This morning, I waited for the fever to return, but fortunately, it looked like it was gone. She was feeling well, and the kids were being really cute together. They were both snuggled up at the foot of our bed watching cartoons this morning. We didn’t have much planned other than proving our address and Brandon’s age to the baseball league he’s signed up for. It’s through the city, and it’s Brandon’s second year, though instead of t-ball, he’s playing pioneer league. It’s the next step up. I was showering while my dad called to invite us over to lunch. Dave had wanted to go to SC for some coffee, but he was the one who told me we were going up for lunch. So, we were going to head up after getting Brandon signed up. We got to the field, and we heard, “Hi, Brandon!” We all turned around to see Theo and his sister and mom. He thought Brandon would be on his same team, but it turns out he was going to be playing farm, since this was his third year of ball already. We said goodbye, then headed up to my dad’s. We met up at the restaurant for dumplings and noodles – the kids’ favorite for sure! When my dad saw Peyton, he said, “Wow, you look sick.” Poor thing, did look a bit tired and run down. We were seated at two different tables, since our party was so much bigger than the restaurant could accommodate, especially as there were other patrons there at the time. We stuck Peyton at the end away from everyone. She didn’t seem to mind. The order took awhile to come out, and even then, it came in piecemeal. Brandon was upset that his was last, but it just meant that he got to try a bit of everyone else’s food. After lunch, we went to get some groceries before heading back to the house. I bumped into Dave K’s parents while I was there. Dave and the kids were in the car, since I only needed to get a few things. We went back to the house, and the kids were sent down for naps. Brandon was already yawning at the lunch table, putting his head down, while he waited for his food. Peyton laid down, and within 5 minutes, she fell asleep. Brandon tossed and turned around a bit, and asked me what time he had to sleep until. It was almost 3, so I told him “4:15”. He said, “Right, got it,” then put his head down. We didn’t hear from him until after 430 pm. Peyton lasted a bit longer than that. Both still looked sleepy. We hung out for another hour or so before leaving. I thought they’d have a problem going to sleep tonight, so we got them down a little later than usual. But by 815 pm, both were asleep, not giving us any trouble. Hopefully Peyton does well overnight, which will be her first well night since Thursday! And hopefully Brandon isn’t coming down with Peyton’s illness, though he wasn’t really doing much to avoid it.
Rough Night
We had a rough rest of the night. We made it almost to the end of the movie, when Peyton started to cry again. I wanted to finish, so I let her whine it out. It was only a few minutes. She’d stopped by the time I got up to her. Dave told me to go sleep with her, so you can imagine his surprise when I’d brought her back to our room. She’d been awake (it was midnight), and I asked, “Do you want to come stay with us?” She quickly nodded, and scrambled up out of her bed. I carried her over, and plopped her in the middle. She was giddy by then! But, she was soon restless, tossing and turning, not wanting to be covered. I could feel that she wanted something cool to touch, as when I’d stuck my arm out of the covers, she’d grab it and use it to soothe herself. By 445 am, she woke again, and I took her temp. I don’t remember what it was specifically, but it was still up there, 103-104. I gave her another dose of Tylenol, and she went back to sleep. It’s only 945 am, so I have to wait a little longer to see if the fever is still persisting. She’s feeling well now, having eaten breakfast. She is trying really hard to cover her mouth, even when she was in the bed overnight. I’m hoping it doesn’t spread to the rest of the family!
104!!
