are you sleeping? no. shut up.

We've been pretty lucky so far. Kiddo is not prone to getting sick. We think (hope?) that she's become superhuman due to her two years in the giant Petri dish that is daycare. Once in a while, though, she will catch something new. For better or worse, it's pretty easy to tell when she's sick – she can't sleep. Most of the time, she's a power sleeper but when she's unwell, she will wake up after a couple of hours. Usually about five seconds after Mama and Dadoo go to bed. And, as our wise friend Dyan once said and I've been paraphrasing ever since, "When your kid sleeps through the night, you are totally out of shape for those times when they don't."

Nap time for felty friends.

(felty friends courtesy of pal Geraldine)

And out of shape we are. It's been kicking our asses a little. I think it started late Saturday/early Sunday. Before bed, I went to check on her (as is our way) and when I opened the door, she sat right up and said, "I'm wet." So I changed her diaper (because she still sleeps in one) and noticed that she was really hot. I just figured it was because she had been asleep and I'm glad I'm not a single parent because Mimi came in and noticed that the kid was on fire. I suck at the 'is she okay or not okay' game but Mimi is always spot on. So we bundled up the little hot-head and brought her into our room.

Could this be how she got it?

Now, it's rare that the kid sleeps in our bed. It hasn't yet occurred to her that she can get up any time she wants and open her door and come into our room. And we're glad of that, because the few times she has slept in our bed, it has been a carnival of face-punching and rib-kicking. She's an … um … active sleeper.

So in an attempt to avoid personal injury and let everybody get some sleep, it was decided (though not by me) that I would sleep elsewhere, while mother and child occupied our bed. At the time it made the most sense to just go sleep in Kiddo's bed. It has always seemed comfortable and it was already made and I didn't have to move other furniture to get into it (our guest room is an exciting place right now). While it was convenient, and has a delightful star canopy, it was something less than comfortable. It might be just fine for a 33 pound girlie, but it was not designed with a 200 pound man in mind. I woke up with a sore back and sore hips and I'm not even sure how much I actually slept.

"You think that's rough? Try getting through this thing."

The next night when Kiddo was still sick and I was relegated to alternate sleeping quarters, I did what any normal person would do, I slept in her bed again. Why am I surprised that my back and hips hurt even more now? Oh, right, because I'm an idiot.

Anyway, on Sunday night when I was tucking her into bed (the same bed I would later find myself failing to sleep in) Kiddo and I had this conversation:

Me: I'm sorry you have a little bug.

She: No, it's not a bug!

Me: Oh, right, no. Okay, I'm sorry you have a little cold.

She: No, it's not cold! It's hot!

Me: I'll just stop talking.

Let it never be said that we aren't the best parents ever. Since Kiddo wasn't feeling well, we let her sit in our bed and watch a lot of TV. So much watching. Mostly so Mama could get some sleep. They watched Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro back-to-back, and I think Mimi managed to get almost two more hours of sleep out of it. They watched an old VHS copy of The Jungle Book until the tape quite literally snapped. Yes, we have 20-year-old VHS tapes. Shut your face.

On Monday morning after I limped out of her bed, I found her sitting at the foot of our bed watching a movie. She waved me over and said, "Sit here and watch! Watch with me!" So, I did. Do you think I could refuse that? So we watched a little bit of Totoro together before I had to get ready for work.

Truth to tell, I'd have sat there all morning and watched movies with her. Especially because when I sat down she actually put her arm around me. The cute hurts sometimes. Sadly, in my current state of employment (I'm a contractor again, for those of you who didn't know) I only get paid for the hours I work, and I don't have any sick time to fall back on. Boo. Good thing I like the gig, at least. I think I might have actually said to Kiddo, "Dadoo has to get ready for work so he can pay for the daycare you're not going to."

Yeah, sadly while I'm stuck in the "no work = no pay" hole, Kiddo's daycare is working the "we get your money whether your kid shows up or not!" angle, to great effect. Enjoy our money!

Then, I got a text message from Mimi on Monday which I present to you in its entirety.

"… aaand she threw up."

We don't think it was related to the illness, because it hasn't happened again. Kiddo was complaining about a cut in her mouth, and wanted an ice pack. So Mimi gave her one and I think Kiddo might have actually gagged herself with it while trying to get the ice onto the sore spot. Sigh. My daughter the genius.

And then our groceries were stolen off our front porch.

We've been using an online grocery service for a couple of months now, and it's been great, but this time we got a Monday, pre-dawn delivery and somebody decided to help themselves to our food. I will pretend it was to feed a starving family and not just some crackhead or drunk teenager or drunk teenaged crackhead who thought it would be fun to steal food from my sick daughter. To the unnamed grocery delivery company's credit, they replaced the entire order without question and had it to us later that same day. Do I digress? Indeed.

Ooh, karaoke puppet show! Always a good sign.

So, now it is Wednesday and Kiddo's temp is down to 96.5 so we're hoping the worst of it is behind us. She is still a little weak, but must be on the mend because I came home for lunch today and she first insisted that I make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for myself, so I did and then she asked if she could stick her thumb in it.