The secret lives of kids and dogs

This week Sydney was sick with a cold. She had a few "flu" symptoms, but wasn't seriously ill. As long as she had her tylenol, cold medicine, and lots of rest, she was fine.

Howard Hall's new policy is that students with any flu-like symptoms have to be kept home for 5 days, so Syd and I had a nice week of relaxing on the couch. I think I read five books this week, and we caught up on Phinneus and Ferb and Jonas episodes. We went to the library, to the grocery store, and to drop off treats at a friend's house. Both of the girls had projects due this week, so we spent time after school each day working on those. All in all, it was fun to have Sydney hanging around, and it was a nice excuse not to have to go anywhere.

As I write, Audrey is pretending to be a puppy, sitting on the floor with Jack, sharing his dog food. Crunch, crunch. (I just substituted chocolate teddy grahams for Audrey's bowl of dog food.) Now Jack wants the teddy grahams, too. Audrey is attempting to eat out of the dog bowl by putting her face down in it like Jack does.

Earlier this morning there was a cat on our deck. Jack didn't notice it until I walked over to the window to show Audrey. Once the cat noticed us, it hopped away from Jack's empty dog bowls, but didn't leave the deck. Only after Jack started barking did the cat jump off the deck. I couldn't let Jack out quite yet because the cat was still just on the other side of the screen. Last time a squirrel did this, Jack crashed through a portion of the deck screen. Once the cat was a little further away, I opened the door and led Jack by the collar over to the real exit. I haven't fixed the other screen, but I didn't want to take the chance that he'd pick a different screen to run through. I am waiting until we move out to fix the screens because they are so fragile and would be ruined before too long.

Speaking of fragile, the new term for children who are at high-risk for contracting communicable diseases are called "Medically Fragile." If the school has a certain percentage of students out, the medically fragile students will be kept at home, but not their healthy siblings. I think the magic number for this is for 15% of students to be sick. Howard Hall only has 600-ish students, 15% isn't a large number of students.

Audrey finally told me a few days ago that she was ready to pick Dad up from his hotel. She was ready to get started on that haunted house she has plans to build with him. I reminded her that he will be ready for us after Zach's birthday. Thank goodness for birthdays; whenever she hears about Zach's birthday, she starts planning her own party.

Another thing that Audrey remembered this week was Katie. She asked this morning where our black dog is. I told her that Katie went to live with a new family. Audrey's response was that the black dog was at the hotel with Daddy. I"m hoping she doesn't remember that thought when Neil gets home. Poor little Audrey.

Audrey got a new stuffie this week: a small pink chihuahua. This stuffie is similar to "Chiwawy", her brown chihuahua stuffie. Zach thought they should get married, but Audrey insists that they will be best friends.

Sydney gave Audrey a "spa" one afternoon when she was feeling better. In an attempt to recreate the hair wash stations at the spa, Sydney moved Ainsley's chair in with it's back against the counter and the sink. She painted Audrey's nails light blue and put lotion on her. Unfortunately for Audrey, Sydney couldn't find a happy medium between the hot and cold tap water from the sink, so Audrey had her hair washed with cold tap water. That's when the crying started.

Jack's shedding has increased this last week, so I took him outside yesterday with the Furminator. It sounds high tech, but it's only a metal fur brush. Let's just say that I haven't had a chance to sweep up the fur yet, and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas out back. Imagine a walkway lined with that faux snow that's really teddy bear stuffing. I may be exagerating slightly, but it's still gross. If only we could fuel our cars off of Jack fur. I'd be a millionaire. Until then, I'll just be sweeping.

Actually, Audrey just got into the poster paints, so I'm off to clean.