I was mindlessly reading the back of the goldfish bag when I came across the, "Solve the Riddle" section. The question was, "What's a pretzel's favorite dance?" Think, think real hard. What comes to mind first? "The Twist," I thought, proudly to myself. No, not quite. The answer was, "The Saltsa." No joke. I was confused. I got it, but I honestly thought my answer was better. I asked Christopher the same riddle and he gave me the same answer, "The Twist." For five minutes afterward I felt like I was in another dimension, where the ingrained sense of humor was a little left of center.
***
Adah has been under the weather again, this time with an upper respiratory cold. She is just not a happy camper when she's under the weather; cranky, picky, bossy. I'm ready for this cold season to be over and my real daughter to return.
Ranen continues to defy reason. I knew I was in for it when he picked up a square clothes basket, placed it upside down on the coffee table, then proceeded to climb onto the coffee table...you get the idea. He is insane. If there is something dangerous, off-limits, messy, high, or thrilling, he seems to gravitate towards it. The number of gray hairs in my head grow exponentially.
Around 10:45 PM, almost every night, I wake Adah up to take her to the bathroom. Most nights, she is barely awake, snuggles up on my shoulder for the 10 second transit, and never even opens her eyes.
I have take her pajama bottoms off and set her of the toilet (her head still resting on my shoulder). I usually end up squatting in some awkward position, bracing her on the seat, and patting her back. So many nights, alone in the dark, helping my little girl to go the bathroom. It's a mundane activity to say the least (I mean you're wiping someone else's bottom.) Still, there is a deeply sentimental aspect of parenting involved; one that is hard to articulate. I'm her daddy, taking care of her basic needs while she sleeps on my shoulder.
A few nights ago, as I waiting there in the dark for her to finish, I wondered how often my parents did something similar with me. If so, how often do they think about it now? Will I remember the quiet, simple moments (moments that Adah barely remembers even now)?
Memories fade so quickly; precious one are not immune. One time in college, my sophomore year, late at night, I stood in the kitchen, peeling a carrot over the trash can. I was hit with a recollection from my childhood, I was a little boy watching my father peeling a carrot in the same way. Simple and mundane, just peeling a carrot.
Check out our flickr photos. I recently had some photos developed, but as you will notice, Ranen was a mite little WEE thing when some of these were taken.
Also, if you ever want to indulge in the best chocolate, have a bar of Scharffen Berger. It is, by far, LEAPS and BOUNDS, the best chocolate I have ever tasted.
After getting the kids ready for church, and actually arriving before the service began (something that we struggle to do when the whole family goes together), a children worker taps us on the shoulder during the first worship song.
Adah was slightly fevered and had a rash on the back of her neck. Ten minutes later we are in the car heading home.
We're sitting at the kitchen table. Adah is making Easter crafts (a foam cross with scriptures glued on). I'm listening to the Easter CD I made in 2003 for our road trip to Panama City.
Adah just made her first drawing with my Wacom tablet.
That's DAD, in case you are not familiar with her hand-writing.
I've been working a lot out of coffee shops, restuarants, and what not. Places where I do not have control over the music being played. Here are a few obversations:
Radio is mostly bad.
Country music (in addition to causing both intellectual and moral deteriation) actually makes your ears bleed. Really.
Nothing is more obnoxious that radio advertisments. Except possibly radio ads from Kia.
Ok, we are such slackers. Our answering machine was full tonight. Over 20 messages. Many of them from a while ago (that I never actually listened). So my apologies to Steve Charles, Sandy Gianacoplis, and others (local Tallahassee people). We really do love and appreciate our friends.
Well, I think it has stopped (mostly). Though, I'll warn you: this post with be graphic.
Last Tuesday night (as in a week ago), I heard Adah calling "Mommy" through Ranen's monitor. It was just after midnight. At first, I was annoyed: "That girl had better not wake up her brother!" On my way upfront though, I quickly realized that she was in distress.
Poor Adah. She was sitting in the front bathroom, nauseous, with dirty underwear and diarrhea. She spent the rest of the night throwing up. It's a hard thing to see your little 4 year old hunched over a toilet and dry heaving. It tears your heart out. There's nothing you can do but hold her, wipe away the vomit and go on. She was a trooper and amazed me with how well she handled it.
It is also amazing how vomit and poop stop scaring you when your children need you. When they need, you do not care what gets on you.
Adah was sick all the next day, mostly with diarrhea. We watched a lot of videos and tried to keep her hydrated. The poops got to looking pretty nasty and after a telephone talk with the on-call nurse from the pediatrician, we decided to take her to the ER.
9:30 pm, Wednesday
We woke up Ranen and loaded up the car. We intended to leave him with the Mitchell's so that both of us could be with Adah. Ranen however protested until we brought him back home.
I end up back at home with Ranen 30 minutes later, and he goes to sleep without a peep. Sandra and Adah head to the ER. I collapse in exhaustion about 11:00.
2:30 am, Thursday
Sandra and Adah return from the ER. The doctor said she was doing fine and just let the sickness work itself out. We decided to let Adah sleep in our bed again. I took Ranen's baby monitor and slept on the couch. It was pretty rough night.
Sometime on Thursday
We reluctantly decided to call my mother in as reinforcement. I had a lot of work to do for Blue Spire, and I knew Sandra was getting exhausted. Still, we were afraid of spreading this bug. That night Sandra, Ranen, and I (all three) are throwing up. It hit Sandra first. She was sick on the master bathroom floor, while poor sick Adah is lying on our bed. Ranen throws up in his crib and my mother and I are cleaning it up. Meanwhile, I feel it beginning in my body and I knew I didn't have long. I instruct my mother to not worry about us, just to tend to Ranen.
I think it's after midnight now. I clean out a bucket from the garage and place next to the couch. I got hit around 2am.
Friday
Friday was miserable. The vomiting was over for Sandra and I, but Ranen continued to spit up through out the day. Funny enough, he was really high spirited most of the day. Laughing and playing.
Later that day, he began to get fussy and then cried inconsolably. I was asleep and woke up to his frantic sobs. I'm not sure how long in went on, but we finally figured out that it a raw bottom. The diarrhea was like acid to his sensitive baby skin, and his poor bottom was bright red. We soaked in a baking soda bathroom and let him run al naturale (yes, it was quite dangerous).
The rest of the weekend begins to blend together. I slept as much as I could. My mother was an indispensable help. Sandra and I were both feeling better, bit by bit. Adah was lethargic and not eating. She complained frequently of her stomach hurting. I think the lethargy was encourage by the consumption of too many videos. We were begging her to eat. Finally, Sandra realized that it was fear of throwing up that was keeping her away from food.
My mother was hit Saturday night. She had about three rounds of vomiting through out the night. So over the course of the week, every one with the last name of Bennage in a 50 mile radius was sick.
On Sunday, we all still had the runs (except for maybe my mother). Whew, I can't believe that I'm typing this much about everyones' bowel movements! or that you are actually reading about it! Are you crazy?
Yestarday Sandra's only symptom was exhaustion. Adah's diarrhea finally ended (though her appetite is still meager). I spent half the day in bed, clenching my bloated, gas-filled stomach. Poor Ranen still had a red and runny bottom.
Now it's Tuesday, mere hours from a week exactly. (I meant to post about this experience several times whilst I was in the midst of it.) We're all better except for Ranen. He's still got the diarrhea going on; no more spitting up though.
We're in recovery mode now. Bleach is everywhere. The washing machine is running constantly. I'm desperately attempting to catch on lost work time. And Sandra's out shopping (hopefully she'll come home with a Wii).
