Fly!

Last Monday I woke up and didn't want to go to work.  It was more than a case of the Mondays.  I was feeling overwhelmed and just wanted a day to knock out all the Christmas-related errand running.  I am also lucky in that I have a fabulous boss and a flexible work schedule, so I even had the possibility of just working a half day from home on Monday and making up the time on Friday.  (I usually do it the other way around.)  Unfortunately, we were already booked for Friday, so I drug myself to work.

Tuesday I woke up and I still didn't want to go to work.  And I was feeling nauseous as an added bonus.  Still, I made myself go to work (I'm saving what little sick and vacation time I have to cover my time off for maternity leave, and I don't want to use them unless I really, really have to), and by 9:00 a.m. I was feeling like a functional human being.

Wednesday morning I woke up really and truly sick with a stomach bug.  I think it was my body's way of forcing me to take some time off.  The morning was rough, but once my stomach settled down, it was actually a decent day.  I hid in the bedroom and did actually work a half day, and I read most of a novel too.

But I didn't learn.  I felt run down the rest of the week, and by Sunday morning I was nice and sick again.  As I was sitting on the bathroom floor thinking I should've at least had a crazy night out that involved tequila shots to be so miserable, it occurred to me that I needed to stop.  Christmas would happen when it happened.  Santa had already confirmed his visit to our house, complete with stocking stuffers, and Ree and I had agreed on an easy coffee cake recipe for Christmas morning.  (Well, actually, we're still debating.  I want a honey bun cake with pecans and she wants a peach thing that looks like a dessert pizza.  We'll see who wins in the end.)  But I realized, do we really need anything more than Santa and breakfast pastries to have a good holiday?

So I took the day to actually enjoy the season with my kids.  Crazy, huh?  We had fun.  I looked at the newspaper ads with Ree and realized we both like shiny and sparkly things.  (Probably no big surprise there.)  Ree and I also made Christmas cards.  We didn't get too many done, but it was a fun process.  I sat with Leon and Michael while they colored pictures of Charlie Brown and Snoopy from a new Christmas coloring book.  Actually, Leon colored, and Michael talked.  All Michael ever does is talk.  I actually had a few minutes to myself, and was in the middle of looking at an ad for World Market, totally amazed that the front page featured a set of Russian Leaders Vodka Shooters, when I realized Michael had stopped with his stream of consciousness babble and was actually addressing me.

Michael: Hep!  Hep!  (That would be "Help! Help!" in regular English.)
Me: Do you need help?
Michael: Hep wall!
Me: You need help with the wall?
Michael: Reach top.
Me: You want to reach the top of the wall?

Michael then starts frantically waving his arms over his head indicating that is EXACTLY what he wants to do.  I check out the wall.  It is divider between the kitchen and dining area.  It runs floor to ceiling.  It's about four feet wide.  There is a framed picture in the middle of it.  Otherwise, it is a pretty boring wall.  There is nothing I could see of interest near the ceiling.

Me: Mikey, we can't reach the top of the wall.  It's too tall.
Michael: Wall too tall?
Me: Yeah, I'm sorry.  We just aren't big enough to reach up there.

Michael stops to think for a second.

Michael: FLY!
Me: No, sweetie.  We can't fly there.  People can't fly.  Just birds.

He spends a few seconds flapping his arms trying to fly anyway.  All the arm swinging makes him think.  Arm swinging is what he does when he tries to jump.  So he starts working on jumping to reach the top of the wall.  Unfortunately, he hasn't quite mastered the leaving the ground thing, so it's mostly a lot of grunting, arm swinging, and standing on tiptoes.  I can't help but just stare at him throughout this process.  Finally, he wanders off.  And it occurs to me that wow, I just had this conversation with a sober person.