Pee, Poop, Cough, Snort, Book

In case you can't decipher from the title of this posting, it's been a rather stressful week (or two).

Similar to Ellie at three-and-a-half-years-old, Landon is suffering a significant potty training regression. It started with a GI bug that dis-enabled his already irritable intestinal tract, once again, from maintaining control over his bowel movements....thus, having to be placed in the shower at his preschool on more than one occasion following the "accidents" that occurred well after the virus itself had cleared. Since then, while it is clear he has regained control of both his peeing and pooping, now he seems to be relieving himself whenever and wherever he wishes (on the carpeted floor, two feet outside the bathroom door, on the couch at preschool...) just for the heck of it.

As I amply describe in A Dozen Invisible Pieces, my kids are exceptionally good at feeding off my stress levels. As I come nearer to the launch of the book, and Andrew continues to drive the marketing and promotional efforts behind the launch, I have become increasingly anxious, tired and plain-old worn out. Awaiting the opportunity to view, and sign off on the final back cover design on the book, I am days away from getting an actual fully printed and bound version of my book. The wait is agonizing. So, between my own demeanor, and the stress adopted by my children, it's no wonder my kids continue to find new and more creative ways to challenge my authority, and that we've all ended up with colds.

Landon, however, doesn't get off scott-free with just a runny nose. No, when he picks up a cold, he does so with gusto. In January, the run-of-the-mill cold the rest of us acquired, and promptly fought off, resulted in his first bout of pneumonia. This week, we thought we were on the same track with him once again, but it ended up only being his fourth ear infection in the past year, and an asthmatic flare-up requiring more oral prednisone and frequent nebulizations which collectively wire him beyond the energy levels typical of other boys his age.

After teaching a two-hour Lamaze class Thursday night through a sore throat and headache, I hurded Gabriel with me the next morning into a meeting with a woman at Bozeman's Parent Place, to discuss the planning of my up-coming book launch event at the Bozeman Public Library, scheduled for May 17th, 10:00am. The meeting went great. Gabe found a wooden slide that he LOVED in the Parent Place play area, and I came away re-energized about the book release.

Then, it was time to retrieve the older kids from school. For more on this...read the next post.

Aaahhh, the life of a stay-at-home mom/author/business owner! For more stories of otherwww.rolemommy.com women managing this crazy kind of lifestyle, check out: