Kitty’s Place

It has been lovely this past week, sun, temperatures above freezing, snow melting. Spring seems to be well on the way. *smile*

We did go to dinner at Ibo’s family’s last Saturday. It was a nice evening. Sunday we didn’t do anything, I ended up sleeping for 12 hours. Monday we went to Kista centrum. The kidlet got a cute Winnie the Pooh playstation game and I got GTA: San Andreas for my fellow. When we came home we went out to dinner at a new chinese restaurant in town. The kidlet loved it so much he has asked every day since if we can go there again. *laugh*

Tuesday we had an appointment at Danderyd with the speech therapist. LL was in a mood, something we are seeing more of lately. *laugh* He just outright refused to speak to her at first, something that makes assessment a bit difficult. Finally he couldn’t stand being quiet anymore (he talks nonstop) and he did talk and do the exercises she wanted him to do. Then she said we were going to go and meet the dentist who will be making his upper gum plate if he requires it. He clamped onto the doorframe and whined that he didn’t want to go. I was as determined as I was embarrassed by his behaviour and told him he had no choice. Once we were in her office he was all eyes and ears and chatted away with her. I do hope he gets over this latest stage quickly. He is really rather obnoxious and that is so not my son. *laugh* After the appointment we came home and I was totally exhausted. We have more speech exercises for him and even though I feel his speech is worse, she felt there was an improvement and if he continues to improve in the next two months he may not need the gum plate at all. So that was encouraging. I think I am discouraged because he is so resistant to being corrected and just clamps his mouth shut and refuses to repeat words correctly.

Yesterday I did laundry and that came near to killing me. *laugh* I have no energy at all since this last bout of illness. Ibo’s mom and sister came over after dinner and brought LL some treats and clothes from Finland and Haparanda, where farmor spent easter with her parents.

Today, two days after I finished the antibiotics, my fever is back as well as the nasty cough. I am so fed up with this virus. At least the laundry is done and it is not to messy in here. *laugh*

It has been a long week, not just a long friday. *laugh* I am on the mend I think. Still have a nasty cough, sore throat and my lungs are still wheezy but today is the second fever free day after a week of nonstop fever. I guess the pharmacist knew what she was talking about when she told me that the medication would take a few days to work. She was so insistent about it that I came home and laughed about it, but now I understand why, it really did take a few days of feeling worse before it got better. *laugh*

My fellow did the kid to school and home thing and the dog out thing all week. Well actually farfar picked up LL Wednesday and Thursday, but that was arranged by pappa so that I was free to stay in and rest and get better. LL had a good week except for the fact that we had to postpone his afternoon at the home of one of his classmates. Yesterday I walked the 3 minute walk to the centrum to pick up easter candy and a parcel. It took me an hour to walk there and back and do the little shopping necessary for easter. That was kind of a good indicator that I need a day or two more to recover. *laugh* I wanted to have candy here in case we got any kids at the door dressed as witches. But there were none. This is a totally swedish thing.

Today I got out the easter decorations and we put out everything so it looks like Easter here. We coloured a dozen eggs, some we just dipped in dye, some LL painted and some he added easter stickers to. It is waffle day, so I made waffles for the guys. I had no appetite for them so I passed. *laugh* We have been invited to Ibo’s parents for dinner tomorrow. I said that if I am up to it I will go, but if not, I think they should go over. It will be a really long weekend if LL has to spend it home the whole time because I am feeling yuck. He and dad need to get out at least.

I think it is time to curl up with my book and rest again.

