Sickness, Picnics, Wins, Losses, Riots and Work

Yup it has been a very busy week in the Spratbotham household.  

It started with Bodie having his first full blown fever.  It started on Friday.  There were no other symptoms just a fever so we gave him advil and hoped all would be well.

The next day was a picnic with all the mums, babies and dads, that I have been palling around with for the last year.  Bodie was definitely out of sorts so we kept him segregated from the other kids.  He had little interest in crawling around and just wanted to sit on our laps.  We had a lovely picnic.  I always wondered who these groups of people were at Kits Beach having these organized picnics.  Now I am one of them.  We had a portable BBQ, lots of food to share, blankets, toys and tents.  The babies attracted a lot of attention.

This is Bodie, Xavia, Rosie, Grace, Tian, Emily, Delila, and Scott in the back.  

After the picnic we went home and Bodie was lethargic and burning up so we took him to a walk-in clinic.  The doctor was worried about how high his temperature was.  He said his throat looked a little sore, and said if the fever didn't go down with Advil and a sponge bath go to emergency so Bodie could be checked for other infections.  Dave was a superstar on Saturday night.  He got Bodie's fever down with a sponge bath and gave him lots of cuddles.  Unfortunately in the morning his fever was up again so off to our first visit to Children's Hospital.

A very un Bodie like Bodie (he's not moving).

Not surprisingly Children's was great.  They checked him over, helped pump him full of fluids, and got his fever down.  They told us it was just a cold going around, to keep him hydrated and if his fever hadn't gone away in a few days to take him to his GP.  Armed with that knowledge we took Bodie home to cuddle and nurse him back to health.  By Tuesday he was back to full strength and appetite.  (I can't say the same thing for Dave.)

In the midst of Bodie's sickness I was getting ready to go back to work, and Dave was getting ready to parent full time.  It is interesting how many people refer to his parental leave as anything from babysitting to a vacation.  It is also interesting how many people are quick to imply that he doesn't know what he is getting himself into and it will be a eye opener when it is just him and Bodie.  Little do they know that when the three of us are together, Dave does at least half of the parenting already.

It was nice to go back to work knowing Bodie was with Dave and not having to do a transition to daycare at the same time.  On Monday morning I skipped off to work.  I was greeted warmly at my office and met my great new assistant.  The first week has been a bit slow as I try to get up to speed and pick up new clients; that being said it is nice to be earning some money again, and getting back to my training.

Bodie did not seem to be bothered by my absences.  We hang out in the morning together and when I get home.  His sleep has been very disrupted so we are back to sleep training.  He needs to figure out how to lie down in his crib and go back to sleep.  We are making slow progress.

The crowd before game 7

Also in the midst of this was the Canucks run at the Stanley Cup.  We won game 5 on Saturday, lost game 6 on Monday and lost game 7 on Wednesday.  Wednesday afternoon I walked down to look at the crowd before heading home so I could feel a part of it (I was wearing an old school Diduck jersery).  It was pretty exciting.  There was a lot of hope in the crowd that this would be our time.

After the Bruins scored their 3rd unanswered goal, Dave and I stopped watching.  We were trying to get Bodie to cry it out in his crib and we could only deal with one disaster at a time.  When the dust settled, it was 4-0, the Bruins had one the cup, Bodie was alseep and the riot had started.

Post-its thanking the cops.  My said "thank you
for showing restraint in the face of stupidity".

I found the pictures I saw on the news unbelievably upsetting.  I knew young guys can be stupid (I went to a party high school and remember my undergrad days), but there is stupid and then there is criminal.  I finally stopped watching when I was sure the Bay was not going to burn down.  I really felt for the firefighters who had to go into the chaos to put out fires, and in some situations watch them burn until the crowd could be moved out.  Enough has been said about the riots.  But I hope the kids under 18 who get charged will realize how lucky they are that Harper hasn't scraped the Youth Criminal Justice Act and grow up to give back to their communities.  Anyone over 18 deserves what they get as well.  I am enjoying the shaming websites, and glad some have the sense to turn themselves in.

Daylight on Thursday brought sunshine and people on the streets cleaning up from the riots.  By the time I got downtown at 8:30 it was cleaner than I had seen it in awhile.  The boards on the broken out windows of Hudson Bay and the cop cars with post-it notes on it were lovely "spontaneous collective street art" as a friend called it.

Board on the Bay window.