April ups and downs

I pulled a fast one on Caleb this year for April Fools' Day. I put his cereal in the freezer for a frozen breakfast surprise. He LOVED it. He then completely tricked me by pretending to call my parents to tell them about the joke. I came running out of the kitchen to see him with the phone to his ear saying 'Oh Greg, you won't believe what mom did...'. I thought he had woken them up at 7 am, so I wasn't really impressed, but his immediate smile told me I had been fooled! 

April got off to a great start. Alan was home, we had some nice weather, the crocuses were blooming, I've been working on some really interesting projects at work....Things were going great. And then the dreaded flu virus hit - and Odin was the one on the receiving end of it. He had every flu and cold symptom you can name, so we kept him home for a few days and I thought he was recovering until Saturday night came around. It was very likely the worst night of parenting I've had to date. From 7 pm until 5 am Odie alternated from crying to nursing to half sleeping in 20 minute intervals. I didn't sleep for more than 5 minutes all night long. Finally at 5 am, he fell soundly asleep and didn't wake until 8. When he finally did come around he seemed totally normal - he awoke with a smile and a happy 'hi!'. I was a bit dumbfounded - did he actually have no memory of what we had just gone through? He wanted to eat breakfast - his first good meal in several days. Once I sat down beside him, I saw the dried ooze down the side of his face and I finally understood what had gone on. His eardrum had ruptured in the night. He was in very obvious pain until the rupture, which must have happened right around 5 am when he finally felt some relief and was able to sleep. Poor, poor little fella. He is now on antibiotics and is truly back to his usual happy squealing little self. It was quite an ordeal, and I'm very thankful to have it behind us.

Caleb has been amazing through Odie's illness. Alan was away through the worst of it, so unfortunately Caleb was left to occupy himself a lot over the past few days. I was feeling high levels of parental guilt at times, but my wonderful and amazingly mature 6 year old handled it like a champ. He didn't complain or ask for anything at all. He was genuinely concerned about his brother and offered to help out anyway he could. He even told me that he would put himself to sleep and I didn't even need to read him books on the night when Odie was in especially bad shape. When we finally went to the doctor after the eardrum had ruptured, Caleb (on his own accord) packed a book bag full of toys to keep Odin busy. I was very appreciative and very impressed. I later told him how proud I was of him for being able to put other people's feelings ahead of his own, and I gifted him with a 20$ bill to take to the school book fair and spend however he chose (he bought a Spy Kit, which is pretty awesome if I do say so myself!). I feel so lucky to be the mother of such wonderful little boys. They fill my heart with love, joy and gratefulness everyday, even on the hardest and most exhausting days.

They also can make me laugh like no other. Caleb had an amazing quote this week after I had praised him for being so darned great. He said "Mom, I just love being your side dish." He meant sidekick. I burst out laughing and hugged him tight. My trusty side dish. So grown up but still such a little boy. It's a wonderful stage in our lives and I wouldn't change a thing.

Caleb set up this family portrait

The greatest side dish of all time

My little loves. My big love gets home on Monday.