Belated July 4 post

I wrote this when I was out but hadn't posted it...

Fourth of July

I’ve been partly out of commission this week. Last Friday I had an ear infection of some week. It really hurt but medicine helped get me mostly better. I can’t tell if it’s the result of swimming, or of a cold or allergies that blocked up the ear. Mostly better today, but no, not my best birthday.

The kids, however, are having a pretty fun week. Eli and Eva are both feeling more independent (putting on own shoes, pickier on food, demand to get into car seats by themselves, etc.) but seem generally happy. 

They’re “mostly” potty-trained, which I suppose is like having two walking coffee cups that only leak some of the time. Sam had a field trip to what was described as a miniatures museum—I’m not entirely sure what that means. Stamps? Art work? He enjoyed it--he already has his own prviate life. He’s working on swimming and tomorrow is his swim lesson.

They all had shots on Tuesday. It was pretty funny. Emily told Sam it would hurt but that he’d get a bandaid and a treat. He’s had shots before, so he knows they hurt, but he really was talking up the whole shot thing to Eva and Eli, “I really like shots,” “I love shots,” etc. Eli’s was easy, Sam’s a little rougher, and Eva was really not happy about the situation. Sam’s was for Japanese encephalitis and he had a mild reaction (low fever for a day or two).

All three are generally agreeable. The morning routine is getting faster. I can do breakfast in about 15 minutes and dressing everyone in about ten if I’m really fast. Evening is still tough, and we may start separating Sam from the twins. It’s hard to give each of the three the attention each one needs. We’re also thinking of restarting piano. Sam never made great progress, but we did find pitch improved. I’m thinking if he could do 15-30 minutes and the twins could listen, that would be nice. We’ll have to see dates, etc.

I’m trying to get on a health kick. My blood pressure was up at the hospital and I really feel like this last semester was more stressful than it needed to be (probably because of housing and the like). I’m cooking more, doing more walks and exercise, and laying off bad food.  I’m going to try to join the senior pool and exercise center. In a novel recently I read this theory about four burners on a stove (family, friends, health, work) and how most people can only cook on two and have to sacrifice the other two. For me, it’s usually friends and health that go. Anyway, it’s a quieter summer, so hopefully this is a chance to re-engage. I’m also helping Emily with transcription and breaking up her proposal into sections for her thesis. I think she’s really close, or at a tipping point now. If she pushes, I think she could have everything pretty much blocked out by the end of the month. I’ll have to see.

That’s the news from here. We’re all going along okay otherwise. I am still plunking on projects for the school here (revising English, helping with entrance exams, grading student papers).  We miss you all!