The kiddo is in bed, the dishes are done, the lunches are packed.  I am spent.  I’ll confess I’m gnawing on a frozen leftover Halloween Snickers bar that I just found at the bottom of the freezer. It’s been a heck of a day, with a super grand finale.

Yesterday afternoon I got the call that M’s running nose seemed to have turned into pink eye.  Even though she had green goopy eyes, her spirits were still good and she was a champ at the walk in clinic.  Her regular doctor couldn’t get her in until mid-morning this morning, meaning she would not be on antibiotics for 24 hours by Thursday morning and I’d be taking two days off.  There’s something about being forced to take one of your 15 days off a year, even if it is to hang with your pride and joy.  So, the walk in clinic doctor reminded me of Charlie Sheen during his winning days.  Hey baby, stop crying, I’m just going to stick this thing in your ear and see if there are any bunnies in there.  So verdict was ear infection and either pink eye, or the nasty stuff in her nose coming out of her eyes (yeah, that happens).  We had to hit up two pharmacies to get eye drops and an antibiotic. But we got them started last night, so she can go back to daycare tomorrow.  She was a bear in the tub last night, refusing to sit down.  I lost my cool and shouted.  She shouted back, over and over and over again, DADDY SAID SIT DOWN!  Horrible.

Even though it wasn’t my choice to take the day, I was still going to make the most of it.  I would hang with my girl, and disconnect – no Facebook, Instagram, Email, etc.  I would unplug.  That lasted about an hour.  We’d go for a walk, heck, maybe I’d even jog, yeah right.  We stayed in our pjs all day. We (I) baked cookies – Almond Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies from Whole Food Kitchen.

She resisted every diaper change and at one point I had her upside down by one leg wiping the poop off her while she screamed for Daddy to save her (he was at work).  We had a flooring guy come over and pretty much refuse to give us an estimate unless we committed to an install date.  I pretty much had to ask him to leave.  But, mixed in with all that were lots of hugs and kisses (and hopefully not pink eye sharing).  It’s a lot of work raising a kid, and I’m only doing it 5 nights and 2 days a week.  I’ve got to make it a priority to get to some of the discipline reading that I’ve been avoiding.  It’s getting rough over here – a war of the wills and I might be losing.  It’s hard to discipline someone when they are giggling in your face.

So, the grand finale to a difficult (but not horrible) day? She locked herself in our bedroom right before bathtime/bedtime.  I tried to find something to stick in that hole that unlocks the lock, but could seem to find anything the right size.  I decided to remove the doorknob and certainly the lock would just fall out.  Nope.  I called our handy neighbor, no answer.  I did NOT want to call the police.  She’s crying the whole time, but I at least felt a little bit better when the knob was off and I could see she was upset, but ok.  I knocked on the neighbors door, he came over and after a few minutes was able to break the lock without any real damage to the door.  We’ll need to get a new knob, but who cares.  We all tried to relax with a cookie or two.  Then my neighbor’s wife came over and she was really upset that she hadn’t been able to find him for the last ten minutes. What a night!   I gave my girl lots of snuggles and kisses at bedtime tonight.  I thanked her for being patient with me, even when I wasn’t with her.  We’re all safe and sound now and I can hardly wait to shut my eyes.

New recipes since last post: Sweet Potato Fries with Cranberry Dipping Sauce, Strawberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies and Red Lentil Dahl.