illness, empathy, mushrooms and points

Last week I logged 26 miles. This week I have a cold and I have skipped a cross-train workout and a 5 mile run. I'm hoping that a couple days off to let my body fight whatever is ailing me won't hurt me training too much. Surely it's better to rest when you are sick than it is to try and train through the pain.

Yesterday was a long day. I was feeling crummy and the kids were tired from a busy weekend. It was not my best parenting day and I used the TV and computer a lot more than normal just to make it to the end. At bedtime I had a chat with Drew (who seemed to be the one that pushed the hardest and resented me the most for being sick). I told him that I was sorry that I was grumpy with him and that when we are sick it's no fun to take care of other people, that I'd rather be in my bed trying to get better than getting him that drink of water that I know he can get on his own. He gave me a genuinely shocked response. He said, "Oh! I didn't know that it was hard to take care of me. I didn't know that you wanted to rest!" I really think that he didn't know that he was asking a lot of his sick mama. Today is a sure sign that he took note of what I said. He was extra sweet. He offered to make Julianna her breakfast, cleaned up his room, tired to pick out my clothes for me and offered his general assistance with whatever I needed. Whoever ends with this guy is going to be a very lucky person, indeed.

Yesterday while I was half paying attention to the kids and half trying to rest in bed, the kids went outside to play. We always talk about how Lily is going to be an artist; however, some days I'm not so sure. I would not be surprised if she ends up being an environmental biologist or something. Yesterday while I was only half paying attention she snuck across the street to he neighbors' yard and stole a pile of the mushrooms growing in their yard. Mushrooms were just too fascinating for Lily to leave alone without exploration.

One more thing. One time awhile back I was getting the kids loaded in the car to go somewhere. It's not always the most fun activity of my day. There is lots of dawdling and messing around in the car rather than sitting in seats and getting belts buckled. Anyway, one day when Lily got in her seat quickly and got her belt buckled I gave her some encouragement for everyone to hear (turns out giving one kid positive attention tends to encourage positive behavior in everybody else). I told Lily that she got the points for that day. She was really excited about getting the points and "winning." Now the kids tend to get in their seats and get buckled on the off chance that they might get the points for the day. The points mean nothing. They have no idea how many points they are getting. And the points don't lead to anything besides a congratulations from mom...but it is getting the job done for now.