varicella zoster virus

Otherwise known as chicken pox. Yup, even after two vaccinations Will has them. Nothing too serious in the whole scheme of the nasty stuff: 4 on his tummy, 3 on his right thigh, 2 on his right calf and 1 on his back. At least that's it at this point. They could keep coming generally for 7-10 days but we are almost on day four here. So he has been out from school and since Gram has been playing with her friends in the Cities, Brad and I have been taking turns staying home. Today was a Mommy day. We did lots of fun things besides watch the Three Musketeers (see previous post). We made a cardboard sword - no more screwdrivers, ate some mac and cheese, took a long nap, blew bubbles with the bubble machine (see really old post "I'm forever blowing bubbles") and then built some playgrounds. Who knew chicken pox could be so much fun.

This was our first creation. When we were done Will said he wanted to show Dad so I suggested we take a picture. He thought that was groovy and asked to do the same after each building.



Some pictures like my sister would take. See Languishing
The human family seems to have been banished to the edge of town. They don't have much balance on the precarious steeples of the playground.

This was the scene after each creation had had its day. The giant pajama boy would stomp through and leave everything in ruins.


When we were about done Will picked up Emmy's Princess phone and pushed some buttons and then pushed the ringer button on the house phone and handed it to me. We spent the next five minutes talking on the phone to each other about this, that and the other thing. I think people should get the chicken pox more often.

All for one and one for all

Will has a new favorite movie. Brad got him the Mickey Mouse version of the Three Musketeers before Christmas and we have watched it countless times. He seems to have memorized most of the introduction to the musketeers musical number and has the sword movement, saluting and fancy footwork down pat. Friday night he decided we all needed swords so he ran to his toys and found various screwdrivers to fill the need. He started out using the electric one himself but now has given that one to Dad. He uses a more traditional version himself and has given Mom a faulty hexbolt driver that falls apart with each swing of the sword. Then Sunday he headed out to the entry to get his Musketeer hat and one for everyone else in the family. So now whenever this part of the movie comes on he passes the hats and swords, gives each of us our mark on the floor to stand on and makes sure we are all saluting at the right time. Okay, mostly just Daddy plays along but Mom is commanded to sing all of the lyrics as they dance. Then Dad discovered the best thing in the whole world to Will - The whole sequence in the extras with the words at the bottom of the screen. Nothing like a Mickey Mouse Musketeer KaraokebExtragavanza for the whole family. Stop on over to see it. I'm sure Will will find you a hat.

Two

Sometimes it is really hard having two kids. But most of the time it is just so very cool.

Working men

Imagine how lucky I feel to have one handyman who changes light bulbs, does the laundry and cleans up cat puke. But now I can honestly say I have two. Brad got a wild hair a couple of weeks ago and decided to put up a shelf over the stove by an existing outlet for the microwave. We took a family trip to Menards and purchased the required materials on Saturday and then Sunday the boys donned their tool belts and hit the kitchen.

Yes, Will does have his own set of power tools. Unfortunately they are usually stuck in a bin on the highest shelf cause he is generally rough with them and tries to fix things that aren't broken (until he gets to them). Dad found a little tool belt free gift thing from Menards, strapped it to his belt which Will loves to wear, and put Will's hammer, wrench and pliers in it. Then, because they were going up and down to the basement Will has the ever necessary red rain boots and car jammies cause they actually started working in the morning.

Taking a minute to warm up the tools on the kitchen chair. Talent - pure talent.

Are you sure it goes there, Dad? I don't think that's quite straight.

Brad finally uses the ever evasive laser level that Gram bought both of the big boys for Christmas one year. Now that he knows how to use it he will have to hang mom's pictures in her bedroom.

And vi-o-le: a hanging microwave. He was going to put another support on the left side to make it look more symmetrical but I said that was not necessary. Now that I look at it it does look kinda funny. Oh, well, as my mom would say, beggars can't be choosers. Come over and see how much counter space I have now. It is so exciting. And if you have anything that need to be fixed Will doesn't charge much, I hear.