Sick, sicker, and sickest

Many of my small family are sick.  Eli is the worst, but Harriet is the most dramatic.  I have some sort of sinus something or other so my head hurts and I can't breathe, but I haven't had the fever.  Eli had the highest fever and he kept saying that his head hurt.  I've been giving him tylenol and he's slept for most of the past two days.

Harriet also had a fever, but not as hot as Eli.  She can't complain about her head so I don't know how that feels, but her body is reacting to whatever is going on by producing a red rash--mostly around her neck, ankles, and on her hands, but there are bumps all over her.

Tonight, Eli wandered over to Harriet and really looked at her for the first time today (he's mostly been asleep or crying).  He stared at her for a few minutes then he said, "Mom, Harriet has bumps on her."

Me: "I know, buddy, it's because she is sick."

Eli thought about that, then went over to Harriet and patted her arm, "I'm sorry you have red bumps, Harriet."  Then he kissed her cheek.  Awww.  That boy is so sweet with Harriet.


In other news, Timothy and I tried to pull ourselves together tonight to spend at least a few happy minutes with the non-sick children (Timothy also doesn't feel 100%).  Miriam told us that we were grandparents to her (Lisa Parker) and Richard Parker (Cowen), famous runners about to race in a very important race.  We agreed to watch the race.  Emeline also watched as she was their mom (as usual) and the dad died.  Tragic.

I watched the warm-ups--it was the best part of the race game.  They did the crab walk and ran backwards, and tried to do jumping jacks with various degrees of coordination.  Awesome.  For the big event the girls ran separately from the boys, so Timothy got his watch so he could time the races.  Timothy was also told to announce the races.  That was pretty fun too--Richard Parker is trying to beat a 30 year world record in tonight's Parker races (etc.).

Cowen, I mean Richard Parker, ran first--to the fire hydrant at the Riggs's house and back.  1:12 seconds.  Then Lisa Parker ran--1:12.  When we said they got the exact same time Miriam said, "Well, we are twins."  So Timothy looked at me and said, "I guess it isn't that surprising when you look at it that way."  Ha ha.

Then Emeline ran.  She didn't have a name because she was just the mom, but we timed her nonetheless.  1:24.  Man, that girl is quick.  She's 2 years younger than Cowen and not too far off his time.  She also looks coordinated and athletic when she runs.  Miriam is getting a lot more coordinated and she's getting faster.  Before when we watched her run she only had one speed--dawdling, yes, even when she ran.  It never felt like she could kick it into high gear.  Now she's a lot faster.

Cowen has always been coordinated and competitive, of course.  Tonight he had his legs over the piano bench and was doing sit-ups without using his arms, hanging from the piano bench.  Tim watched for a second then said, "Tomorrow, when we're not having scriptures and prayers, I want to see how many of those you can do without stopping."  Yeah, Cowen is fun.

Emeline, though, she looks quick and she didn't look nearly as out of breath as the other two did when they crossed the finish line.  I'm excited to watch her play sports (is that wrong??).

Emeline has her first loose tooth.  She was upset about it until I reminded her of the tooth fairy.  Good ole tooth fairy.   Emeline brightened right up.  Is 5 young to get a loose tooth or normal?  I can't remember how old the older two kids were.

The computer screen is killing my head.  Goodbye.

PS Yes, there are a lot of grammar errors in this post but my head hurts too much to go back through and fix them.