Sporting events that keep score!

After getting blown out 8-1 last night, Harry's team won their game 7-5 today, and it was SO FUN TO WATCH.  I only got to watch one period because I had to take Jack to a 10:00 am basketball game so Cooper could scream directly in my face for an hour.  BUT STILL.  That one period was amazing.  I cannot even tell you how long I have been waiting for sporting events where people KEEP SCORE.  He has another game tomorrow, but this whole tournament-- fun as it is-- makes me leery of next year when he might be on a team that travels all the time.  This tournament is so fun because we can leave when the game is over and go about our business, but it's not going to be cool to have so much free time in the middle of freaking nowhere in Michigan, Minnesota or Wisconsin probably at a hotel that doesn't even have interior hallways.  And the alternative-- me home alone with all the other kids-- doesn't sound way funner.  So, maybe not a traveling team?

Jack in action:

 Jack's adorbs little team:

 Our reflection walking to the car on this lovely day that's actually not freezing.  It's 36.  No one wore coats.

Stuff and

Harry had his first hockey tournament tonight, and his team got ANNIHILATED 8-1 in their first game-- more games tomorrow and Sunday.  Harry played really well-- he plays offense, and he did a great job, but he did not score any goals.  He was super bummed about this.  But he DID get the first penalty and have to sit in the box, and he didn't know that the penalty box is actually pretty cool in hockey, and he was SUPER embarrassed.  We didn't tell him it was cool because he is SUCH an attention-seeker and he would never leave the penalty box again if he knew.

Dorothy was a NIGHTMARE at the game because she was up an hour past her bedtime which has never happened outside Disney World.  She was a tantrummy mess who ended up being carried to the car barefoot like a sack of potatoes.  When we got home she said she did not want a "buf," but it was bath time and she was covered with snot and hockey rink, so she was SOL.

I did not log into My Fitness Pal for the first time in 65 days, so I decided to eat total junk today, including Trader Joe's Pub Cheese, half a BOX of Thin Mints, and a ton of Oreos and milk.  It was lovely.  (And I DID work out).

 Just hanging out, having some screens

 This was Harry's desk today when I came into his class to volunteer.

 I fixed it.

 My Thin Mint partner

 HOCKEY MOM

 This was as close to pleasant as she got the whole game.

 PENALTY BOX

Number three's number two

My entire day when I was home which was only for a few hours so Ben is the one you should feel sorry for revolved around Cooper's bowels and their lack of movement.

He is totally off dairy from here on out until he poops again.

Our pediatrician said to give him Miralax which I hate to do, but we are giving him SO MUCH and there is no poop except a little here and there despite Cooper's obvious best efforts to keep it in.  So, I will probably be BACK at the pediatrician's office tomorrow, and we go in for an ear re-check next week and then Dorothy's 2-year visit the next week and suddenly, I am the Munchausen by proxy mom again.

The good news is, his antibiotics have wiped out all ear pain and general green snottiness and sore throat, and he is a really happy non-pooper.

And we have these poop books on their was tomorrow (probably during nap time because OF COURSE), so things should resolve themselves (probably disgustingly) soon.

I went to Trader Joe's for fiber fruit leather and mango juice today and spent $100 on total crap because I haven't been there is FOREVER.  Bonus:  Cooper will eat prunes if you tell him they're big raisins but prune juice is strictly verboten.

Giant Bloody Mary and Girl Scout cookies for dinner.

Dorothy loves Beatrix so much.  It's the cutest.

We had a lovely, low-key day today.

  But then, Dorothy took a 37-minute nap.

THIRTY-SEVEN MINUTES.

I think she hates me.

At basketball tonight, I dumped Jack;s entire huge water bottle in my purse, which was SO ANNOYING but might have helped the giant purple ink stains in the bottom of the bag wash out a little.  And none of the iPads or my phone got hurt and my library book did not get wet, which is good because our library makes you buy the book if the tiniest bit of moisture touches the pages.

 Dorothy and Cooper had some shit food and screen time while Jack played and Ben coached Harry;s team in a scrimmage against a super good team who OBLITERATED them.

 Dorothy took off her shoes and got comfortable, and I drank so much of her shake that I hd to count it on My Fitness Pal.

 After the kids went to bed, I ate Tagalongs, and Ben made himself this meaty drink.

I hope baby 37-minute-nap sleeps for the next eleven hours.

Cold and flu season, part one million

Cooper came into our room at 11 last night complaining of ear pain.  We gave him some Tylenol and he slept with Ben (SEPARATE BEDS ARE THE BEST EVER), and the worst part of the whole night was that we had to turn off Gross Pointe Blank (BEST MOVIE EVER) and switch to less inappropriate network blather.

Today was my WOH day, so I was glad that Ben was the one who had to take him to the doctor because he is super constipated and has been complaining of a tummy ache for a week, so I figured we could get that looked at, too, and I wouldn't have to deal.  Also!  Dorothy has had a fever since Saturday, so we figured she could use a check, too.

