Muffled Melodrama

I heard little stocking feet scuffling toward our bedroom this morning just after the alarm went off. I hadn’t gotten up yet because it wasn’t my alarm. The feet never entered the room though they stopped somewhere before the door and I dozed again. It wasn’t long before I heard a very muffled “mommy, mommy, mommy…” over and over it sang and I finally became coherent enough to recognize the sound for what it was. I got up and walked to the play room to find Ivan on the couch, face down with his pacifier still in his mouth calling for me. I laid down beside him and kissed his forehead only to find it to be a little too warm for my liking. I cuddled him for just a moment and then went for the thermometer. A slight fever will keep us home today. Not that I had big plans or anything, I’m more than happy to stay home after being gone most of the weekend. I had a dentist appointment this morning at 8:00 so I called and canceled that for the moment.

Owen will be going next door in an hour or so to play with Jackson and Hayden, so that will keep Ivan a little more quiet I think. I may even let him watch a movie or something so he will be still. I gave him some medicine mixed in with his juice this morning and he drank it down quickly. He ate a little breakfast too. He is playing and will be fine soon.

The weekend events went so well. We had a dress rehearsal on Saturday and Aron was very cooperative. The lights were in his eyes so he closed them and went to sleep. That night for the actual performance however, he was wide awake. I had decided to leave him in the nursery until I was ready to take him on stage because our part wasn’t until the end of the show. The girl in the nursery was itching to take him from me anyway, so I told her the timing plan I had in mind regarding having him fed and changed and rested before taking him out on stage. I didn’t give her a time to feed him, I gave her an order of service and suggested she start giving him the bottle during the carol of the bells. There are monitors in the nursery so she could see everything that was going on.

After a while I got my costume on and went to pick him up and he was asleep and wrapped up in blankets. She handed him over which of course woke him up but he was very happy and alert. When we got on stage, I couldn’t have asked for a better performance from him. He looked around, raised his hands a little and kicked his feet without really being squirmy. He smiled, he cooed, he stared and just acted as content as he could be. Again yesterday we had a morning and evening performance and he was equally pleasant for each one. The same girl held him and prepared him in the nursery each time so I feel very grateful to her for her performance as well. He wasn’t startled or upset by the very loud drums beside him, or the band and choir behind us, he seemed to enjoy the lights and just acted very much at home on the stage. I do believe he’s a good baby, he’s been very easy on me, but I also believe that a lot of prayer went into the services and he pretty much just had to cooperate. Regardless, his easy going demeanor throughout the weekend, made it a lot of fun for me to be a part of the choir concert this year.

Owen and Ivan endured a lot during that time, waking up Saturday morning to mommy rushing them out the door to go to rehearsal at church. We came home for lunch and they took naps until I rushed them out the door again for a performance at church. They were sent to bed as soon as they got home again and woke up to another rush for Sunday morning church. Thankfully, Kris was able to stay home with them for last night’s performance and only Aron and I had to go out in the cold. I am sure that Ivan’s fever this morning has something to do with his active weekend of late nights with other snot nosed toddlers. It’s just going to happen isn’t it? I think I remember Owen getting sick a lot more the year that he was two. Maybe this is the immunity building year for my boys.