Recently in our mattespråk (math language) class one of the students translated an article about research on the use of maggots in the healing process of wounds that respond to nothing else. After her presentation we had a little grammar lesson that included the fact that antibiotika is the plural form of antibiotikum. I have no idea where I might ever use that knowledge but I thought it was cool. *laugh*

I saw the doctor yesterday and was so happy it was not the usual one. This one was nice, did not wince at my swedish and had a great chat with me about school and my future plans and even wished me luck with my swedish studies. She also said I have acute bronchitis and since I have had it coming back so quickly each time, I now have antibiotics and a stronger dose of my asthma meds. I still feel like a limp rag but my fever is hovering under 38 so there is some improvement. (well except for the little spike after I did dishes, one days worth took two hours, ouch)

Ibo is picking up the kidlet again. He has been doing drop off and pick up duty this week as well as dog walking. I will owe him big time when I am better. *laugh* Speaking of Ibo, before I got sick he took me shopping and bought me a new watch. The one I had from Canada needs repairing and it can’t be done here. I have been looking for a couple years for one I liked and a couple weeks I saw one in a Guldfynd flyer that caught my eye. So we made a trip Sunday before last and I have a lovely new watch.

How can a word that sounds so exotic feel so horrid? *laugh*

School went well last week, Monday I did my presentation on statitics and was advised to tape myself practicing the next one (on the metric system) so I can hear where I need to improve in intonation. Actually I thought that was a great idea. In study hall we read up and did a little presentation on the new EU constitution.

Tuesday we sorted ourselves into groups in history/social studies class and started researching our presentation. I chose Africa as the area I wanted to look at and social conditions as the main topic. Then it was narrowed down to language, body language and music and the differences between north and south africa (this present course is actually called North/South). Each of us in our group is doing a different area, religion, food, art, literature. I think it will be interesting to hear all the different presentations when we are done.

Wednesday we had a forum day and the focus was the EU constitution. First though we talked about our study vacation in Milano in May. Then we watched a live cabaret performance by TeamK. They did a little music festival and all the songs were about the EU and the changes in the future. After there was a discussion period. It was really interesting and fun way of learning more.

Thursday was swedish class and it was great as always. Unfortunately I had a fever all day and kind of dragged through. It was a relief to get home and go to bed.

That leads to the bout with the flu. Friday I never got up except in extreme need. Saturday was basically the same. Sunday I was up longer but still feverish with the lung destroying coughing. Today I have an appointment with the doctor. I know that it just has to run its’ course but I can’t seem to kick this thing and it has flared up my asthma so that I had to sleep propped up last night.

My fellows are troopers, taking care of themselves. I am one lucky lady. *grin*

My fellow got home about 1900 and we were so happy to see him. He had goodies for the kidlet, polkagriser from Gränna. One of the things LL got was a huge lollipop and he has been licking away at since yesterday. I was so exhausted that after I had tea with Ibo I went to bed, at 9 pm. *laugh*

We were home again today. I took the kidlet to McDonalds for lunch and we bought a few groceries at ICA Maxi. He wanted to play outside but by the time our two hour outing was over he was running a low grade fever again, so I vetoed that. Instead he played more with his Brio train set (one of the reasons we went out was that we needed batteries for his train). He was making announcements like “train to Canada is late because the track is broken” “train to Egypt is ready to leave now, show your tickets”. *laugh*

On our way home he informed he didn’t want to go to school anymore, he knows almost everything there is to know now. So I asked him what 4 x 4 was and he didn’t know. He said that he knew 4 + 4 and that was enough. *laugh*

Sadly for him he pushed one too many buttons and is now in his room until tomorrow. He thought it was appropriate to scold me about how I was helping put away his train set and when I said I didn’t need to help, he told me he would just move to his grandparents. I was not impressed with that mouthiness but it was his telling me he was going to hit me if I made him clean up his room that got him a evening in said room. *laugh* We are very liberal with him but this mouthiness (which I know is a 6 year old thing), has to stop.

I don’t think I will ever get used to sleeping here without my fellow. *laugh* Besides missing him lots, I hear every sound when he is gone. Add to that a little boy up in the middle of the night with a sore tummy and a fever and you get one tired Kitty.

