Illness and Homecoming (Throw up and dancing? Probably, it occurs to me now, these topics should have not been in the same post. :))

Mike and I have developed a pretty good system when it comes to dealing with children throwing up at night. I tend to the business of washing the little sick person (removing offending food chunks from hair, etc. as they cry over their unlucky lot . . .  and over being stuck in a tub and having buckets of water poured on their head in the middle of the night); and Mike busies himself with changing bedding, starting a load of wash, finding new sheets and a new blanket that, hopefully, will be acceptable to the child whose special blanket is now washing.

Still, efficient as our system has become, babies throwing up is always for me one of those things where my mind forgets to just deal with the present and, instead, for a moment anyway, catapults itself forward in horror over the thought of just how many episodes of a similar nature I will yet pass through. So many little people with bouts of illness still ahead. . . .

But, that panic only lasts for a bit, and then it is back to dealing with the present alone. (The future will be dealt with as it arrives. I know. I know.) And, in the meantime, Mette, the offender from the other night, seems well enough again. And Jesse, who was in misery with an awful ear infection for days (and nights) is finally back at school. And today, Goldie gets braces!

In other news, Abe and Daisy both went to their high school homecoming dance this past weekend. Abe asked me to do the pictures for their group. And while, as a general rule, I avoid doing official pictures for people as much as possible, it is such a fun thing to get to see Abe and his friends and the girls they interact with all laughing and talking and having fun. Particularly when they are all dressed up and on dates – there is an excitement in the air that I love watching. (The parents of one of the boys in the group hosted a dinner for the group in their backyard after I took the pictures. They’d hung up floating lights and put little lanterns in their small pond, and Abe stuck a speaker in the bushes playing classical music. The mom [who hosted] told me how one of the girls commented that she felt like she was in a movie.)

I didn’t get to take Daisy’s pictures (as it was a boy’s choice dance and so she wasn’t in charge of arranging things). So I hope to see some of those soon. But it was both her first date and her first dance. And I don’t think it could have been more perfect. She went with a boy who is just a good friend and so someone she feels completely comfortable with. She seemed to have a great time during all the activities that makeup high school dances these days (day date, pictures, dinner, dance, and sometimes games, etc. afterwards! goodness!). I was so happy we found a dress she loved (and on clearance!). And I am also grateful she has such fun friends who, the minute she was asked to the dance, began planning how they would do her make-up and hair. I was impressed with what a great job they did!