Our kids have taken turns being ill pretty much since we got back from Costa Rica. It's been awesome. Saturday night Angus had such a terrible time with an earache that, when he woke up at sunrise on Sunday screaming, he and I jumped on the the early ferry to Ceiba for the day. Monday Bine's swollen throat was joined by a fever and lethargy so again with the boat and sick kid, this time for the night. Got to say, Bine is at such a creative, adventurous age that it is always fun to head out into the world with her, even if she's sick. She was a champ waiting the almost two hours for our turn to see the doctor (diagnosis: strep throat). Afterward we had a date at Applebees and then cuddled in our hotel room as she watched tv and I read a book. The next day, my birthday, she needed a blood test, her first. I got one too, to show her how quick and easy it is. Although tears ran down her cheeks while the nurse was poking around in search of her vein she didn't budge or make a peep. And the fun thing about a birthday is that--just because of the mere fact of it--something that might ordinarily be, well, ordinary, is now festive. It was our birthday blood test! And every day since we have been comparing microscopic puncture wounds while reminding each other of how fearless we were.
I'm now thirty-six, an age that has always had particular meaning for me because it is how old my mother was when I first knew how old my mother was. So it's fitting that on this birthday I was on super-overtime-mom-duty.
Sleeping on me on the ferry to Ceiba
So excited to have a lollipop reward after her doctor's visit
Nervous, brave
Another lollipop! But this one was as nasty as it looked, so she opted for lychees.
Ferry ride home
Lap nap on the return
