Sing it with me

I ended up taking Grady to the doctor yesterday when a late morning diaper change revealed a nasty all-over body rash. Turns out he has roseola, which he's just about over already since the rash has appeared, and an ear infection, for which we were given antibiotics. I'm never keen on antibiotics, given the nasty taste and my fear that they are overprescribed, but I trust my doctor. He doesn't just give them out for no reason. And after I saw how horrible Evan's ears got earlier this winter when he refused his medicine, I think I'll just keep Grady on his twice daily dosage. Here's hoping this is the last of the nasty winter illness.

The house is so quiet when Evan's at school now. Grady is napping, and thankfully he's not doing it on me, so I have both hands for typing. This is the quietest activity I can think of so as not to disturb the sleeping man. Anyway, my point was that Evan never shuts up now. He's always talking about something--narrating his play, asking for snacks, talking to Grady or me or people walking by on the street. I'm not going to lie--there are times when it gets super annoying, especially when he's repeating the same request over and over hoping for a different result. But mostly it's awesome. It's so funny to hear what he's thinking, or what he needs.

The other day when we were driving up our street, Evan told me he wanted me to park on the left. That's the side of our street where you can't park, so I told him no, that the signs said "no parking". And he said, "No Mom, those signs say Parking Yes". He's also started to use our own language against us. Mike has been known to tell Evan "don't tell me what to do" (in a fun, jokey sort of way) if Ev gets too demanding. That phrase is so much funnier when it gets spit back at Mike by an annoyed five year old.

He's also started jumping the gun with his punishments. We usually punish Ev by taking things away, most often his favorite tv show or computer time. And if that punishment is coming, I've been known to say, "that's it, no more (insert fun thing here)!" Trouble is, Evan now knows it's coming, so all I have to do is start in on the "that's it" and Evan will fill in the rest. Yesterday he listed every activity in the house "no tv, no Wii, no computer, no coloring, no cars, no books, etc". I guess he figured that he had been really bad.

The note that came home from school yesterday echoed what Mike and I have been noticing at home. His teacher wrote, " Evan had a great day. He played with fellow students. He was communicating with the other students in a play situation." Things are getting better.