We have been moving forward in this school year. The first full week of school took Sam and the entire eighth grade to Wales for a week with Outward Bound. Sam had a great time with parts of it, survived other parts of it, got to stay in a cabin with friends, and felt like a leader in the hiking section. She came back and said "do you know there are families that don't go hiking on the weekend??" I was really proud of her, as this pushed her boundaries in a lot of ways - and she's not always a fan of pushing those boundaries.
Matt has gone to South Africa, Boston, Angola and Gabon - he traveled for three weeks of September, with some interesting places and meetings.
Sam has been going for riding lessons each weekend, and she loves it. We found a stable that we can get to in about a half hour early in the am (but it takes an hour to drive back later!) AND she can get there by tube on her own! This past weekend, she went from the tube all the way to a birthday party in Central London - like 40 minutes journey, including an 8 minute walk, on her own. Who is this independent child? I love it.
Elie had a SUPER rough two weeks. He started feeling unwell on Sunday 8th Sept, went to school the next day and came home super unwell, then had a fever that went up to 103 or 104 everyday for 10 days. He also developed a super awful cough. Thursday that first week we went to urgent care, and they said it isn't covid, it isn't strep and it isn't pneumonia, so it's just a virus. Just wait. By Saturday, he was on his fifth day of SUPER high fever and now lethargic and not eating. We went to urgent care, but they wouldn't see him and made us go to A&E (he had low oxygen, and they said that goes directly to A&E). A&E said they have no idea what it is, but started him on antibiotics, hoping it would hit some infection. But he didn't get better. Monday we went to a highly recommended pediatrician who said that he would test for a bunch of viruses, and if it's not one of those viruses, then it's probably mycoplasma (which I sort of remember from our time in Singapore, but it's not part of our regular life!). It wasn't one of those viruses, so by Tuesday evening, we were able to change the antibiotics to Zithromax, which is the only antibiotic that attacks mycoplasma, which apparently has no cell walls. One he got on that med, he was so much better, but he didn't bounce back, like kids usually do. He had to build his strength back, and he had a terrible cough. He was able to go to school on Friday, so he ended up missing eight days of school, the musical audition workshop and all three audition sessions. Ugh, but we were glad he got better, and he was able to try out by himself and got a (small but great) part in the show. He said he caught up on the school work in one day - which is suspect but great!
Koby's been great - he's had some amazing lines lately, which I should probably write down, but most of them are inappropriate, so I won't write them down here. Koby also had a nasty cut that grew and grew, and by the time the dermatologist could see us, it was huge and nasty. Turns out his impetigo from the summer didn't go away, and it got in this cut and took control. It was nasty. He went on antibiotics and had a bunch of other bizarre treatments - quite a routine everyday.
The day that Elie started feeling sick, my parents arrived from a nine day trip in Iceland. My dad showed up with a fever and sore throat, and a quick covid test showed a SUPER POSITIVE, so we got him an airbnb before he even came in our house. My mom stayed with us and hung out for the week, and she cared for Elie a lot (he said she took very good care of him and never forgot anything he asked for). While we had originally all planned to go see Fiddler on the Roof in Regents park, in the end, Sam and Elie couldn't go (Sam also had a day with a fever), and I had to leave at halftime, because Elie was SO sick. Other than that, we didn't do too much with my parents - it was mostly just a sick visit!
My dad stayed on, which was so super nice, since Elie was still sick, and he wasn't well enough for me to go do stuff and leave him alone for more than a few minutes. Man is it selfish, but I got to run and play tennis and pickleball, and go for dinner with a friend who was in town from Singapore, and all of that helped me stay sane during a lot of sick stuff while Matt was away! Thank you, dad!
I got convinced to try to Women Run the World running club, associated with the school. They run M-W-F and train for a half marathon in the spring. I have LOVED it! I can't believe what my body can do! I have run everyday that I could (today I had Koby's music share, and it was painful to miss!), and it's so great to run with people. I run with the group running ten minute miles, and they're so so nice, and I love seeing London this way. We have run to Borough Market, Notting Hill, Shoreditch, all over! It's the best. I feel really proud of myself - and don't feel proud of much these days (lack of work...parenting isn't the most rewarding...).
We also spent a weekend in the Cotswolds at this AMAZING house with five other families. There were 17 kids!! It was a lot, but all in all, it was so so wonderful.
The car has been great - once we got it fixed (a lot...). Last week there were a few days that were SUPER rainy, and I couldn't be more grateful to not walk all over town in the cold rain. I would rather sit in traffic any day than that - I think I just ran out of patience for it. It's really nice to be able to drive somewhere quickly, drop of Elie at robotics, pick up a kid at a playdate, drive to football - truly life changing.
No comments:
Post a Comment