A Smeddling Kiss

In Which I Can't Sleep Worth a Damn Tonight

I am lying on my couch, tucked in with a blanket and pillows, staring out the back windows. It is 1:44 am. My nose is just stuffy enough to bother me and my elbow is just twanging enough to keep me uncomfortable in any position I try.

As I was laying in my bed, I could feel the mucus gathering slowly at the back of my nose every other minute and got sick of snorffling it down, so I came out in search of a box of tissues.

But those minor discomforts weren't keeping me awake. I just can't stop thinking of all the things I have to do in the morning - scratch that, I mean "in 5 1/2 hours." And I can't stop fretting about several barely fret-worthy emotional issues and one or two big ones.

I'll tell you this, however: first item on my list for tomorrow is to call the doctor to speak about this chronic 2 am bullshit anxiety. This is brutal, yo.

Throw It at the Wall and See if It Sticks.

I'm tired of writing about my kids. They take up most of my time and energy, leaving very little left over in my days for ME, and that means when I sit down to write something, my brain is stuck on KIDS KIDS KIDS. How did I become this boring mommy person?! 

But hey - let's not talk about boring old ME. Let's talk about... my KIDS. Blerg. 

When last we heard about our mini-heroine, she was spending her time stressing out *about* but excelling *in* school while tilting from one emotional extreme to the next at home, all the while complaining of headaches and blurred vision and foot cramps and various other psychosomatic illnesses. Her mother attempted to assuage her worry by booking an appointment with the eye doctor 2 weeks hence, but our heroine continues to languish, convinced that she has something far more seriously wrong with her. 

Enough of that. My week was filled with lots of volunteering and random moments. In a typical 5 minute vignette that ended poorly, I was collecting the kids in the lobby of the school for an after-school activity when I ran into Pepper's teacher from last year. As we stand there catching up, another teacher walks up and says she has some books for Peanut to read - her son is in class with him and is also an advanced reader, so she has some books from her classroom to loan him. As she leaves, yet another person walks up with information about yet another school activity, and suddenly, Pepper lets out a shriek of pain that silences the crowd in the lobby. 

The adults scatter, and as we hustle to the nurse for an ice pack for her bloody nose, I ask what happened. 

"I walked into the wall!" 

"How did that happen?!" 

"I had my eyes closed and I walked into the wall!" 

"Why were you were walking around the lobby with your eyes closed?!?!" 

"I thought H was steering me by the shoulders, but she steered me into the WALL!" 

"How did that happen? Did she do it on purpose, or was it an accident, or what?" 

"She had HER eyes closed, too!" 

 Oh. Kay. Then. 

Multiply that scenario by, like, 70 and you've got my week. (And perhaps she *does* have something wrong with her, because that just ain't right. I KEEEEED, I keeeed....) 

As for Peanut, after much discussion with all of the various highly-trained personnel in his life, we have started him on an ADHD medication. So far, so good - not a dramatic difference, but it definitely lessens the "pinballing around the room" behavior. He's only been taking it for a few days, so we'll see if it helps his at-school behavior. His finger is healing nicely, although we have to work on his tendency to hold it out away from the other fingers as he uses his hand, inadvertently giving the finger to everyone in view. And don't even get me started on the campaign I am waging to get him to stop referring to a certain Looney Tunes character as "Yo, Semite Sam." 

Wish me luck - I'm hoping for a "Swear-Word-&-Bloodshed Free" afternoon.

Labels: blerg., kids, Peanut, Pepper, total randomness