Skip to main content

Throwing up and toys...


For the first time really since I met Heather (going on 10 years!), she was literally down for the count with some sort of intestinal "thing." 6 teachers in Ethan's school were out last week with the same illness, and I happened to be in California when it hit Heather. When she was too sick to pick me up at the airport, I knew she was really sick: Heather LOVES airports...and, now, so does Ethan. When I got home, Ethan was asleep, and she was trying to sleep. Heather indicated Ethan was a good little doctor...showing concern for her, getting her water, etc. He asked her at one point if she wanted some "mecidine," and when she said she would, he replied, "Well, you'll have to get it." Because it was on a top shelf!

For the next day or so, she stayed in bed trying to recover, and I played "Mr. Mom" which was kinda fun despite the reason. I took Ethan to school, picked him up, etc. I know. I know. Every dad should do all of that, and I do my share. But, I got to see firsthand how busy Heather is with him. On Saturday, Ethan and I spent about 1.5 hours in Fred Meyer browsing, looking at toys, shopping for food, etc. I remarked that his mom sure was sick, and he said, "Yeah! Really sick. I sure hope she doesn't throw up on my toys." When I laughed, he seemed embarrassed, and admonished me in a terse whisper "DAD! Don't tell her I said that!"

All is well again now. She's feeling much better, Ethan got to enjoy a playdate with our former neighbors this afternoon, and no one has thrown up on his toys!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Two Faces of the American Dream

The massive wave of Norwegian immigration to Minnesota from the 1850s through the early 20th century wasn't a casual choice; it was an escape from crushing land scarcity and economic desperation.  My ancestors, the Dunhams, arrived in 1851 and built a life in Otter Tail County in Minnesota. My great-great-grandfather, Jens Christian Dunham, didn’t just survive—he thrived. He served in the Minnesota legislature as a Republican from 1888 to 1890 and later became a staunch advocate for President Teddy Roosevelt. He was the literal embodiment of the American Dream: an immigrant who fled poverty to become a lawmaker in his new home. Fast forward a century, and a new wave of immigrants—this time from Somalia—is following that exact same blueprint. Like the Norwegians before them, they fled hardship to build a future in Minnesota, and many have run for office to serve the state that welcomed them. Yet, the political rhetoric surrounding these two groups couldn't be more polarized. Don...

Phantom Blindness and Taking a Break after Strokes

I met with my eye doctor last week about taking some time off from my vision therapy. I have been doing therapy since my stroke almost two and a half years ago. I am tired, and a need a break. My doctor said, “This is completely understandable. Take some time off.” At the appointment, my doctor tested my vision. Because of the strokes, my vision was affected, and I have a problem in my field of vision on the right side. I have a deficit with my right side peripheral vision. However, it is getting better. During the test, I told him that I “sense things on the right side of my peripheral vision.” It seems that I know that something is there, but I cannot really distinguish what it is. He told me that there is a body of thought describing phantom vision or phantom blindness. A Polish researcher, L. Bieganowski, described this phantom blindness this way:    “The subject of the paper is the phenomenon of phantom vision. It occurs among the blind (or almost blind...

Greek orthodox and Catholic‘s

Being a history buff, I’ve always understood that the Catholic Church was split in about 1000 A.D. Our Greek tour guide mentioned the differences a little bit yesterday, but she did not capture the full history. Today I saw a small Greek orthodox by the roadside and I’m going to insert about the history. Eastern Orthodox Catholics and Roman Catholics are the result of what is known as the East-West Schism (or Great Schism) of 1054, when medieval Christianity split into two branches. The Byzantine split with Roman Catholicism came about when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne, King of the Franks, as Holy Roman Emperor in 800. From the Byzantine viewpoint, this was a slap to the Eastern Emperor and the Byzantine Empire itself — an empire that had withstood barbarian invasions and upheld the faith for centuries. After Rome fell in 476, Byzantium was the only vestige of the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne’s crowning made the Byzantine Emperor redundant, and relations between the East and...