waiting with children

I thought today had been rather a long and tiring day, and then I read my sister-in-law's blog. Pole sana Tia! as they say here.

Our day started at 5 with a very sad and sorrowful Kitty creeping into our room, all the pain relief having worn off since the 9pm waking. Could have been worse I suppose. I was required to snuggle in bed, wipe tears and invent a new story about Esmerelda while the pain relief started to take hold, and then managed to sneak off back to bed. And then the Mancub woke. Somehow, despite having been lifted to the toilet and changed out of a soggy nappy at 9pm he had managed to sog through the new nappy and his jimjams. After a change he was wide awake and so we were serenaded every 10 mins or so for the next hour with "I got a 'notty bit" (read, please bring a tissue), "I tirsty", "Can I wake up wet?" (well, you already have, but what you really need to do is practice your pronunciation of the letter y). Finally at about 6 we gave in and he and Kitty both came into our bed to 'lie still and quiet', which somehow translates into small person language as 'climb heavily over both parents, sit up and argue vociferously as to who has the right to a certain square inch of mattress, climb over parents again to fetch a tissue and insist on then giving used tissue to parent and continue insisting loudly until a reaction is achieved'

Getting up seemed like the relaxing option at that point.

The morning was demanding. Kitty seemed to be improving and was happy to be at home doing yet more Christmas crafts etc. Unfortunately she wanted me to help/do everything, while the Mancub, definitely aware that Kitty has been getting more cuddles and attention that usual, insisted that I play with him every 15 seconds. We did play, a LOT, but clearly toilet breaks, helping Kitty breaks, sitting down for a coffee etc were not part of his game plan and met with repeated strains of " 'ave u FINISHED wet??" I think he may have taken more notice of the reading about the persistent widow at church than we gave him credit for....

Anyway, bring on lunchtime, swifly followed by nap time please. Kitty has napped for the last few days, very unusual. It was worrying, but really rather pleasant. Today she didn't seem so sleepy, so I delayed her rest time for a bit while I made bread and read her a story. Just as I put her down for a rest the Mancub decided to have a dream about going to the toilet and woke up in a wet bed.... By the time he and the bed were changed he was wide awake, and Kitty had had quite enough of resting, so that elusive rest time for Mama didn't happen today. (Query: am I the only mother whose imagination and creative genious is largely used to invent games that involve lying on the sofa with my eyes shut?!)

Before I knew it it was time for our doctors appointment at the hospital - both kids as Mr B had noticed interesting signs of the Mancub possibly having some lovely intestinal parasite. Great to get appointments back to back.... except that it meant taking both of them at once. We started off quite quickly - getting the attention of a receptionist straight away, reistering the Mancub and getting two files within 10 minutes. Paying (done before the appointment) took the usual 15 mins or so. Then we only had to wait 5 mins to see the doc. Good news - Kitty does indeed seem to be improving so we'll hold off on the antibiotics unless she gets worse again. Interesting news, the Mancub has giardia. Apparently very common, not dangerous and treatable. Given his lifestyle, worms also a possibility so we'll treat for those too (several of my friends here regularly worm themselves and the whole family as a routine event).

So far so good. The Mancub, when I reassure him no needles are involved, is tense but compliant. He does decide he needs the toilet halfay through the consultation but obligingly manages to hold off. The doc, a complete star, also responds positively to my pleading "actually there's some medicine I need too but I really can't face trying to organise and get through another appointment today" and adds my medication onto Kitty's prescription for paracetamol.

So, that, with transport to the hospital, was probably just over an hour. Not bad. The next hour we spend waiting. First we push slowly through the crowd wait in line for 10 mins at the hospital pharmacy to present our prescription. Next we wait for 20 mins until that prescription is ready. Then we 'wait in line' for 20 mins at the cash desk to pay for our prescription. Then we fight back through the crowd for another 10 minutes to present our receipt and actually collect the prescription.

Throughout most of this the Mancub is either sitting defiantly on the floor (I have asked him to stand or sit on a chair), touching everything and then sucking his fingers, telling me every minute 'I want my medicine NOW' (keen at least) and 'it takin for AAAAGES' and finally resorting to removing his shoes and dissappearing round various corners. Kitty at least, though clinging to my t-shirt, was quiet. This turned out to be because the latest meds had worn off and she was fast developing a fever again. Next time I think I'll take the kids home first and come back for the medicines....

One very positive aspect of it all, not to be discounted, is that our combined total of 5 different medications taking up 3 paper bags came to a total of about £3.

Anyway, finally home to bath, food, cuddles and bed. And then settling to decide what to do with the evening when the power decides to go off and our big torch decides it hasn't been charged much lately. Ah well. It came back on as soon as we had definitely given up doing anything remotely productive.

And so to bed methinks. Let's hope it's a nice long night.