Allergies and School Lunch

Allergy season has been pretty rough here this year, to the point that Adam and I (who almost never take allergy medicine) are taking Claritan this year. Poor Gwen has it worse than we do, and despite being on Claritan, is still waking up coughing at night. Given my professional job as Fretter, I made Adam take her to the doctor to make sure it wasn't asthma (it isn't), and to see if there was anything else we could do to make her more comfortable. The doctor prescribed Zirtec; in reviewing the side effects, it says that it can cause vomiting in small children. At first I was hesitant -- but then I remembered that given the level of her cough at mealtimes, she might be susceptible to vomiting if we DON'T try the new medicine, so I guess we are damned if we do, damned if we don't ... anyway, it can also cause drowsiness, so we will probably wait until the weekend to transition her.

Other than being a little sleep-deprived, though, her spirits are pretty good. This is National School Lunch week, so parents were invited to join their kids for lunch. Gwen was very happy and excited that I came, but it didn't take me very long to figure out why I hated school lunch as a kid. At the end of lunch, my tray was pretty much as it was in the beginning (covered with unedible food), except for the chicken nuggets portion because Gwen ate approximately half of them. Gwen, of course, had brought her own lunch, so she was spared the horrors of the alleged potatoes au g-rotten, broccili salad (which sounded good, but wasn't) and a roll that had the approximate flavor of school glue. Still, seeing her eat meat -- even if it is chicken nuggets -- did make me think ... I wonder if we can set her up with the "Processed Meat" plan?

Anyway, when I asked her when we got home today what the best part of school was today, she said, "We had a substitute teacher!" It was kind of humbling.

Xavier and I had a "date" on Monday (I took it off thinking it was a school holiday, but it wasn't.) We went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch (where he was mistaken for a girl, but didn't care because he was offered a lollipop.) Then we stopped at my office for a quick meeting (where he was again mistaken for a girl despite the fact that he was hauling a Transformer around -- I guess he needs a haircut.) While I was talking to my coworker Christian, Xavier came over and said, "Make my transformer a car again!"

Now, these Transformer cars require a PhD to master, and I do not have a PhD. Having expressed this sentiment, Christian said, "I used to LOVE these things when I was a kid!" Five minutes later, Xav and I were twiddling our thumbs while Christian struggled to put the car back together. One of my other coworkers has been nursing a baby kitten, so I thought maybe Xav and I could go see the kitten while Christian worked on his high priority project. I didn 't want to get Xav's hopes up so I called a different coworker to see if Ross was in. Alas, Ross (and, more importantly, the kitten) were not in. The called coworker (Jim) offered to let Xav play with some of his puzzles, but, glancing over at Christian, I said, "Naah, I've already ruined Christian's productivity for the day. No reason to bring you down to our level."

Well, a little man is begging me to come play Transformers, but I have one more quotable quote from Xav. Xav, as some of you know, is on a specialized diet to help with constipation issues. Last night the kids were listening to a Veggie Tales song while brushing their teeth (we use the songs to time them.) Some of the songs are of a religious nature, and the song in question had a chorus of

"Stand ... for what you believe in, believe in,
Believe in God -- he's the one to back you up --
He'll stand by you ... he'll stand by you ..."

Xavier piped up suddenly, "God doesn't back you up -- popcorn does!"