We did get a chance to skate last week and I of course got pictures. We had a lovely lunch with Jennifer last Thursday, went to the English shop where we bought a Bob the Builder muffin mix. We made it when we came home and had them after our dinner with Ibo’s mom and sister. We had a quiet weekend at home and then it was back to school Monday.

Tuesday we started the combined history/social studies class. I think it will be interesting and it will be nice to have a chance to learn from other interesting teachers.

Yesterday we had an appointment at Danderyd with LL’s eye doctor. My fellow headed to Jonkoping for work. We were up a bit after 0600, Ibo left about 0700 and we took the bus at 0730. We got to the hospital at 0845 after a bus/train/bus trip. We had an appointment at 0900 and we were out of the office at 0912. *laugh* I thought it was great that we travelled 90 minutes for a 10 minute checkup. She is really pleased with how his eyes are improving and said we may be able to get rid of the glasses by the time he is 8. We had talked about coming home and LL could go to english class even though he would not be able to go back to school. But we decided instead that we would have a non stressed morning. We took the subway in to the city and went to Gallerian. LL has a birthday party to attend on Saturday, so we went to the toy store there and got a gift. Then we had an early lunch and came home.

Originally he wanted to go to McDonalds for dinner since pappa was away, but by mid afternoon he was feeling blah and complaining off and on about his tummy being sore. He had been up in the night Wednesday with the same complaint and I suspected he was finally succumbing to the bug I had a couple weeks ago. He snuggled in to bed at 2000 and was up sobbing at 0200, sporting a fever along with the abdominal pain. I got him resettled about 0300 and let his sleep in this morning. We are of course home from school and I am trying to hydrate the fever away. *laugh* As expected, entertaining a 6 year old who doesn’t feel so sick is a challenge. He is also not impressed with the toast and soup but his fever is steadily subsiding, so it is working despite his disdain. *laugh* Since our swedish teacher gave us a course outline I have done all the reading and homework for today while the kidlet watched tv.

Happily my fellow will be home tonight and we can have our evening tea together. The kidlet has not had diarrhea since his middle of the night wakeup. I have done the basics of housework and now I have time for a long hot shower. So the day is not so bad at all. *smile*

I uploaded some photos to webshots. Some of you have seen the toothless Llywellyn ones but the rest are his snowman he built last week and our trip to Junibacken yesterday. You can see them here: http://community.webshots.com/album/286571904jAjiPZ

Monday the kidlet and I went to McDonalds for lunch and then did a bit of grocery shopping. My fellow is going to a course all this week in Solna, so he headed off to the train fairly early.

Yesterday Ibo left even earlier and a bit later we headed to the train as well. We went in to Stockholm and had lunch there, then went to Junibacken (home of Pippi and other assorted Astrid Lindgren characters). There is a Mamma Mu and Kråkan exhibit there at the moment so we went to see it. I love the exhibits they have there but it would be so much cooler if they had someone dressed up as Mamma Mu (or Bämse or Mumin from previous exhibits). There was Mamma Mu’s bike and Kråkans nest that kids could climb up to, so it was fun. We checked out Kungsträdgården but the outdoor rink was just packed so there was no skating there since we now have the rink ready here at home. The basketball court has been flooded and there is a lovely rink complete with nets for playing hockey, in the common area between the complexes here.

Today we were planning on morning skating but LL decided that he really wanted to stay in today and do nothing, so that is what we are doing. He has taken a long shower, played in his room, watched tv, played some on the computer. I have been reading “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold. I have no idea who recommended this book, but it was on my wishlist and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I still feel blah, no more fever but my tummy is still very unsettled. I have lost 4 kg in the past week because I have no appetite and everything I do eat rebels quite quickly. *laugh*

Tomorrow we are going in to the city for lunch with Jennifer and then Ibo’s parents are coming for dinner. I am hoping to get LL out to skate for an hour or so tomorrow. Friday I am taking him to practice more with his skis, I found a great spot.