With the forecast today predicting that it will hit between 101 and 107 here, and given that we live in a house with no air conditioning, life will move at a snail’s pace around here today.
Claire’s fever finally broke on Friday (until then it was pretty high, around 103.4). We saw the doctor on Tuesday afternoon; he said it wasn’t hand-foot-mouth disease because he saw no cankers in her mouth or throat. It was simply a garden-variety virus that would run its course and that I should keep her hydrated and as comfortable as possible. She says still that her throat hurts and she sounds hoarse, but she’s back to eating almost regularly and playing.
That meant my birthday and the rest of the week was fairly low-key and solitary, but this is okay. I got to hold and cuddle one of my best gifts ever. I will say, though, that if I were graded as a parent based solely on Thursday, I’d probably get a C or D. It was a rough day for us both, and I handled it with less grace than I could have.
The goal today is to stay cool and well.
I have been reading your blog for quite some time and am guessing (based on the very thoughtful and self-reflective you obviously approach and move through motherhood) that your handling things with “less grace” or what you consider a “C or D” day of parenting for you would probably be an A day for many other moms out there.
That hot with no AC?!
I spent my first couple of years practicing law in Miami driving everywhere in an un-air conditioned Datsun pickup, which is the vehicle we’d had while finishing school. I arrived everywhere pretty wilted in my suit!
Yes, apparently California builders didn’t bother with it until after the 1980s. Maybe it didn’t get as hot as often? That’s why in our house search we’ve made central A/C or at least the presence of ducting (to install later) mandatory. It’s one of the reasons we haven’t found anything too.