It wasn't an officially long weekend, but we did have daylight saving time this weekend, so it was one hour longer. Every spring when we move our clocks one hour faster and I need to wake up one hour earlier I think of this time, and how much I'll enjoy gaining that extra hour of sleep.
Everything seemed wonderful in the beginning. Friday started with beautiful weather and an amazingly happy Catalina. I guess I mentioned several times that Catalina needs time to adjust to people. the same goes for shoes. I think it's worse for the shoes actually. Catalina spent the whole summer wearing one pair of sandals. Nothing else. Trying to get her to put any other pair of shoes (most of them much prettier and definitely more expensive) ended up in screaming and crying. So, like usually she had it her way. We got her fall shoes waaaayyy in advance, to make sure the transition will be easy. Yeah, not that much...she went to daycare wearing those worn sandals many rainy cold days. Somehow, one day she decided to try on a pair of sneakers and she wore only those ones from that day on. Now, winter is coming, so we got her several pairs of winter boots, so she can make friends with them before the snow. Little we knew we'l have snow before Halloween. No, Catalina did not wear winter boots in the snow, but her old, pink sneakers. We were (still are) a little worried that our cutie pie will make snowmen wearing running shoes. And this is why the weekend started beautifully. Catalina took some interest in her pretty pink boots!
And who do you think was wearing those shoes 2 minutes later? Oh, yeah, total victory!. Short lived, it's true, as mommy got too greedy and wanted her to walk in her new shoes when she was not ready yet. She demanded "papuci off" in the next 20 seconds. This girl definitely needs time to take a relationship to the next level. (I can only wish it stays like this when she'll be a teenager too...:)
With our hearts all warmed up, we went to Catalina's 18 months well dr visit. Those who know me, also know for how long I looked for a doctor who will accept my delayed/not all at vaccination policy. And we found this group that said it's ok. After going through all the doctors in that group we almost lost hope in a human doctor who will accept our choice. When all of a sudden a male doctor came to that practice, Catalina fell in love with him, and easily understandably we loved him too. He did try to tell us about vaccines, but the moment I shared all my education degrees with him he never bothered me again on the subject.
So, all happy, we went to the doctor's office. Little we knew that our appointment was not with our preferred doctor, but with a witch that made a point of getting Catalina to cry at every visit. She always handled our daughter like she is a piece of meat. So, after lecturing me about all the risks I am exposing my kid by not vaccinating, she diagnoses Catalina with bilateral ear infection and gives her a much stronger antibiotic because she is not vaccinated. Really? Are antibiotics now working against bacteria also? Or, let me guess, kids that are vaccinated are protected against bacteria too? Vaccines are not efficient against the stupid viruses they are supposed to protect against, but now they are good for bacterial infections. Whatever...I was in a good mood, a little disheartened by the fact that Catalina is sick and I didn't even know, so I didn't flush all my academic degrees in front of her. I do regret it now. As we left we were handed the "information package" for parents who chose to not vaccinate. It contained a very shiny book with pictures of tombstones of kids who died of various diseases preventable (?) by vaccination. I looked eagerly for a book with tombstone pictures of kids who died because of vaccines. Everybody knows they exist. Or better and sadly said, they existed. The book was missing from the "information package". Hm...do you think some unnamed doctor sees only one side of the story?
We left the office very angry, with Catalina showing her first signs of sickness. We started giving her the antibiotic and we got ready to welcome my friend Jaya. I have wanted to see her for so long and now she was finally coming to Philly. We planned that after Catalina goes to sleep we'll have a long night of girly talk, adult meaningful subjects discussed over beer and junk food. I was a little worried that Catalina will put on an act. Remember, she is not the friendliest kid and she was sick too. Catalina took to Jaya like the fish to water. It was actually hard to convince her to sleep as she kept calling Jaya's name. Sick as she was, she fell asleep after taking her antibiotic. We have just opened our beer bottles (ok, I admit, I finished my beer 2 seconds after I opened it..) when I heard Catalina crying and crying. She was really sick and I suspect is was mostly because of the string antibiotic (she threw up once then she fell back asleep beautifully). I had to end our "girls night in" party early. Luckily, Jaya spent half of Sunday with us also. Have I mentioned that Catalina loved her? They had tea together, they slapped "high fives", and flirted with each other.
We were worried on how saying good bye will go. Pure luck, just as Catalina was starting her crying face with Jaya leaving, our friends Dana and Gabi called they are in front of our house with their son Alex. Catalina has been calling Alex and Dana's names for a while now, and she was DELIGHTED to hear they came. And a second beautiful half of Sunday started. Catalina shared toys with Alex and they played together, not ignoring each other, but interacting and ... yeah, a little fighting.
We had a delightful Sunday, but wasn't it supposed to be an hour longer? How come I didn't feel that extra hour? I feel cheated of one hour I had to spend with my little angel. Mondays are the worst. After 2 days full of laughter, I go back to being alone at my desk. Well, not alone, but without Catalina. That is very lonely.
