She WAS OK

So Mas has had this cough for ... a really long time.

It would get better then it started to get worse again. But mostly it bothers her at night. Now that it's worse again, it's bothering all of us at night.

I would lay there in the middle of the night, telling myself, "OK, you don't have to get up and get her cough medicine if she doesn't cough again before you go to sleep."

Then evitably, she'd cough and I'd haul myself out of bed and fetch the medicine.

We ran out of the melty strip kind that she likes and even the thick, bad-tasting syrup kind of cough medicine, so I found myself deliriously shuffling around Wal-Mart at 10:30 p.m. last night after band practice scooping impulse items into my hand cart.

Just an aside, Wal-Mart at 10:30 p.m. on a Wednesday evening is a strange place. I was shocked by the number of people who have their babies and toddlers strapped into a cart as they shopped for toilet paper and milk.

But there we two adorable teenaged boys there with identical wispy haircuts that poked out from their matching little hats. I wondered if they really wanted to be dressed and coiffed alike or if it just happened. They looked like a pair of suburban paper dolls dressed up to look dangerous.

Today, I decided enough was enough and I called the doctor. I took Mar in around lunchtime. He guessed that she probably has a sinus infection and perscribed antibiotics. While we were talking Margaret got bored and began turning in slow circles next to my chair. She closed her eyes and promptly smacked her noggin on the door.

While she was in fine spirits when I brought her to the doctor's office — even sitting still for the machine to take her blood pressure — the smack on the head took the wind out of her sails.

She and I had talked on the drive over about her getting a flu shot, but once she planted a goose egg on her head, there was no way she was going to consent. The idea of holding my rather strong 6-year-old down while the doctor (or more likely the nurse) gave her an injection was in no way appealing considering that I've been suffering from sleep deprivation and a fair dose of stress. So I decided that if she was to get a flu shot, Bill could take her.

Yeah, mother of the year, I am not.