Saturday, March 19, 2011

I'm the Best Mom Ever! (until I'm not)

Husband had two teeth pulled yesterday and three cavities filled. He hasn't been all that thrilled about going to the dentist, needless to say, so to add insult to tooth-pulling injury, he managed to have a reaction to the 2 mg dose of amoxicillin his doctor prescribed to be taken an hour before the extraction. By the time I came home, he was beet red all over and felt awful. Even after the pain killers kicked in and his jaw wasn't aching so badly, he suffered from massive chills and bad nausea. Today, he's still a deep shade of red and is starting to itch everywhere. It's not as bad as the last time he had a drug reaction, but we thought he was allergic to the sulpha drug he was taking. He's never had a reaction to a penicillin before.

Well, he's had worse, I guess. At least there's that. The last time he had a reaction, he itched constantly and intensely all over for an entire week after the horrific rash faded. It nearly drove him crazy. This time it's annoying but not inducing near-insanity. There was no rash, and his jaw's feeling pretty good.

Is it bad that I am glad I am well and can take care of him instead of feeling sympathetically ill? If I could take the pain and itching for a while, I sure would, but I guess it's okay to be glad that I'm feeling just fine. Someone has to feed the three-year-old, after all, and yell at the kids (again) to get their chores and dishes done.

Husband is actually better at jollying the kids into cheerful work than I am. I come down like a drill sergeant, especially when I've asked them and asked them to get their stuff done and they can't seem to find the time in their busy schedules of looking for funny YouTube videos. I start barking out orders when it's painfully apparent that me being nice is me being ignored, and they immediately get that hurt look on their faces like I am being both unreasonable and unfair. "You're mean, Mom," they say, and I mutter, "Yeah, I'm mean because I don't want you living in filth." They don't hear me, and if they did, they probably wouldn't appreciate my scathing wit and spot-on accuracy.

For the record, I'm also the Best Mom Ever! It just depends on the circumstances.

Other news:
Sian has had two triumphs lately. First, her short story won first place for fiction and a guaranteed place in her school's literary magazine. Second, she placed second in the school talent show. She played her own version of Suzanne Ciani's "Butterflies" on the piano.

I didn't mention to my children the fact that the theater company that put on "Annie" is having auditions for their next production, "The King and I." There are children's parts, but I just couldn't fathom the idea of all those hours of rehearsal again. I was tempted for about five minutes to try out myself for some part in the chorus or something, but logic soon set in. I got over that little bit of theatrical desire pretty quickly.

I'm off to the grocery store for chicken noodle soup and gummy worms. Husband decided he wants soup and ginger ale for dinner, and I'll get gummy worms just because. I bet I'll be The Best Mom Ever! when I get home. At least the house is somewhat tidier.

No comments: