Stormy weather

We had storms on Friday night, but nothing too dramatic. The worst of the weather traveled south of us. Since I've seen two tornadoes in my lifetime already, that was quite OK with me. The weird part is that hours after the storms passed, our power went out. As near as I can figure (since the backup battery is worn out in my bedside clock), the power went out around 2 or 3 a.m. and it came back on about 6 a.m.

No problem, right? If the power is going to go out, at least it's not during the evening, when you might be forced to think of something to do besides watch TV, or during the daytime, when you might be tempted to repeatedly open your refrigerator, even though you know that that means your food will start going bad that much faster. Or during the morning, when you can't help wondering how long the outage will last and what effect this will have on your plans for the day.

The problem however was Allie. Specifically, the fact that long ago, Allie's daddy trained her that in order to sleep, she needs to have white noise. He's bought her two different sound machines, though she usually uses a fan instead. Well, the fan quit. And Allie woke up. And Allie couldn't get back to sleep. Period.

That should be the end of that story, right? Allie couldn't sleep, but hey, she's 9 years old. She should be able to lie awake in bed until she drops off again, right? Oh, no. She called for me and asked for some kind of night light. In the dark, I fumbled for one of Greg's lanterns that has a night light function and a flashlight function. And I stumbled back to bed and fell asleep.

Then she called for me and said she couldn't sleep without white noise and I had to do something. I told her I wasn't working for the local utility this week and that she just needed to deal with it. Then I stumbled back to bed and fell asleep.

Then she called for me and said she just couldn't sleep. She asked if I would help her get batteries for her latest sound machine. Where was Greg during this drama, you may ask? He was downstairs, either sitting outside on the porch or napping on the couch. So I told her to go downstairs and ask him to help her. She had a flashlight, after all. I told her not to call me again.

Believe it or not, I had actually fallen asleep again when she called me again. Of course, idiot that I am, I was out of bed and stumbling down the hall before I really was awake. This time, she was holding her garbage can and saying that she thought she needed to throw up. I got her up and into the bathroom and nothing happened. Eventually, I told her that I didn't think she had a stomach bug, just that she was full of nerves from not sleeping. I made her get back into bed, gave her the warning-of-death, and went back to bed.

And that was the last time she called for me, though the power outage lasted another couple of hours. And now I'll refrain from telling you the story of how she's afraid now to ride her bike because she doesn't want to fall off and break another bone. It's hell raising an emotional child.

What's up

My daughter Allie has been away from home for almost two weeks now. Summer camp, of a sort, at Nanny and Papa's house. Shortly after Allie got her cast off, Julia, Allie and I went off to Illinois for what was expected to be six days--so the girls could enjoy my in-law's company and their in-ground pool. Trips to the zoo, children's museum, and shopping were also promised.

It turned out to be a delightful vacation, especially for Greg, who got to pretend he was back to being a bachelor. At the end of the six days, Allie asked if she could stay another four days or so. She wanted more time to work with her cousin Emily at learning to swim and she wanted exclusive time with her grandparents. So Julia and I came home and Allie stayed.

Then Allie asked if she could stay a little longer, and we agreed. So now it's been almost two weeks and we're not sure when she's coming home. It's supposed to be tomorrow, but that predicated on my father-in-law coming to Wisconsin to trout fish. Which he may not do if the weather predication stands as it is right now. I'd be willing to drive down to pick up Allie anytime. But does she want to come home? My mother-in-law said last night that she wants to adopt Allie. Allie's daddy said, "Hell, no."

In other news, Julia is eagerly looking forward to her 6th birthday next week. The two of us went shopping for birthday supplies and decorations the other day and she picked everything pink. That's better than a Barbie theme or something, I suppose, but my goodness. She's such a girl!

She's free

Allie got her cast off today, almost five weeks to the day after she fell off her scooter in the road in front of our neighbor's house and broke her leg. She pretty much had a cow while the physician's assistant did the cutting of the cast. She was almost hyperventilating.

Then she had to walk down the hall a bit to get an x-ray and at first, she wouldn't put any real weight on her left leg. It took some persuasion and some literal hand holding. Even tonight, when we went out to celebrate her freedom, she walks quite slowly and stiffly. I have high hopes for improvement over the next few days.

She doesn't have to go back to see the doctor again, unless things aren't looking up by four weeks from now. Hopefully, this little adventure is now past us.

We had cake tonight too to celebrate--the inscription says, "YAY, Allie!"