Weekend Insanity

Someone once said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results each time. Well, if that is true then I must be well on my way to the happy place with the white padded walls. It's the weekend and once again the loving husband is out of town. Just when I thought the whole go out and work at (insert name of ethanol plant here) was over, he is once again pulling weekend duty. Believe it or not this was supposed to be one of his vacation days he needed to take off before all unused time was to expire. The hunting trip came up and then the weekend duty popped up and the next thing I know I'm doing double weekend single parent duty. I tried to convince hubby to take Thursday off but he already had a plant trip planned so no go on that idea. I was hoping he would be able to see Carolyn's fall program at school. I had to pick Matthew up from his Speech/OT and get there late but we got there in time to see the last three songs. Carolyn looked so cute standing up in front with her little turkey hat on sideways singing so sweetly. Afterwards we got to enjoy punch and snacks. The teachers and aids made some wonderful bars and cookies for us to enjoy. The ECH program only does one concert per year and this year it was fall. It was a little bittersweet sitting there watching Carolyn knowing this will be the last preschool program I will be attending..at least for a while. When we got home Andrew was ready for a nap and Matthew decided to lay down too. I didn't think anything of it until an hour later when Matthew woke up crying and whining that his ear really really hurt. I attempted to make a doctor appointment but at a quarter after four the odds of getting one are slim to none so I had to tell the now crying and in pain child that he needed to wait until 5 to see a doctor. Hubby was still in the great state of Iowa and had not left to come home so I decided that making the poor kid wait until after 7 when he got home was rather cruel so I fed the kids and loaded them up for a trip to our favorite place..Urgent Care. Yes, I really love taking all the kids with me. We have so much fun in that tiny little examination room. The ear was infected but not as bad as last time. There was a bunch of gunk in it so the nurse had to wash it out before the doctor could really get a good look at the eardrum. Matthew did better than I would have. I got the prescription and headed back home. We decided to do Tae Kwan Do class since Matthew had his antibiotics and enough Mortin to make him feel normal. Besides it was pop and chip night and he did not want to miss that. Pop and chip night is something we do on Thursdays. We go to one of the gas stations that has penny per ounce pop and we get the kids some non-caffeinated sugar along with a bag of chips to nibble on while we drive home. Yes, I'm such a good parent, Brittney Spears would be proud of me. My plan this morning was to get Matthew off to school and go to my MOPS meeting. Today was our fundraiser which was a silent auction. There was a lot of good stuff to bid on and because this was open to the public there were going to be former members showing up along with current members so lots of socialization. Unfortunately, Matthew was again up during the wee hours of the morning complaining about his ear. By the time he was supposed to get up and get ready for school he was a sobbing whining mess. I'm not trying to be mean, the poor kid was alternating between sobbing and whining about his ear hurting and wanting to sleep in my bed because that would make him happy. I medicated him and sent him to his own bed and called transportation and the school. I crawled back to bed and attempted to get another hour of sleep in before starting the day. Needless to say there was no MOPS for me. When Matthew woke back up around 10 he started crying again when I told him that he missed school and could not go. He calmed down when I told him that Kari his therapist would be coming over later that afternoon. The extra sleep did help but it was pretty obvious that Matthew did not feel very well today. He kept wanting to lay down for naps. He made it through an hour and a half of his therapy time before wanting to lay down. Of course he sobbed as Kari was leaving because we didn't play the marble game. I decided to do pizza for supper--hey it's Friday what else is there to eat?? I did Papa Murphy's so that meant a car ride. Domino's left town a few months back so unless I want Pizza Ranch or Casey's pizza I gotta go to Sioux Falls. I decided to get a heating pad for Matthew's ear so we picked up our pizza and then stopped by Lewis Drug for the heating pad.. We got home and I set the heating pad up for Matthew. I think it worked because he stopped complaining so much about the pain and was able to go downstairs to watch TV. On the TV note, I think Carolyn has been watching one too many episodes of Law and Order. Earlier in the evening when I was getting the boys ready and loaded into the van for our pizza run Carolyn had gone AWOL. I found her in my room sitting on the bed paper spread out and the box of markers I had put up on top of the dresser cap less and strewn all over the sheets. Picasso would be proud. As I shooed her out of my room I gave her the obligatory swat on the bottom to remind her that markers are not to be used on mommy's bed. She of course starts crying and yelling at me that the police were going to come over and take me away to jail. I bit my lip to keep from laughing and waked away. Please note that no 4 year old girls were harmed in the making of this story. I also made yet another Carolyn observation later in the evening after Matthew had gone to bed. Carolyn will play with Andrew but only after dark and when she is supposed to be in her room sleeping. The two of them played happily together for over an hour. There was no hitting or pushing or shoving. She still took the lead and directed him to where he was supposed to sit and what toys to play with but compared to the usual manner of "play" between them this was good. Maybe they will get along with each other after all. Oh wait, I think I see the guys with the jacket headed my way...