It takes a Village...

...to get M to eat two chicken nuggets. 

Our house has been hit by some variation of the plague. Its the version where you feel just bad enough to want to sleep all day and night but your kids feel just bad enough to never sleep, day or night. There is a nice balance or symmetry in that, maybe it's irony. It is obviously something I will find more humorous at a later date.

M and I both weren't feeling great so I worked from home yesterday and she helped me appreciate the fact I'm not normally a work-from-home or stay-at-home mom. (Please don't read that as a judgement on either of those moms. I admire anyone that can stay at home with kids, their own or someone else's, and not lose their minds. If you can stay at home with your kids and still get outside work done, you're one step down from a magician as far as I'm concerned).

M was honestly fantastic. She worked on her 'puter for a while next to me, we sang the "A B C D's" and other songs while I worked on my spreadsheets. I had a delightfully entertaining conversation with M while the IT guy was on the phone, about puzzles and mermaids, he was thrilled I could tell. But mostly, the day reminded me what she an awesome little person she is.

It's important to trace your toes every so often while at work.

It was a good day as far as working-from-home-while-not-feeling-good-with-a-toddler days go, but by the time dinner rolled around, my patience for negotiation was completely gone. Hot dog or nuggets; pick one, we have things to do. There was an ice cream fundraiser we needed to get to and it seemed like Ice Cream for Dinner was a precedent I didn't want to set.

L eventually grumbled her way though a hot dog, grapes and milk. M downed her grapes and milk and refused to touch the nuggets she had so adamantly needed a few minutes earlier. I committed a giant parenting error earlier in declaring "No ice cream if you don't eat your dinner!" Why do I say things? Enter part of our village! The lady that formally ran our little day care stopped by and, like magic, M agreed to eat her nuggets. She ate them so we couldn't feel them to our dogs, her sister, really anyone else we could think of to offer nuggets to. Turns out she didn't really want them, but more importantly, she didn't want anyone else to have them either.

Dinners eaten, visiting done, we took off for ice cream. Everyone enjoyed their flavor of choice with no negotiations or bribing needed. I wish you could make delicious ice cream out of broccoli, but I'll be happy there is calcium, protein and calories in it as is, plus it doesn't taste like broccoli.