While we were watching the movie, Peyton started to cry. Like her painful cry. I ran up to investigate. She was struggling with her diaper, which was wet. I helped her out of it, and changed to a new one. I took her temperature, and it registered 104.4. I did it again, but her mouth was slightly ajar, and it was 102.9. I told her to close it again, and it was 104.2. That’s the highest I’ve seen in awhile! So, I called the advice nurse, while Dave gave her the 5th dose in this past 24 hours. Luckily, he is good at giving doses, and he had been counting, because I’d lost track. I think it helps that he’s been the one giving it to her. The RN told me we were doing all we were supposed to be, and to call back with other worsening symptoms. It does make me think that when she had finished her book (Miss Nelson is Missing), I asked her to think about why Miss Swamp’s ugly, black dress was in Miss Nelson’s closet. She said, “Maybe I can think about it when I got to sleep.” After her dose, Dave brought her some ice chips and some water. She refused the water, Dave came back with the same glass, but told her it was lemonade. Dave had some freshly-squeezed from earlier in the week. She took it, and sucked it up quickly. I was afraid if she drank it too quickly, it’d come back up, since it was so tart. After she was done, she smacked her lips, and looked a little better. She sank back into bed, and hopefully goes down again. We’re only supposed to give 6 doses in 24 hours, so we’re at 5 doses now, with a new 24. Hopefully it breaks soon. I was happy for it to be on a Friday, but that it would last the WHOLE weekend??! At least we have a lot of books to entertain her tomorrow, and she can also start opening/playing with some of the presents from her birthday 
She’d opened everything, but I’d not let her play with everything, since it was a bit overwhelming.
Favorite Park
Julie was asking Brandon what his favorite park was, Disneyland or CA Adventure. He replied, “Florida.” Wow, he’s going big time! Luckily, we are going back there this summer, to take full advantage of our Premier Pass (the gold pass). Hopefully we can go on the water slides. I think Brandon would really enjoy them. He’s becoming more daring, I think.
No Sentences!
It’s been awhile since Brandon has had sentences. He’s been pretty well-behaved lately (hopefully I’m not TOTALLY jinxing it). I saw a previous sheet of completed sentences in his room, so I told him, “Hey, good job on not getting sentences lately. It’s been awhile!” He said, “Ya, it’s awesome!” Haha..hopefully we did make it a pain for him to do, so it will continue to be a deterrent to breaking the rules. Now, only if we can work on this sneaking food thing. Maybe the increased time (one week to now two weeks) will make it stick. He’s lucky that we found out on a Wednesday, since his ban will be lifted right before his birthday.
Sick Day
Last night, Peyton woke up around 930pm, and she came down. She didn’t whine for her usual requests (potty, thirsty, diaper). She didn’t say anything at all. It was just her look that said it all – sad and sickly. We took her temp and it was 101. So, we dosed her, had her drink some water, and she returned to sleep. This morning, she woke up looking pretty good! We didn’t have anything to do until Brandon’s basketball. She was doing well at breakfast, but became warm again at around 830am. Another dose, and she was back! I took her separately to basketball, since I didn’t want her to miss out on ballet. There is only one more session before her parent performance, and I didn’t want her to miss out. Brandon had basketball at 10, and Peyton’s class was 11. We left around 1030am, and headed over to the class. She was in good spirits, and changed her clothes in the car. Then, the class had a new teacher, and since we were off last week, I think it disrupted her routine. She sat against the mirror the whole class. She didn’t want to answer the teacher either. So, after 45 minutes of watching her do nothing, we left. I met Dave at our local private school to check out the school, since Dave wants to move Peyton somewhere closer to home. We hung out there, asked a few questions, and both the kids enjoyed exploring. Both were into tangrams, and also the rubber band on peg activities. We learned that the pre-K kids are studying artists and composers along with science and Spanish. It is a struggle between wanting Peyton to be more advanced in school versus having her be more social and comfortable where she is now. We left after about 20 minutes – Peyton and I to go home, while Brandon went to take team pictures with Dave. We got home, and when I asked her why she didn’t want to perform, she started to cry. I gave up, and went to feed her lunch. She did say she wanted to perform next week with her original coach. And that she doesn’t like ballet but wants me to sign her up for the next session. I don’t get it. She doesn’t want to do basketball, baseball or piano. She just wants to swim. We’ll see about that. Swim starts in April, so we’ll see if that’s really what she wants. Brandon and Dave came home when she was half way through her lunch. She finished up, cleaned up, then started walking upstairs. She announced, “I’m going to go take a nap now.” We let her go upstairs, and in 15 minutes, after I’d cleaned up, I went in to check on her. She was fast asleep under her covers. She was really pooped! I went