But the only appointment was at 4 tonight, and Ben needed to take Harry to hockey at 5, so guess who got to leave work early and take 3 kids to the doctor?  YUP.

(Ben has to go on the ice with Harry or captain ADHD doesn't perform well. That's the biggest intervention we make for his ADHD, by the way-- Ben is a coach of all of Harry's sports teams.  It is high maintenance but SO MUCH BETTER than any sort of medication.  The other day, I had a department meeting, and Ben had to take all the kids and couldn't skate and when he left everyone eating shitty fast food and stepped into the rink to check on Harry, he saw him doing an arabesque instead of a drill and punching 3 kids in the face,  In a 30-second window.  So.  (Hockey is a sport where punching people in the face just sort of happens sometimes, so it's not as insane or aggressive as it sounds, but when he told me that on the phone, I died laughing because SERIOUSLY.)).

Anyway, I spent an hour in a tiny room with 3 kids. During cold and flu season.  IT WAS SO FUN.  Everyone was so rowdy that after the doctor swabbed Dorothy's throat, he offered to take all the kids with him to the lab to give me a break, and none of the little traitors wanted to go.  So instead, we all hung out together until I got the results on my phone app 5 minutes before the doctor came to tell me she was negative.  But Cooper!  He definitely had a raging ear infection and the doctor said maybe strep, too, given the condition of his red spotted throat, but Coop was spared a swab since the ear infection guaranteed him some drugs.  Fun times.

Then we drove all the damn way across town to the 24-hour Walgreens by our house and even though it took almost 30 minutes in rush hour traffic and even though everyone was starving and really pissed off about it, the meds were not ready for pick up upon our arrival.  OF COURSE.

Let me just say, our PTO board meeting tonight felt like a date night.

 How we found Cooper when we got home from our meeting:

Haircuts! Finally!

 Apropos of nothing, Cooper accosted me while Ben was gone last week and said, "Mommy, I need haircut place for a haircut and a lollypop."  I promised him we would go as soon as Ben got home, but we have a ton of stuff to do on the weekend-- sports, housework, grocery shopping, House of Cards, etc-- and I didn't squeeze in a trip until Sunday afternoon just 40 minutes before Sports Clips closed.

Ironically, Cooper was the most clean cut of everyone-- the only kid who probably didn't even need a haircut.  Luckily, though, the other 2 ragamuffins wanted to go too.  HARRY WANTED A HAIRCUT.  I almost cried tears of joy, but instead, I fishtail braided my own damp hair, grabbed my car keys, and crammed everyone into the van before he could change his scraggly-mop-covered mind.

Jack told his stylist he wanted Aaron Rodgers hair, by which I think he just meant really short.

 Cooper sat completely still and terrified, like he always his when he gets a haircut.  When the stylist asked him how old he was, he flashed three fingers from under his robe and then crammed his hand back under the cover.  When she brandished her pomade and asked him if he wanted a mohawk or if he wanted it spiked up, he made eye contact with her in the mirror and mouthed "spiked up."  He is the shyest ever.

 This was only part of Harry's shorn locks.  HE HAD SO MUCH HAIR.

 Here they are after.  Harry needed a cut that could be slicked back because he is writing a report on Mike Ditka, and he has to dress like his subject for a big presentation to all of the third grade and all of their parents.  I think that was the entire impetus for is haircut need, but I don't care.  I'll take any reason!

 Without blow dry and shellacking, his hair really just looks like classic Kate Gosselin, and he is kind of attitude-y about it.  I helped him slick it back with newly purchased pomade and hairspray this morning, though, and he felt better about the whole thing.

No haircut for me, BTW.  I am back to my favorite super-sized top knot.  I feel like it offsets the size of my ass.

February: What I Read

February was a pretty not bad book month, although I read more old stuff (and not old because it's a classic but old because I missed a few years of reading and these are like almost current but not quite) than I usually like to.  I am at 33 books for the year.

11.  Confessions of a Mediocre Widow by Catherine Tidd:  You guys, this book was charming and breezy and chatty.  But I don't know.  I just didn't quite love it.

10.  What the Lady Wants by Renee Rosen:  Fascinating history of Chicago but so poorly written.

9.  Invisible Ellen by Shari Shattuck:  Adorable but completely the chickiest of chick lit.

8.  The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler:  Sweet, but no We Are Completely Beside Ourselves.

7.  The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison:  Ugh.  Really intriguing, but so, so, so pretentious.  

6.  Three Wishes by Lianne Moriarty:  Not her best but still charming.

5.  Abroad by Katie Crouch:  This was thrilling!  You should read it, I think.

4.  Cambridge by Susanna Kaysen:  Lovely and engaging, another one to put on your list.

3.  Before I Go by Colleen Oakley:  I read this in 90 minutes at the library, and I cried and cried, which was embarrassing.

2.  Citizen by Claudia Rankine:  OH MY GOD.  This one you should read.

1.  The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern:  WOW.  I love a book that creates its own world.