Busy Days

It has been a very busy few days for the Rowes.  Backing up to Valentine's Day, Madeleine got to celebrate the day by getting allergy testing done at an ENT office.

ME: (pulling the car into a parking spot)
MADELEINE: Parking for "ent" only.  Mommy?  This is only for ent.
ME: E-N-T.  Ear Nose Throat.  That's the doctor we're going to see.
MADELEINE: Ohhhh!  NOW that makes sense!

I can not believe what a trooper Madeleine was throughout the whole ordeal.  The doctor forewarned her that things were likely to get itchy, but that she needed to fight the urge to scratch.

MADELEINE: (brightly) Yeah!  I already practiced SITTING ON MY HANDS.

Turns out she wasn't able to sit on her hands, as her inner arms were the place where the allergy pricks had been done:

Nonetheless, she did a commendable job of keeping still and not giving her arms even the tiniest of scratches, even though she had a few rising welts that caused some intense itching:

The long and the short of it is that Madeleine tested positive for allergies to birch, maple, and oak pollen, as well as to almost every kind of grass.  Things are suddenly making sense to me.  For the past year, Madeleine has complained that apples make her throat itchy.  I thought she was just being her usual picky self about eating fruit, but the doctor informed me that a birch allergy is often associated with an allergic reaction to apples (among other fruits and nuts.)  Furthermore, I now understand why, when Madeleine and her cousins were rolling down the grassy hill in Vermont this past July, Madeleine's legs broke out in red bumps. 

So, we will begin allergy treatments next month, but for the time being, she was given a Claritin, a prescription for an EpiPen, and sent off on her merry way.  Madeleine was SO excited about her allergy news.

MADELEINE: I can't WAIT to go to school tomorrow and tell everyone about my allergies!  And everyone's gonna be like, "Can I see your EpiPen?  What does it look like?"  Mommy, when is Julia getting home from choir?  I can't WAIT to tell her about this!

True to her word, Madeleine spread the news gleefully, not just to Julia, but to her teammates at swim practice that evening.  She burst into the locker room ready to shout from the rooftops.

MADELEINE: Who wants to see my BUMPIES??? (holding out her bump-laden arms for all to see)

Yeah.  She's not leprous or anything, guys.  Sorry for the gruesome sight.  Just a little allergy testing.

Poor Madeleine did not get the chance to tell her classmates about her allergies, because in the middle of the night, she came down with a stomach bug.  The poor kid vomited eight times between 1:30am and 10am.  Then she spent the rest of the day Friday on the couch with a fever and chills.

Luckily, it was a short lived bug, so by Saturday the fever and vomiting were gone.  Madeleine didn't have much of an appetite, but was able to get a small amount into her stomach.  She and Julia took it easy for most of the day, resting up for Sunday's swim meet.

Sunday was an all-day affair, with kids 10 and under swimming in the morning session, and 11 and up swimming in the afternoon.  Because Ethan had church choir in the morning, I was solo parenting with the girls at the meet.  I was also one of the official timers for the meet, so I wasn't able to sit in the bleachers with Julia.  But at least I got to check in with Madeleine, who looked shaky and frail after her days of not eating and being so sick.  She managed to swim all her events, albeit slower than normal, but at least she was able to take part in what was, for her, the last meet of the season. 

When Madeleine's last event was over, I asked Julia to take her to the locker room to shower and get into dry warm clothes, since I was still timing the remainder of the meet.  Julia got her taste of being a swim parent in the chaos of the locker room dash.

JULIA: (coming out from the locker room after the meet)
ME: Is Madeleine showering? 
JULIA: Yes.
ME: Okay.  Can you sit with all our stuff while I go check on her?
JULIA: Okay but then can EVERYONE STOP BOSSING ME AROUND?!?
ME: Uh...
JULIA: (with sheer overwhelmed irritation) The locker room is a ZOO.

Sheesh.  She must have had a traumatic experience in there or something.  I wonder who the heck was bossing her around.  Madeleine?? 

At any rate, we managed to hang out and laugh and enjoy ourselves during the hour break between meets:

Ethan showed up for the 11 and up meet, joining Madeleine and I in the bleachers.  Julia swam well in the afternoon, getting a personal best in one event, and winning two others, therefore earning a cookie (this meet is called the "Cookie Classic," because the awards are cookies rather than ribbons or medals.)  And because Madeleine hadn't been able to win any of her events due to her fatigued state, Julia winning two was perfect because then she could share with her sister.  Good stuff all around! 

And now we have a school vacation week to all take a rest and fully recover from the crazy daily grind.  At least now if anyone else comes down with the stomach bug, we don't have to miss out on any important school or sports events!