocking chair. She climbed up and down, up and down all weekend long.

I think her favorite part is dangling right on the edge.



Another harbinger of things to come?

I'm sure it'll make perfect sense when she's 16.