I don’t know what it is with WordPress and pictures.  The preview looks fine, then when I go to post, nadda.  Here’s the post hopefully with a picture.

Nothing says misery quite like a child running a fever. 

If you’d asked me yesterday that James would be like this today, I’d have thought it funny because he was doing great.  Maybe a little too great.  Last night we attended our elementary school’s annual display of art projects (The Art Walk).  There were lots of activities, a recital by the third grade, and lots of kid art, and ice cream. We’d been hearing about the Art Walk for weeks; James was more excited about the Walk than the upcoming trip to the zoo.

Last night he flitted from exhibit to exhibit like a humming-bird, breathlessly pointing out his own creations and  those of his friends.  When he tired of art, he moved on to the craft stations, and then raced his friends in the courtyard.  He hopped, and danced and wiggled with enviable energy, he was so happy! 

But by the time we got into the car, James was losing steam.  He was upset because he was hungry and the car was not taking us to dinner nearly fast enough to satisfy his aching tummy.  The sniveling escalated into a nuclear tantrum the likes of which we’ve not seen since he was a baby.  There were hysterical  floods of tears, hyperventilation, and oh the flailing of limbs.  It went on and on and on…..and on!   

We should have known that something was brewing, because hysterics haven’t been a part of his DNA for a very long time.  When he crawled into bed with us this morning, he was shivering but so hot that I instantly started sweating.  His temp was at 103 and he slept restlessly from about 4:00 to 6:30am. 

James is feeling so crummy that he actually turned off Skylanders without any encouragement, which never happens unless under severest threat of penalties.  He stayed awake long enough to slump slowly to his side and burrow deeper under the covers.  He’s now napping, again an activity that has been limited to the adult members of this household for quite a while.  Every now and then I can hear him shift and make an unhappy noise in his sleep.  I hope he feels better soon, poor guy.

Critter Cam Update 

No critter sitings to report unless you include humans.  We have lots of pictures of us coming and going, many of them are close-ups of my chest as I lean in to pull the SD card out of the camera – Tim loves those.  So far we’ve only successfully taken one photo in the dead of night, and it has to be of a moth fluttering into the lens, or a tiny alien.  An alien would be far more exciting.

At least we didn’t capture a hoard of ravenous raccoons, the concept of which is making me far more twitchy than that of a bear.  Maybe it is the dexterous little finger/paws, or the way the raccoons have stared me so calmly down as if thinking “Me scared of you?  Oh honey, I scare bears.  Now kindly move the small feline so me and the brood can eat”

Maybe tonight will solve the mystery of who has been messing with our garbage.

We cleaned up quickly and Tim bunjeed and strapped the lid down tightly.  Problem solved right? 

The next morning we woke up, walked confidently to the car but something was missing.  The can was nowhere in sight, poof, vanished.  Tim and I gave each other funny looks, both silently wondering if the other had moved the can into the garage to be safe.  But, no it was about 10 feet behind the car, on its side.  At first we thought the lid had been torn off, but whatever had been at it had pulled a large bag out of a small crack between the lid and the body of the can.  There were scuff marks in the garden where something had tried to get traction to overcome the straps.  We couldn’t see any prints though.  The can was so packed with garbage and so heavy that we are thinking that whatever it was, it was strong and big.

A friend of mine loaned us a motion activated, infra-red digital camera so that we can try to capture our nightly visitor in the act.  Who knows what we’ll find, and I’m not sure that I’m going to be happy getting an answer either way.  A bear would be scary,a cougar pretty frightening too.  But a pack of raccoons or coyotes large enough to pull over and drag a super heavy garbage can is just a tad too organized and motivated. 

Regardless, James’s somewhat hesitant trips back and forth to the shop with me watching from the deck are over.  He’s going to have a parent attached to him when he is outside, for a while like it or not.

We’ll check the camera in the morning!

I hope that everyone out there who cares for others, new moms, experienced moms, grandmothers, parents of fuzzy four-pawed babies, had a wonderful day yesterday. I did and thanks to Tim and James for making it special.

Coffee during Mother’s Day breakfast with my boys.

Bless the crazy scary smart people who wrote the code capable of finding an answer to  “Who does the music for that web commercial?”  The ad is “A More Beautiful Web”, the artist Alex Clare and the song is called “Too Close”.  Clare’s soulful voice mixes with jazzy melodies and club heavy beats, that had my inner 20 year-old hopping up and down.

I may not be shaking it in a beaded bra on top of a speaker at Graceland up in Vancouver BC anymore but listening to this album made me regret that I didn’t get to. I might have danced myself right off the speaker and into a wheelchair.

I downloaded Clare’s album “The Lateness of the Hour” from Zune (no iTunes for this girl) and played it for James on the way to Aikido this morning.  He couldn’t shake his booty, booster seats are such a buzzkill, but he pumped his hands in the air above his head to show me the rise and fall of the melody and nodded along to the beat. Lady Gaga has some company on James’s playlist.

1. While waiting for DVD previews to end, he asked repeatedly when “Loosefoot” was going to start. Note: the Footloose re-boot isn’t nearly as good as the original. nobody can hold a candle to Kevin Bacon’s take on small-town teen angst.

2. We celebrated Gregg’s birthday with family. The gathering was quite large, so James and Gregg’s nephew wound up at ‘the kids’ table. James came down with a serious case of hero-worship. They had quite a long discussion on many topics like addition and subtraction, the ABCs, and the value of practice and homework. James asked Scott, a sophomore in college majoring in bio-nanotechnology and physics, to ask his mother to work with me on setting up a play date. James still reminds me occasionally about this.

3. Scott and James also discussed pets. Scott asked James if we had a dog. James answered, “yes but he died.” Scott said that was sad and asked what happened, James answered, “my parents burned him.” Scott was rather surprised, and while trying to come up with a response, James matter-of-factly assured him that “we had the ashes somewhere.”

James tells us and other people crazy things with the quiet confidence that comes from being an imaginative six-year-old.  But,  he’s also getting so grown up. He’s on the cusp of being able to read, and is doing basic addition and subtraction.  He thinks Lady Gaga is wonderful and sings the hook from “Born this Way” in the car. He’s still afraid of the dark, and frequently climbs into bed with us at night, but he is within 2 feet of being as tall as I am.

Rest in peace Lulu.

Thursdays are usually happy days.  They are, after all, the lane leading to the gate that is Friday which, opens up to the lovely front yard of Saturday.  But not today.

A friend is very ill. We worked together for years.  Whenever I spoke to her one the phone or saw her, she was so funny, and upbeat even when she had reasons not to be.  Hanging out with her at our company’s annual sales conferences was a blast – there are very few people who I’d want to want to dance through downtown Atlanta in the dead of night with.  I have enormous respect for her spirit and tenacity.

She is tough; she had to be, working where we do can crush some, but not her.  Miraculously, she survived a major health crisis few years ago and bounced back like the bionic woman – it was amazing.  This time it isn’t looking very hopeful, the mail from her sister was very grim.  The choices that her family faces this week are the kind that no one ever wants to make especially for someone so young.  The candle is for her and the rain that has been falling heavily all week probably is too.

Case in point – they match right down to their jeans.

Both my boys were so very tired this morning.  Tim is resting his chin on James’s head and just look at the hands.  Very sweet together those two.

Last night I did not find him even remotely in the position that I left him in. 

He sleeps like a rock, a rolling stone one might say.