to take a nap, too, and she woke up after about an hour. She came down, and laid down some more. She got one more dose of medicine, as she still had a fever around 100. As she felt better, in the afternoon, both kids were playing so nicely together – much better than when both are well! I warned Brandon about getting too close. His response was, “Well, if I get sick, I get sick!” They played for about an hour by themselves, then I told Brandon to change to go out to the library. I was going to pick up some books, and I had to renew my library card. It was perfect timing, since we were going to dinner for Bonnie’s birthday. Unfortunately, everyone had to renew their cards, so the line was pretty long. Once we got it renewed, Brandon told awhile to select his 5 books. I selected some for Peyton, then we quickly checked out. We got to the restaurant about 10 minutes late. Brandon didn’t want to sit next to Mckayla, so he took the seat next to Auntie Julie. Peyton would have been ALL OVER that seat next to Mckayla; too bad she wasn’t able to come. Sweet Mckayla brought a card for Peyton. It was folded up, so I kept it that way until giving it to Peyton. Brandon read some of his books, and shared them with Logan across the table. The kids were all spaced out evenly, since there were fewer of them. We ordered, and Brandon ate his falafel that I’d gotten him, and filled up on pita. My salmon was super yummy as well. After dinner was done, Bonnie switched seats with Brandon, who then went over to sit by Logan. He quickly commandeered Logan’s phone, and they were playing games. He told me he was “sharing” with Logan. When it was his turn, he turned the phone toward himself, until reminded. Then when it was Logan’s turn, he was hugging the back of his chair, almost with his arm around him. Logan was very nice to share with Brandon, and they kept each other entertained while the adults ate dessert. Logan missed out, since he was so engrossed with the games. Brandon knew he had been banned, so he preferred to play instead anyway. Since there was a group waiting for our table, we vacated ours. We said our goodbyes, and Bonnie had given Brandon a birthday present for next month. Brandon and I got outside first, and Brandon said, “Wait, why do I get a present when we’re here for Auntie Bonnie’s birthday?” I told him he’d better say thank you, then, and also take the opportunity to thank Logan for sharing. He did both as they came out. We said our goodbyes, then headed home. Peyton was in the bath at that point, so when she got out, I asked her if she wanted to read a book out of the bag I’d brought back from the library. She jumped at the chance. Brandon whined that he wanted to read, too, but Dave told him that since he’d gone out and not napped this afternoon, he needed to sleep. Peyton read me, “Miss Nelson is Missing”. Brandon will be seeing the play with his class next month. She read most of it, and then I told her to get in her bed so I could give her the present from Connor and Logan and also the card from Mckayla. She did as she was told quickly, and I met her in the room with the items. She opened the present and was very excited! She got an alphabet stamp set. I suggested her first use of it be to write a thank you card. I told her she could personalize it, and she immediately picked out the C and L for Connor and Logan. Then, I got her Mckayla’s card. She opened that and read it, too. It was so cute, I took a photo of it:
Dave and I are now going to watch a movie we were scared to watch in the theater (Dark Knight) We just have to wait to make sure the kids are TOTALLY asleep first.
Perseverance
This is Brandon’s character trait for the month. He was telling us, “Today we read a book by Michael Jordan, called ‘Salt in His Shoes’.” Dave questioned him, “THE Michael Jordan? Are you sure he wrote a kids’ book?” Brandon was so sure, saying, “YA! He’s 6’6″, and played basketball!” Both us just said, “Huh.” I’m looking it up now, and yes, he DID write a book. And it IS entitled “Salt in His Shoes”. Learn something new every day. And from the kids!
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Update; Peyton’s results
Dave did go run! Yay for him. He got back in the middle of my stepping workout. Just as I was finishing up, I got Peyton’s test results back.
Her random (fasting) sugar was 83. And her LDL was 76, HDL 60. TC was 148, and TG 58.
In comparison, Brandon’s last year were: LDL 62, HDL 51, TC 121, TG 39. I didn’t think to test a sugar on him last year. Mine from two years ago was LDL 83, HDL 73, TG 41, TC 164. I won’t put Dave’s up, and I may have to password protect in a few years, as I will be violating the kids’ HIPPA rights. I’m curious to see what a recent panel would be, since the one taken 6 months before my first race (the 10k turkey trot). I wonder what the HDL would have been at the height of my training. Maybe I’ll have to start training again, just to see how high the HDL is. I hope I got the good cholesterol genes from my mom, not my dad. Dave drew me a picture of his family tree, with old fashioned Mendelian genetics. I was sad for my kids 
, especially if “whatever gene” it is is dominant as we suspect it is. Dave is tempted to go take everyone to the full genetic screening, as an experiment, as he and his cousin were discussing today. The only thing we can do is offer healthy foods for the kids. They’re too young for statins!
