When'd you get so smart?

C. and I were lying in bed last night while I was reading. This was our conversation:

C.: What's this book?

Me: It's called, A Journey Without Maps, by Graham Greene.

C.: What's that mean?

Me: It means he went on a trip and he didn't take a map.

C.: Where did he go?

Me: West Africa.  Liberia, actually.  It's a country in Africa.

C.: Like where [Sunflower]'s from?

Me: Yes, she was born in Africa too.  In Ethiopia.

C.: Why did he go there without a map?

Me: I don't know; I'm trying to read the book to find out. (He was to have been asleep by this point...)

C.: I think he didn't take a map because he didn't need one.  He already knew where he was going.

Me: Huh. (That's quite the abstract thought for a three year old.)  Maybe.  Let's read the book and find out.

The next time I wake he'll probably be writing compositions on the affect of Graham Greene's conversion to Catholicism in his writings, so I need to sleep less, pay more attention, and savor all of these childhood moments.  They grow so fast!

A Sunny End-of-Quarantine Kind of Day

I've been inside for a week.  

These sunbeams are nice, but I want to feel them on my skin.

Can't we go out?  PLEASE?

YAY!!!

I want to feel the flowers tickle my toes,

Share some hammy gossip with the turtle-give him the real scoop on the chicken pox,

Play clapping games with my big brother, J.,

and squeal into the fresh air!

Oh, I'm so glad these chicken pox are gone!  Spring blossoms, potting soil, a cool breeze, prickly grass and crickets await me!  If only I could get this walking thing figured out, I'd own the yard!

Better this than polio!

You know how the fine print on the vaccination papers that the doctor gives you says, "1 in so-many-million may actually contract X unpleasant disease from this vaccine"?  Well, though Sunflower got the bare-necessity vaccinations in Ethiopia from the US Embassy in order to get her entry visa, we waited to vaccinate her again in America until about 10 days ago.  Her blood work on arrival proved she was in starvation mode when she came home with low calcium levels, anemia, low bone density, extremely malnourished blood counts in all areas.   Her chronic diarrhea continued for 2-3 weeks after we got her home and switched her to soy before she even really began to thrive.  I didn't think that was the time to inject her with polio, rubella and tetanus and hope her frail little body could properly process the vaccine.  

But she's more than caught up now, so we began the well-baby series' this month.  Yesterday, she woke up with a rash that got worse as the day went on.  It started on her stomach. "Chicken Pox," I said aloud.  We went to the doctor last night, and sure enough, the vericella vaccine trigged a "wild strain" (her words) of chicken pox.  "It should be mild," she said.  Followed by, "But this is all over her...".  I thought, "Mild.  Right.  Like the flu I got from the flu shot a few years ago was 'mild.'  I didn't get out of bed for a week!"  The doctor said this happens sometimes as a fluke or with those with weak immune systems.  Yes, we're VERY glad we waited to begin the vaccinations because like I said, better the vaccine trigger a wild strain of chicken pox than peculiar breed of polio.  

I won't post pics of her body; I"ll spare you that, but she is covered and itchy with the low-grade temp. and runny nose that goes with chicken pox.  She hasn't lost her smile though! Which is good because right now with her "only a mother could love that" face, at least her teeth are gorgeous!  (The camera doesn't pick up the spots well, but believe me, it makes me itch looking at her.)

The boys have pretty teeth too and are full of smiles!  J. celebrated a friend's birthday at school today, and C. had a week's break from occupational therapy because his therapist is pregnant, and I didn't want Sunflower and her pox in the same building as the OT's embryo.  We'll try again next week.

So, "Yes, I have a freakishly wild strain of chicken pox, but life is still so, so good!"