Battle Ready

You know your daughter has watched Mulan a few too many times when she turns her kiddie rake into a weapon and turns an afternoon of leaf raking into battle practice. With a couple disco moves thrown in for good measure.

And I simply can't get over what a big girl face she has now...

Halloween, and Getting Over the Flu

What did Wynn want to be this year? "A GECKO!!" So Ann made her a tail to go with her green pants and shirt. She found a green hoodie at Old Navy and was planning to sew big eyes on the hood.

"No, Mom. I don't need extra eyes. I use my own eyes."

Wynn was so excited to go trick-or-treating this year.

It took soooo long to finally get dark.

Carrying her rubber gecko around to make sure everyone

knew what the costume was supposed to be.

She and Ann were out about 20 minutes and came home with her pail full of goodies. Happy, and ready to call it a night.

I manned the home front and gave out generous portions of Skittles to the neighborhood kids while trying not to cough on them.

The flu bug held strong in my body through Thursday morning, when I woke up with a 101.7 temperature. I doubled down on Advil and Tylenol and took a long, cool shower, kept the car windows cracked open taking Wynn to daycare, and drank lots of hot coffee. (That old Chinese saying about fighting fever with heat started making sense...) By 10:00 my temp was back down to normal, although it started creeping back up into the 99s by evening.

Friday I woke up for the first time without any fever, though plenty tired and with a very upset digestive tract and very sore throat. Felt much better on Saturday although had to stop and sit or lie down every couple hours; less coughing than previous days. Actually managed to do some yard work Sunday (albeit more hands-and-knees work than full-blown leaf raking.)

Went to work today, and even though I mostly just went through the 400 emails waiting from last week, ran a few reports, and had catch-up conversations with my boss and coworkers, I came home utterly exhausted. But glad to be back in the land of the living.

Folks, you do not want this bug.

Good news is that Wynn has largely shaken off the effects of the virus, with just a lingering cough and occasional sneeziness. She's full of energy and enthusiasm & went back to daycare on Wednesday.

Bad news is that I'm still struggling with fever - 99.5 on average, spiking to 101.5 as I woke up this morning. Have been using full doses of Advil, supplemented by smaller amounts of Tylenol. Drinking juices and water regularly. Sleep has not been a friend - I get a few hours overnight, plus catnaps during the day. (Having Wynn at school finally gives me a chance to rest.) Either the coughing or the fever will wake me up; want to wrap myself in blankets even though I'm sizzling...

Shadow snuggled next to me most of the night. Very sweet pup. But I have no energy to run around and play fetch with him like he wants to.

And when Wynn got home last night, so excited after a fun day with her friends, I was so sad that all I could do was lie there on the couch and watch her, and wish that she wasn't so loud with that beautiful voice and expressive vocabulary of hers.

I miss hugging my wife. I miss sleeping in my own bed.

Folks, you do not want this bug.

--Scott

Yep, we got the flu.

I can tell you exactly when it hit: 4 am Saturday morning. I woke up to hear Wynn whimpering in her room. Usually she cries when something has bothered her enough to wake up in the middle of the night, so I knew something was wrong. When I hugged her I could tell right away ... and the thermometer confirmed, 100.9 degrees.

I got right on it with Children's Advil, cool washcloths, and water. She managed to fall asleep about 5 am and finally woke up at 8.

Saturday night was the highest fever at 104.5, but that was only when the Advil wore off. Most of the time this weekend she was perky and full of energy, with some sneezing and coughing. But when the drugs cut out, you could tell immediately.

I think her fever finally broke sometime Sunday night, as she hasn't recorded anything above normal when I check, and I haven't given her any Advil today. We spent the day at home, where so far she has played very nicely and taken it easy on me. This photo is of the nap I hear her waking up from just now...

Sure enough, about 11 this morning, the fever hit me. I've managed to even barf a little this afternoon.

Since I'm not going to be getting a lot of productive work done at the office, I should probably put a plug in for the new Learning Chart that we've just launched:

TREND enterprises, Inc. part number T-38333 "Fight the Flu"

17" x 22" chart, with reproducible activities on the back. Great for classrooms, restrooms, offices, cafeterias.

Suggested retail price just $1.99 through the end of this year.

You can find this chart at the school supply store near you, or directly from TREND.

Headed for Home

Wynn has gotten a good night's sleep,

packed her bags,

and stolen my Domo hat.

She's ready to roll.

Planes, Trains, and ... Buses?

Today we made good use of Seattle's mass transit system, taking the Link to Tukwila and transferring to a bus for the ride to the Museum of Flight. We'd been on the Link before, so that was old hat, but we rode it to the end of the line today and got to see more of the surrounding area.

The Museum of Flight was huge and impressive. Wynn got a chance to get out of the backpack and roam around a bit, racing me across the pedestrian footbridge and pushing every button and knob she could reach. She desperately wanted to get in the cockpit of a fighter plane, but there was a bit of a line. We tried to just keep going, but she was not having that. We waited our turn, and she got her picture taken at the controls.

My favorite part of the museum was outside, where we got to tour the original Air Force One (in service from the Eisenhower through Nixon administrations, so LBJ was sworn in on it on the way back from Dallas in '63) and a Concorde.

Wynn was partial to the gift shop, where she tried on the kiddy Top Gun helmet but ended up getting a box of space mission toys - think Army men with space ships and a lunar module.

We got off at the Chinatown stop on the way back to the hotel and picked up a few more goodies, including a lucky cat for Wynn. It's pink, plastic, and has a solar cell that powers it as it waves. It is currently presiding over about thirty tiny plastic astronauts on the coffee table in our room.

Tonight's Lead Story

Shopping at Uwajimaya Market

Wynn decided to bring two toy animals along on our trip: a rubber gecko and her Cuddle Bunny Snuggle Bunny, which is, if you couldn't guess, a stuffed rabbit. Cuddle Bunny Snuggle Bunny sleeps in the bed with us, curled up in Wynn's arms.

When we got back from our morning's adventures - riding the light rail to the Uwajimaya Market and Kinokuniya Bookstore in Chinatown and being interviewed for the Channel 7 News about the rain (seriously, we were on tonight's local news) - Wynn was ready to nap, but couldn't find her Cuddle Bunny Snuggle Bunny anywhere. Scott dutifully pitched in, searching every drawer, digging around in the bed, etc. No sign of the rabbit. We figured out that Wynn had left the (white) rabbit in among the (white) sheets on the bed, and housekeeping had already been by, so Cuddle Bunny Snuggle Bunny was most likely on her way to being commercially laundered. Try explaining that to a three year old!

At the Completely Awesome Kinokuniya Bookstore

Wynn was distraught. The pouty lip came out. The eyes welled with tears. She held me and went on and on, "But I need my Cuddle Bunny Snuggle Bunny. She's my cuddle friend. I miss her. She is probably crying because she's lost." No nap was going to happen, so I carried my pouty, barefooted pre-schooler down to the front desk and told them our tale of woe.

About an hour later, there was a knock on our door. There was a member of the hotel staff, holding Cuddle Bunny Snuggle Bunny, a card from the housekeeping staff, and a tin of Starbuck's mints for us. Wynn jumped up and down and cheered with excitement. I'll admit, I even welled up a bit to see her so relieved.

After the crisis was resolved , we walked down to the Seattle Aquarium to see the octopus. Wynn decided it was kinda creepy looking, but she loved the sea otters.

Checking Out the Anemones and Starfish

We stopped off for some salmon chowder and sandwiches at Pike Place Market and then walked back up the hill to our hotel. We've settled in for the evening - doing some laundry, reading books, and resting our legs from all the uphill climbing a visit to Seattle requires.