Now That’s Sick!
It happens to all of us and now was my turn, I picked up a bug and I am SICK. Not sure if I got it from the gym, lots of people and lots of germs, or at the kid’s birthday party we went to this weekend, lots of kids and lots of germs, none the less I am down. The moment I started to feel that soreness in my throat I was ready to be proactive, with excessive amounts of Vitamin C, spraying Zicam in my mouth, and rest. My family left for the day so I could sleep. Whew! I needed that.
I’m not sure if my low immune system is affecting my emotions, but Azul has said some of the sweetest things to me in my weakened state. He kisses my hand, because he doesn’t want to get too close to me, and every time he does, he asks, “How are you feeling?” and then runs away as fast as he can. Awww…
At one point, he said, “Mommy, if cold wipes out hot, I know what you need!” And he returned to my makeshift wellness center (okay, it’s just my bedroom) with the largest frozen block ice we have (you know, the blue plastic blocks that fit in between your cans to keep them cold in your cooler). Well, now it’s mine, to use for my fever. Thanks! That was some good thinking.
I did venture out to the couch for a few hours. I was just tired of laying in my fever-drenched bed, and Azul told me, “I wish you weren’t sick,” in the sweetest, most empathetic voice you could ever hear. Followed by, “I’m bored and have no one to play with!” Oh, he is so worried about me.
The next morning on his way out to school, he woke me up and again expressed his concern: “Mommy, when you feel better, get up and eat something.” My blurry-eyed reply, “Okay, thank you, my sweet love.” I rolled over in bed. That was sweet, these are the moments that make parenting worthwhile. Now, where is the NyQuil.
Another day of rest for the weary, and that evening when Azul got home, he ran in and asked me, “Are you feeling gooder?” I responded, “Yes, I am feeling better, thanks for asking.” Then he said, “I’m glad you’re feeling gooder.” Yeah it’s worth it!
Buzz Kill
“I’ve decided — I’m going to start drinking when I’m nine!” was the proclamation made by Azul this week, while we were buying beer at Costco. My response, after I let what I had just heard sink in, was, “You what?” I know, profound. But, for the moment, if you can look beyond the fact that he is five and the legal drinking age is twenty-one, his statement did prove some maturity, not hanging out at a bar maturity, but some.
First, “I’ve decided” — that alone means he put some thought into it and didn’t just make some haphazard decision or give in to a whim or peer pressure. For a five year-old, it takes a lot to consider a situation or action and then actually come to a conclusion.
Second, “I’m going to start drinking,” shows he was aware of his surroundings, the beer aisle in Costco, and appropriately brought up a topic related to the moment. Also, I have never been shy of admitting my vices and I am legally old enough to have a drink, so drinking is not a taboo topic in our household. Oh, and by the way, I am a Homebrewer, which means I make my own beer, and Azul has assisted in the brewing process and even made his own root beer. He is not naive about the subject.
Last, “when I’m nine” obviously means that it is something that will happen in the future and not any time soon. And every parent knows how slow time passes for children. If a day in kid thought is like a year, then to be nine has to seem like an eternity away. Actually, if a day equals one year, then in four years, he would be 1,460 years-old give or take a few.
Well, after he repeated his statement, I said, “Thank you for putting some thought into it, but we’ll talk about it when you’re older.” And I directly headed to the liquor aisle. I needed a drink!
Ice Cream Shake!
One of the cool things about being a parent is you get to play! And play we do, all the time! Today, Azul brought an Ice Cream Recipe home from his Pre-school, so, we made ice cream. No major equipment necessary, it was super easy and took us about ten minutes to do. The complete recipe is below. Have fun!
Step #1 – Gather all the ingredients. Okay, easy enough.
Step #2 – Stir together the milk, sugar and vanilla. Azul loves the responsibility of stirring and one less job for me.
Step #3 – Pour the stirred ingredients into a bag and then put that bag in another bag, seal tightly. Wow, doesn’t seem like much.
Step # 4 – Place the bags in a larger bag with the ice and salt. I really hope we’re not just going to make a mess.
Step #5 – Wrap in a towel and shake! We shook to Harry Belafonte’s Shake Senora.
Step #6 – Stop shaking and remove ice cream from the bag. What!? It sure looks like ice cream.
Step #7 – Eat! This is awesome; it’s really tasty ice cream.
Similar to many of our projects and experiments, I was skeptical. We’ve had some disasters, but this one works and it was delicious! As soon as his ice cream was gone Azul exclaimed, “We should do this every night!” Well, I hope not, but it was worth doing.
Ice Cream Recipe
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups ice
4 tablespoons salt
2 quart size Ziploc bags
1 gallon size Ziploc freezer bag
1 towel
Mix ingredients (milk, vanilla and sugar) in a small bag. Remove all the excess air and seal the bag tightly. Place the first bag in a second small bag removing all air and sealing tightly.
Place these bags into the large bag. Surround with ice and add salt. Remove air and seal well. Wrap in a towel and shake lightly and massage until solid, about 5 minutes.
Carmelina Hart 