Root Canals, Jesus in a Box, and on and on

What a week (and a couple of days). Allow me to recap...

Thursday (January 10th): The beginning. Ben was up all night (Wednesday into Thursday) crying. It was a BAD flashback to early babyhood. If our baby had been possessed by the devil. Thursday 8:30 AM: Heather goes in to the dentist for a filling and ends up having a ROOT CANAL. Later the same day, Ben goes into the pediatrician and we find out he is not the devil, but has a nasty ear infection. Drugs for everyone. (Heather's: anti-anxiety for the dentist visit, pain meds for after the ROOT CANAL. Ben: good old "orange" antibiotic).

Friday/Saturday: Hang out days. We all recover. Ben and Heather go to the gym with Ben's girlfriend Olivia and her mom.

Sunday: Ben feels better. We know this because Ben talks non-stop for 3 hours and demands his parents pretend to be Daphne, Velma, Donatello, Leonardo, a random knight, a hippo, and that they play with him and pay attention to him ALL THE TIME. By 3:00, Don and Heather are looking online and in the phone book for sleep away boarding preschools.

Monday/Tuesday: Beginning of a new Kindermusik semester. Ben goes to school, we settle back into a "real" routine.

Wednesday: Heather wins "Parent of the Year" award and is happy to announce that her only competition for "Parent of the Decade" is Brittney Spears. Heather spent the day in bed or on the couch contemplating death by sinus infection while she prompted her child to drag a step stool to the pantry and to help himself (Costco bag of Cheetos, anyone?). She then buys the Ninja Turtle movie (PG rating) off the On Demand feature on the cable box and tells him to close his door to watch so the dogs don't eat all the Cheetos. MORE DRUGS: Heather-- Z-pack for a sinus infection, Tylenol Cold & Sinus to sleep, etc.. (hence the good parenting).

Thursday: Freaking snow day. You've gotta be kidding me. Thursday was supposed to be "Heather takes Ben to school and sleeps all day... you know a "sick day". 6:00 AM? No school. So, Thursday was a slightly less inappropriate version of Wednesday. Ben became quite proficient at bringing EVERY TOY HE OWNS into the bedroom and piling them up so we could play without me leaving my pillow. If only he could learn to open the fridge and bring me a Diet Coke.

Friday: PRAISE THE Z-PACK. With the exception of a head cold, I have been healed. I'm gonna start calling Zythromax "Jesus in a Box", 'cause its healing powers are miraculous. With Baby Linus in tow, we made it to open gym and Ben had a haircut. We even went out to dinner like real people last night.

One funny from the week:

Wednesday, we had to go to Target to pick up the Jesus in a Box. When we got there, I realized the pharmacy was closed for lunch, so we had to kill 30 minutes in Target. Normally, that is easy, but when you feel like your face is going to explode, it's more complicated. We went to the toy aisle and I told Ben he could play. Then, I told him he could choose ANY toy he wanted and we'd take it home. This immense toy power, coupled with the Cheetos freedom, mixed with being allowed to do whatever he wanted because no one was really paying attention led him to the following sweet comment:

B: (climbs into bed with me and pats my head) Mommy, you know what, Mommy?
H: what?
B: (kisses my forehead) Well, Mommy.... (gets very close to my face... kisses my forehead again).... I just LOVE your sick days.