My Sunshine Girls

I woke up this morning feeling like our day was doomed. Eliza is sick yet again, and when this child gets a cold, she doesn't just get a runny nose. She was up all night, needing to be held upright as she coughed and coughed. Her eyes run as well as her nose. She doesn't want to eat. And she just wants mama. So this is where we were at six am, after a very bad night:

Yep, not good. The three of us (Anna doesn't have nursery school on Wednesdays) took it minute by minute and then hour by hour. Eliza took a couple of very short naps, refused most food, and basically was miserable. Anna has a slight cold too, but it has only manifested as night-time coughing. But because Eliza is sick, Anna also would like attention. So all morning, it was "I'm sick, I need crackers. . . I'm sick, I need my tylenol. . . I'm sick, I want to watch Super Why. . ." Needless to say, I was in my pajamas until one o'clock, dealing with these two needy girls.

And then, I had had enough. Eliza didn't want to nap anymore, Anna's demands were growing, and my ears were hot. We had to get out of the house. I bundled them up and drove this sorry lot to the bookstore, knowing I had a gift card and would buy Anna a new audio book for the car.

As soon as we found the bright, spacious children's section, Anna shed her sickly disguise and pretended she was in the library, "checking out" the books to read on the stage reserved for storytime and playing with the stuffed animals. Eliza, too, gained some strength in this new environment and smiled for the customers walking past, as they smiled at her toddling around.

After deciding upon Frog and Toad, I told Anna about the cafe inside the bookstore, and she exuberantly made her way through the aisles of books until she came across her favorite thing: baked goods. Together we picked out a sinfully delicious Blondie brownie with mini "round-rounds" (m&m's) and I ordered some necessary caffeine. Eliza declined the brownie, but liked calling out "Dada!" to every male who walked by.

While we sat, I noticed for the first time that the heels of my 12-year-old Dansko clogs were literally gone. It looked like an animal had chewed them away. I knew I had a hefty gift card to the Mountain Goat, and told Anna we were going to the shoe store after this. She cheered.

Bundling up again, I fastened the kids into the car, slid the new Frog and Toad cd into the cd player, and we drove toward one of my favorite stores right on Main Street in our town, where I ended up buying a new pair of shiny black clogs. While there, I plopped a winter hat on Anna's head, asked her if she liked it, and she lifted her fist into the air and shrieked "we'll take it!"

Thanks to hoarding my gift cards, we ended up having a worthwhile day after all. Everyone needed to get out of the house and the fresh air was good for Eliza.