I missed posting yesterday but I’m going to try and get one out for the remaining days of November.
When you last heard from me Sam was suffering ear infection pain. Thanks to the meds, he’s completely fine now, which means it must be the other one’s turn. They tend to take turns with everything, except for the things they SHOULD take turns at like sharing a toy or using the bathroom step stool. Tonight Ryan is suffering from a sore throat, swollen glands and nose stuffiness, and has already announced that he MUST stay home from school tomorrow. Even with the bawling that Sam did with his ear infection pain, he’s still much easier to deal with when sick than Ryan. Ry has to scream and shout about every symptom, getting angry and yelling at his nose to STOP IT, STOP SNIFFING!! and OW OW OW OW STOP HURTING to his throat. I don’t expect a very restful night’s sleep.
Another dandy development in parenting is that the eldest, with his budding writing skills, has taken to writing on things he’s not supposed to, such as walls, beds, couches, toys, etc. Yup, this morning I discovered he had taken a dry erase marker and written his name and the names of a few of his classmates in two different spots on our basement couch, basement walls, a table, a variety of toys and bins, and the tunnel that goes to the tent. In addition, he took a blue ink pen and wrote on his bed frame and the wall in his room. And he swears up and down that he did not do it. HA. Dear lord, I am at a loss for how to parent this crap. And for how to get dry erase marker out of microfiber.
All I can say is that damn Elf on the Shelf better make his appearance known ASAP. That ought to straighten out all foul behavior, no doubt.

Our Elf made an emergency landing at our house Sunday after a horrible weekend. He came with a note saying Santa sent him early to resolve a naughty list situation.
I can’t even begin to imagine my reaction to coloring the house. All writing tools would be locked up stat!
Oh man, I would have gone through the roof! Wes is currently blaming all of his wrong-doings on the cat. It’s driving me nuts. Hang in there!
Sol-u-Mel to the rescue. Also, those white Mr Clean scrubby things worl pretty good for the walls.
A friend posted a link to this article awhile back. I haven’t personally tried it myself:
http://chrisandrobinsnest.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-clean-microfiber-furniture.html
As for school, what is their policy? Ours is 24 hours symptom free before returning to school. If I didn’t know for sure if my son was sick, I’d make the day as boring as possible. I made him aware that by missing school, he wouldn’t be playing & doing normal activities at home. He quickly learned that he enjoyed being at school more, unless he was truly not feeling well (then I handle those days differently). Now we homeschool & we’ve had a few days of complaints that he’s tired & doesn’t want to do school anymore but after a short talk about “sometimes mommy & daddy have to do things when we’re tired too” we’re back on track & finish our day. It is a hard decision to make, especially if we’re not sure how bad they feel….and when we know our routine is going to be interrupted.