I Didn't Miss Spring, Did I?

Living in Chicago, Spring is a tricky season. Actually, any season but winter is a bit tricky. If you blink, you could miss it. I will admit to having seen a few signs of Spring, but not nearly enough for my tastes. This week is Spring break, and so far, I'd like a refund on my money.

When winter ends, germs are supposed to go into hiding. We can finally spend time with other people and not run the risk of snotty noses and scratchy throats. The lack of sicness and the sight of healthy children alone make spring the best season.

On Saturday, Little Miss came down with ... something. She got a fever just before her swimming lesson that spiked in the middle of it. She had to get out of the pool and come home because she was shivering so badly. It was 104.4 later that afternoon. Yesterday we hit 105.1 (a new high for us!), and today she's still miserable. She's gone to the doctor, and the diagnosis is the dreaded "virus" without further definition.

Between her inability to sleep for longer than an hour at a time and Mister Man's prediliction for coming into my bedroom to talk to me about his dreams multiple times a night, there isn't much sleep happening in our house right now. And everyone's mood is reflecting it.

Sadly, she also had to miss her very first tea party Saturday afternoon -- and yes, we had the cute little white straw hat for her, too -- for which I'm sure my friends are grateful. However, she doesn't seem to realize that the tea party is past, and Little Miss keeps asking when she gets to go to the tea party. Each time we tell her that she was sick and missed it, it breaks her heart anew.

My next favorite sign of spring is the weather changing. You know -- the birds singing, sun shining, shouts of joy from the children playing outside. While we had a lovely sunny day on Sunday with some highs of 61, the weather has gone downhill. It's supposed to be flooding rain for the rest of the week. I suppose rain is a harbinger of spring -- that whole April showers brings May flowers thing -- but can we take a break during our one week off school?

Along those same lines, Mister Man isn't riding his bike sans training wheels. Although my mom did suggest yesterday that Mister Man go for a bike ride yesterday, it will be awhile before anyone heads out on a bike around here. I have this thing about children with broken arms riding bikes. Call me overprotective.

On the other hand, spring must have arrived. Yesterday, I went online to our local baseball organization to start to look into t-ball for Mister Man this summer. Experienced parents, stop laughing at me. Not only did I miss the early registration date, but rosters are up, and it looks like most of the teams are full. I always thought that baseball was a summer sport, but it ends in early June. Seriously, quit laughing! Anyone for soccer?

Summer school information is also available now. Fortunately, I haven't missed the deadline for this one. The trick now is trying to figure out what to sign up for. They have programs on getting ready for kindergarten, but my concern is that they focus on the academic piece that we don't need and less on the social aspect that we want. I have been given the heads up that I need to register on the date registration opens... which is also our first day back from spring break and the first chance I will have to talk to anyone in the district about the classes.

We haven't quite broken out the sandbox yet -- that's always a true sign that the weather is changing -- but I did see this in the garden this morning.





I think I'm going to focus on the positive. Happy Spring!