The Return of the Diseased Sticks

Yes, friends, they have returned. Last week was Ariella's turn; she ended up not having strep, but is still on medication for her ears. I was keeping a close eye on Yaakov all week, wondering when he'd get sick. On Thursday, just as I was thinking he was out of the woods, I got a call from gan. They told me he was complaining about his ear. Luckily, I was able to get a doctor's appointment right away. It turned out his ears were fine, but hey, what's that in his chest? That doesn't sound good! Better take him to Terem for an x-ray! So off we ran to Terem. Luckily it was pretty quick, and we were out of Terem, along with our CD of the x-ray ("Yaakov's Lungs: Greatest Hits") in an hour. We went to drop the CD off at the doctor, and were told that he would call us later when he looked at the results. Meanwhile, Yaakov was hopping and skipping around, thrilled to be able to do the food shopping with Mommy and Lala. The doctor called back later and said his lungs were clear (big "Phew!" now). He was acting fine besides for his cough. Anyway, he went to bed pretty easily. Donny and I were just sitting down to get "Lost" at around 10:30 when The Boy awoke. Now, unfortunately, he was actually sick - fever and everything.


I know you are worried about two things:

1. If Yaakov had to stay home from gan on Friday, didn't you and Donny have to miss out on your Friday breakfast date?

2. Did you ever get to finish "Lost?"


Fret not - this Friday was an "off" week for Yaakov's gan anyway, so he hung around on Friday and watched lots and lots of videos. (He now only answers to the name "Buzz.") To answer question #2, we worked very diligently all Friday to get everything done for Shabbos. At 3:00, and hour and a half before Shabbos, we put a movie on for the kids, and retreated into our room to watch the rest of "Lost." Creative, no? You can see now why people line up for my parenting advice.


Friday night Yaakov and I ended up sleeping on the couch together; somehow he got the big couch and I was scrunched on the little one. We kept him on a steady dose of Tylenol and Motrin all day Shabbat, and debated whether we should bring him to Netanel's party on motzash. Since he seemed to be doing better by Shabbat afternoon, and since Donny heard there was going to be pizza at the party, we all piled out into the car right after Shabbat and headed over to Bet Shemesh. The party was excellent - good company and good food (pizza and a ridiculously crazy homemade Cookie Monster cake that Elie decorated himself). And olives.


Today I kept Yaakov home to bring him back to the doctor. We had a Morning of Long Lines. First, they were a little backed up at the doctor, and then, when it was our turn, the receptionist asked if this other mom with Hysterical Twins could go ahead of me. Of course I said yes, because,

A. I am very nice and

B. She wasn't really asking me if it was okay. It was kind of like Donny asking erev Shabbos, "Can I eat some of this chicken now?" as he's swallowing.

So we had to wait an extra half hour for our turn. Then we went to the Maccabi building to drop off our diseased stick and pick up our medicine. There were two lines awaiting me - one in the pharmacy, and one to drop off the diseased stick (yes, you have to take a number and wait for that, too). I had to decide which to do first - stick or medicines? Hallows or Horcruxes? I went with medicine. When we went into MaccabiPharm (or, as Donny thinks it's called, MaccabiFarm - we're patients, dear, not chickens), the line was HUMONGOUS! Our number was 187; they were up to 174. I thought of pulling shtick and running down to drop off the stick while waiting for my turn in the pharmacy, then I slapped myself and reminded myself that people like me NEVER get away with that stuff - I just would have ended up waiting twice in both lines. Luckily, though, there was no line for Diseased Stick Drop-Off. So we returned back home to chocolate sandwiches and Buzz.

Don't forget to vote in this week's poll! Donny's entire future rests upon the outcome!