Sickling
Of the two kids, Peyton has always been the sicker of the two. Fortunately, both kids have been relatively healthy overall, but they’ve had their share of cough and colds. And neither has been called out for fever for as long as I can remember. Until today. Brandon and I were driving to school when a call came in. We were just down the street from Peyton, and the vice-principal told me that she had a fever of 100. Fortunately, today is Friday. Peyton’s had a cough, one that she usually picks up about October, and has it linger until March. No other symptoms, comes and goes, usually gets better with water or honey when it’s really bad. I thought it may be allergy/post nasal drip related, and we’d given her some antihistamines in the past with a little relief. I just hadn’t wanted to give her long-term medications, when she was fine otherwise. Now I feel really badly about this morning, since I took her in to get her lab work down. The pediatrician wants us to screen the kids to get a baseline history of their cholesterol given the family history on Dave’s side. My side has high cholesterol, too, but they are already on secondary prevention over there. She was in good spirits, even as we entered the parking lot from the street. She made sure to tell me, “It’s very froggy at your work” as the fog was thick this morning. She was fine when I let her pull a number and sit in the high chair in the lab. We had Mrs Ladybug, even though she read the tag correctly as “Bugsy”, for moral support. She was fine as we came up to the receptionist, fortunately not having to wait too long. But, as we made our way back to the chairs, she started the whining. I told her she could sit in any seat, and we made our way to the empty one at the end. I sat down, and she wouldn’t have any of it. I grabbed her, but she stiffened up – all of her. I worked to plop her on my lap, then the struggle began to take her sweatshirt, then shirt off. I didn’t want to just pull up the sleeve, since I didn’t want it in the way. She was bawling by now, and half-naked on top. I was solo on the mission, and then the phlebotomists came over. Two were needed – one just to hold the arm, while the other did the deed. I was instructed to wrap her in a bear hug, and her tears were getting everywhere. I covered her eyes, since she insisted on watching the needle go in (crazy girl). The guy that was drawing had to turn the needle 45 degrees, which made me queasy, but soon it was over. The girl asked if she wanted a sticker. She took the My Little Pony sticker, but didn’t say thank you. In fact, she was still glaring at the dude, who asked her, “Where are you going to breakfast now?” When met with silence, he went on to say, “Ya, I know you hate me right now.” Then, we did the walk of shame back through the lab. Most of the people in there were probably nearly 20 times Peyton’s age. Unless they were totally deaf, I’m sure they heard her. She was the only kid there. In any case, I made no eye contact as we walked back out of the lab. We tried to get her eye exam, as she was ready for it, though it may have been a bit distorted on account of all that crying. The manager, with whom I used to work, and who observed her last time, told me it was another 40 minutes before it would open. So, I told both of them we’d come back another time.
We made our way over to the coffee store nearby. I offered Peyton a choice of egg-white breakfast sandwiches. She chose the turkey bacon. I ordered her a steamed milk, and then told her to go find a seat for us. She claimed she needed help getting up since her arm was sore. I helped her, feeling badly for her. After a bit, the sandwich and milk were cool enough. She was afraid to eat or drink either since she saw the steam coming from both. She got through half the milk and half the sandwich. I asked her, “You didn’t like the sandwich?” She said, “No, I did, I just don’t want it anymore.” I had to ask again, since it’s so different with Brandon! He would have inhaled that whole thing in two seconds, hot or not, and then asked, “What else can I eat?” It’s amazing seeing a kid stop when they are full. I’ve heard about those kids, but it seems Peyton is learning not to force the issue. I took her to class, and separated without any fuss. I went to work for a half-day, then left to go get Brandon after chess club. There had been word of a school lock-down about 1.5 miles from our house. It turns out it was a hoax from a kid, but still, there were a couple of hours there where police were on the scene, in full force. By the time Brandon was due to be out, there had been an all clear issued. So, I stayed awhile longer before leaving to get him from Chess Club. He told us he wanted to be in it. It’s great, since we’ve taught him how each piece moves, and he really showed us interest. It helps that Theo and Josh are in class, too, but I think he’s taking it seriously. He told me he wanted to practice at home, and also, when we got home, he was reviewing the book he received in class today. Theo and Josh are in their second session, and this is the first for Brandon, so hopefully he makes up some ground. I’m glad we got into the session we did, otherwise, the next session was from 215pm to 315pm; tough if we wanted to skip out for a longer weekend. We went home briefly, then headed to Peyton’s school.
