Rough Weekend for Phae

I’ve been mind-blogging a lot lately. Does that count for anything? Okay, I’m working on it.

On Friday, Phaedra kept feeling a bit fevered to me, and she was moody and clingy. Two of her two-year molars were starting to just barely break points through the gums. When her first two-year molar came in, she had a fever off and on.

On Saturday, I tried to put her down for a nap, but she played in her bed for almost an hour with no hope of sleep. I gave up on her. She went outside to play with Eleanor for a while. With both girls playing happily outside and Grant reading Mockingjay, my own intentions to clean house went out the window, and I sat down with a book of my own. After a little bit, Phaedra came inside complaining that she was cold. She complained of being cold all weekend, but we were never sure if she meant cold or hot or if she just enjoyed complaining. I wrapped her up in a blanket on my lap, and pretty soon, she was asleep.

There is something so amazing about having a child sleep in your arms. Babies are precious, too, but a toddler or child falling asleep in your arms is so much rarer. I feel so privileged to be the one from whom they find comfort. I feel so trusted. And there she was, so warm and comfortable and sweet. Even though it was late in the afternoon, I couldn’t wake her up right away. I was enjoying myself too much. Even now, writing about it makes me crave holding her snuggled in my lap. To hold one of my girls while they sleep is one of the best feelings in the world.

Do your kids ever have a few days where it seems like they get hurt in every possible way? I swear Phaedra gets hurt in waves, as if that first injury attracts more in the near future. Maybe she was thrown off by teething, causing her to be more accident prone. At dinner on Saturday, we were being laid-back and let Phaedra eat standing on an adult chair rather than sitting in her booster seat. She slipped and fell out of the back of the chair and the chair fell down on her legs. The chair fell slowly, so her legs were fine. It mostly scared her besides a little spot where she bit the inside of her bottom lip.

When I changed the sheets that evening, I decided it was time to take the guard rail off Eleanor’s bed. She really doesn’t need it. My only concern was that Phaedra would fall off the bed when she gets up there to play. The girls were being silly; Eleanor was playing in Phaedra’s bed while Phae was in Eleanor’s. I was watching Phae and telling her to be careful, and she was doing fine. Eleanor really wanted her daddy to see that the girls were in the wrong beds, so I went to get him. I’m sure you can predict the rest. On our way back to their room, we hear the hard thud right before Phaedra starts to scream. I went in to see her face-down on the hardwood floor. Her mouth was bleeding. She had a tear in the strand of gums connecting her top lip to her top gums. We checked her teeth; none seemed loose. Hopefully none of them will turn black.

She wasn’t finished getting hurt after that. On Sunday, we were a little late to church and had to sit at the back. We sat in folding chairs instead of the bench where we usually sit. Phaedra was not used to the folding chairs, and as soon as Grant came back from dealing with Eleanor throwing a tantrum and crying, Phaedra fell through the back of her chair. I think the whole chapel heard as her head hit the floor. Grant went right out again with another crying child.

Luckily, she seemed to be done getting hurt at that point. Hopefully we won’t have another wave hit any time soon. She’s still teething. The poor girl has it rough when her teeth decide to come in.