Reality

Holly was going to get to go to the skating rink tonight.  She's been begging to do that for weeks.

She was going to spend the night with a friend and the friend usually goes to the rink on Friday nights.  Unsupervised.  Except by the rink staff and the police officer there.

That's why I haven't let her go before.  Because it seems to me that if they feel the need to have a police officer on the property on Friday nights, then she really shouldn't go without an adult there with her.

But - the other mom called me and talked to me about it, and I said it would be okay for her to go.

But then she got sick.  And it took a long time for her fever to go down this afternoon and evening.  She's gone over to my mom's house because Julia had her own sleepover planned with 4 friends coming over.  I was having enough trouble nursing the sick one and mothering the baby and her brother.  I'm really glad my mom offered to take Holly home.

Partly I'm glad because Holly eventually threw up.  And I really hate throw up sicknesses.

And partly I'm glad because I seem to have lost my nursing bedside manner.  I'm a good nurse to a patient who is patient and pitiful and sweet and thankful.  And I'm not such a good nurse to a patient who says 'Mom!' like I'm the one who's holding a flame to her head and stuffed her noggin with goo.  When I can't really do anything but sit next to her and wipe her head with a cloth while she makes some pitiful sounds and every now and then yells at me, I don't feel like a good nurse. 

Of course, if the baby sister wasn't wandering the house putting any electrical cord she can find into her mouth and pulling cups of water off the table and in general wreaking havoc, I would probably be content to sit and soothe the sick one - until she yells at me. 

So I'm sure she's in good hands with my mom.

And I'm left to play hostess to the 6th graders.  Which seems strange because I know that when I spent the night with friends their moms never brought us popcorn and drinks.  The friend always brought the snacks out.  But then again, the friend usually brought out bags of chips and soda and I don't have any of that here.  So I made 2 batches of popcorn and then I told them what it is okay to eat - cereal, apples, pretzels.  There may be no food left for breakfast.  I'm hoping they don't go digging for snacks, because they aren't going to find anything.  And I'm afraid of what they might try to cook up.  And that's why I made the announcement about what snacks we had.  And as soon as I told them, they were suddenly hungry for apples and cereal.  Funny.  Because they'd just eaten 2 big bowls of popcorn with Parmesan cheese.

At least they're letting Alan watch TV with them.  And they started with America's Funniest Videos.