Sleep Interrupted

This Christmas is the first one that Ben has had at his new C of E school. Although vaguely aware of religious connotations to Christmas, to him (and the rest of the family) Christmas is more about family getting together, and to be brutally honest, presents.

The other day, Ben came home with a competition to design the front cover of the School Christmas Fair programme. The theme was of the Traditional Christmas story. Ben (foolishly) asked me what this was.

Me : Hmmm I’m not really sure. Maybe Rudolf, or Father Christmas? Not sure if there is a traditional Christmas story.

Ben: Umm, is it maybe something to do with Jesus?

Me: Oh yes, that Christmas story.

As Andrew posted earlier, Christmas was a bit miserable this year due to most family members having colds and coughs of some sort. Then Boxing Day night Ben woke up and was sick, we think this was probably due to the unusual diet of the previous two days which seemed to consist mainly of Christmas lunch – cocktail sausages, 12, Boxing Day lunch – mince pies, 3, and Boxing Day tea, sausage rolls, 6. Usually the children’s diet is pretty good, but Andrew and I figured that with so many nibbles about, we were not going to get stressed about forcing them to sit down and eat a meal, so for two days they just got to eat pretty much what they wanted, when they wanted. Which was great, we didn’t have to shout at them to sit down and eat lunch, they got on with playing with toys. Unfortunately the downside of this was the Boxing Day night purging of Ben’s system. So there is something to be said for three proper meals a day…

Over the next couple of days Ben seemed fine, maybe a little more grouchy, but we put this down to over tiredness as he had a few late nights. One night he also had a temperature of about 102, but again, after some Calpol seemed fine. The only odd thing was a couple of little spots around his neck, and one just under his chin. Anyway, he was soon back to his normal self. Then Jessica got very tired and grouchy, also quite warm, and yesterday at lunch at my parents house Andrew noticed a couple of little spots on her neck by her ear. Pulling up her vest showed her back and tummy to be covered with spots. Chickenpox!!

So a mad dash ensued at 3.30pm on New Years Day to find somewhere open that sold calamine lotion, luckily Boots came through. Last night Jessica didn’t really sleep at all, and had a temperature of 104, which I think actually qualifies as a fever. So much Calpol and Calamine later, and some Piriton syrup to stop the itching, Jessica is now covered all over with a light sprinkling of horrid looking blisters. She has them on her face, her back and front, her arms and legs, inside her ears and also some more delicate areas. She is not a happy bunny.

Lets hope the New Year gets better from here on in.

Christmas was a bit of a wipe out for me this year, due to me catching a cold on Christmas Eve that kicked in fully around 3pm on Christmas Day. It didn’t help that Louise was feeling under the weather too, plus we invited most of our respective families over on Boxing Day for lunch. We managed but it’s left us both completely drained.

Most frustrating is that I’ve been given a good selection of whiskies, none of which are worth trying currently due to my sense of smell having succumbed to the Evil Christmas Cold.

Grumbling aside, though, it’s been a good couple of days. The defining moment of Christmas for me this year was sitting in Ben’s bedroom at 7.30am, working through the contents of his Christmas stocking. As he pulled items out one at a time he exclaimed with complete conviction, “Just what I wanted!”

Robot toy. “Just what I wanted!”

Dinosaur Top Trumps. “Just what I wanted!”

Pencil. “Just what I wanted!”

Rubber. “Just what I wanted!”

Sweets. “Just what I wanted!”

Tangerine… He looked up at me for a few long seconds with a look that said he was trying to work out whether I was pulling his leg. He held out the tangerine, “No thanks!”