J wakes up at 10:30 (very late for her, first clue something might be wrong). She almost immediately proceeds to vomit. Great start to the day. She lays on the couch all morning begging for milk, but mostly just watching Wiggles and acting very lethargic.
A is better, thanks to C, but A2 is now coughing very hard. I don't think I'd better try the Mucinex on him.
At 1:00, I'm due for a doctor's appointment, (just a regular checkup) not my favorite activity. The doctor decides blood is needed. That is definitely not my favorite activity.
At 2:15, I'm home again with 3 sick and cranky children. So far my day is not going very well.
At 4:50, the kids are all finally sleeping, (very soundly, I might add) so I think I'll spend some peaceful minutes enjoying the sound of the nice thunderstorm while curled up in my favorite chair with a glass of oj and the new IKEA catalog....
At 4:56, the weather radio goes off. The thunderstorm warning has suddenly and inexplicably turned into a tornado warning for the entire county. They don't say where in the county. The sirens are going off. I've lived in tornado alley all my life, so I'm well-prepared, cool, collected, and I know exactly what to do...right?
WRONG!!
FLIP-OUT!!
I'm home alone with three sick and sleeping children whom I don't want to wake up, but now I have to because there's an unknown tornado someplace nearby, and even though it may already be past us, I don't know where it is, so I have to be on the safe side. I start chucking stuff out of the closet as fast as I can, building a huge mountain in the middle of the hallway (unfortunately between me and A2's room). Then I throw open the girls' door and yell at them to grab their pillows and get in the closet. They stand in the middle of their beds crying and looking at me like I've lost my mind. I have to carry them to the closet. Then I have to climb the hallway mountain to get A2 from his crib where he is screaming since all the commotion woke him up. Next, I have to climb back over the mountain carrying A2. This day is not improving.
Now we are all in the closet, and the girls start to fight over who is in who's space. (I really thought it would be a few more years before that started.) And I have absolutely no idea how long we should stay there and no way to tell when the warning is over. No phone service either. And how on earth do you explain a tornado warning to a 2-year-old? "Listen, Honey, the wind is blowing very hard outside, and if it gets inside, it might hurt us, so we have to hide in the closet." (OK, I know that's not very intellectual, but it was all I could think of at the time. And I didn't want them having nightmares about the house blowing down or something, so I purposely left that out.)
Finally, I manage to get hold of my parents who assure me that the worst of the storm is past me, and it's probably safe to get out of the closet. Now for the task of dismantling the mountain. (In all reality, that became Joe's job when he got home.)
Meanwhile, Joe wasn't able to leave work on time (go figure) and had to come home a little slower than usual because of downed power lines, flood-prone roads, and J's desperate craving for applesauce (which, of course, we were out of).
Finally, at about 10:00, everyone is fed, changed, cleaned up, medicated, and ready for bed. During family devotions, A prays the following prayer (unprompted), which I will translate from toddlerish into the Common Tongue:
"Thank you, God for my breakfast and for E and A (Rico's kids) and Mommy, and Papi and A2 and J and me. Please help them feel better and please help me feel better. And thank you for my breakfast. Amen."
That makes the entire day worth it.
4 comments:
Maybe a tornado drill would be a fun afternoon activity...
(Try not explaining the "tornado" at all, just conditioning them to react to the word. "Tornado Siren" means we get in the closet with our pillows. If the weather radio says "Tornado", we get in the closet with our pillows. If mommy or papi says "There's a Tornado", we get in the closet with our pillows.)
i tried to call and see if you were ok...i guess that's why you didn't answer your phone. i thought you had been evacuated because of the gas leak on 40th street...then we found out about the tornado...AFTER we had driven all the way to church. fun! i'm praying for you, i love you!
Thanks to both of you.
Dad & I were wondering the same thing as lazy phil. Maybe you should make a game of going to the closet in times when there is no tornado warning. Maybe once every 2 weeks or so.
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