Because she was sickly, she was sitting out in the office. She looked so sad sitting there. The teachers had wrapped all her stuff up, and they handed it to me, so that I didn’t even have to go into the classroom. Poor thing was quarantined. I had plans to go to the library, but given she wasn’t feeling well, I went straight home. I didn’t take her temp again, and I didn’t have medicine either, but she seemed in okay spirits. Brandon went outside to play, while I kept Peyton inside the house with me. Brandon started giggling, and I wondered what was up. Soon, I saw. He was laughing so hard, he could barely tell me that he kicked his shoe over the fence. Thinking it was the street fence, I grabbed my keys to have him retrieve his shoe. But then, through his giggling, he pointed to the neighbor’s fence. I started laughing, too, as did Peyton. He was a mess. He continued to play with one socked foot, kicking the soccer ball around. Finally, he came in, and got his other pair of shoes. Peyton wanted to go out, too, but I had to convince her to stay inside. Dave came home after what felt like an eternity. Luckily, neither kid was super hungry, but both were hungry by 630pm. I had planned to feed them the salmon, veggies, and sweet potato from last night, so we didn’t really have to wait for Dave. I’d already given Peyton a bath, so after dinner, she went straight to bed. Brandon had some homework to finish up, then he was off to bed, too. Dave got an earful from his cousin (the brother of the one having surgery today), who told him to get himself checked out. He didn’t lecture on diet and exercise, but I have been. I guess it’s finally sinking in that he’s not invincible. Eating cake, drinking wine, and lying around on the couch isn’t going to make you live longer. He is in denial that exercise and diet do anything, that he’s already gotten his sentence. My counterpoint is that my job solely exists to have patients change their ways to prevent an event from occurring. Something clicked, finally, and he went out for a run around the track tonight! Oh, and he is “considering” hanging up the pull-up bar he purchased en route to the P90X that Ted had given him many moons ago. Dave was so determined to start once he got it. That was over a year ago now.
Here are some videos from tonight, after Peyton’s bath.
Take ONE.
Take TWO. Even when sick, we still have fun 
Update: Dave went out for a heater for the fish tank and a run. He came back with a heater. (Sigh…)
Role Reversal
Today, when I went to pick Peyton up from school, she was playing nicely with Sydney. When I told her it was time to leave, she melted down a bit. I had to drag her out of the classroom. She wanted to finish putting the puzzle together, but Sydney didn’t want help. Peyton does not like being TOLD, especially by her friends. I told her I was upset with her when we were in the car. She sank back in her seat, and she remained quiet the rest of our trip back home. I told Dave what had happened, as he just came home with Brandon. Brandon beamed and said, “I had a good day at school today!” So, Dave took care of Peyton, while I caught up with Brandon. Dinner was uneventful, other than Peyton didn’t finish eating. And then spilled her food all over the ground, after I’d just vacuumed. Brandon finished up his lunch, then dinner as asked. After dinner, the UCLA game was on. Peyton was excited to start, and watched about 10 game minutes before losing interest. Brandon went upstairs, took a bath, just as he was asked, then came down with his Bop It. He said, “Daddy, do you mind if I play this?” I did a double take to take it all in. We told him it was okay, and he proceeded to play nicely. He said WE were being too loud, then asked if he could go to the other room. Peyton followed him, but we told her to stay with us to leave Brandon alone. He was trying to beat his high school of 27. Here is one of those attempts. He later came out and told us he got up to 29! Dave can’t score that high, and I know I’m not that coordinated. Both went to bed by 730 pm, and I think Peyton really needed it.