Friday June 19th - Ethan is ill

So our day did not start as expected. I found Nic and Ethan in the kitchen in the morning and Nic said he thought he was going to throw up (Ethan that is). Ethan had fallen asleep around 4 or 5PM the night before and slept until the morning. Now he was asking for water and milk and he looked really pale. This was exactly what he did the day before we left for Europe while Judy and Ed where still at our house. He had a morning of vomiting and then he was fine. Sure enough a few minutes later, Ethan threw up (into the basket) the water and milk that he had been drinking. On the positive side, since he had missed dinner there was nothing solid in it. He proceeded to throw up 3 or 4 more times, in small amounts. Nic really needed to get to the office so he went off mid morning and I stayed home with kids. I had plans to get out and get supplies for our road trip the next day but it was not meant to be.



After Ethan's puke episodes were over he was really hungry. Since we had talked to the doctor before we left for Europe, we knew how to handle it. Give him small sips of liquid (but not water since it is harsh on the stomach some how) - preferably gatorade - every 10 or 15 minutes and if he keeps it down then increase the dosage. All we had was "limonade" a bubbly water that was slightly sweetened and had a lemon flavor so that would have to do. I started him off with the dosage but he quickly said he was hungry - the poor thing missed dinner. So after a few doses I let him have dry toast and hoped for best. He did keep it down.



A little later Gwyneth was hungry and I made her a bean quesadilla. Ethan caught wind of it and of course he wanted one. So I gave it a shot as he did seem to be perking up and he kept that down as well. So slowly he seemed to be on the mend. The funniest moment of the day was when I found Ethan in the kitchen with an unwrapped candy bar (about the size of a single Kit Kat stick) and he was licking it. I think he knew that we wasn't supposed to eat it because of his tummy, and somehow licking would be okay. I started to tell him not to, but tears welled-up in his eyes .... he really wanted it. So I let him have it and everything was okay. The good news for the day was that Gwyneth finished her 4th grade Singapore math books today! She earned her Wii. (We had promised her a Wii once she finished). We also told her she doesn't have to start the 5th grade books until Andrea does or school starts again .... whichever comes first.



Nic came home around 3PM still working on his mathematics. By this time Ethan had completely recovered and Nic noted that the color was back in his cheeks. So it is a little strange he's had this same thing twice now, but I guess it is just some sort of 24 hour (or less) bug. We had a little afternoon coffee and then I went out to the grocery store. We needed some dinner and few supplies for our car trip the next day. I was also having a craving for something from a French bakery. I walked by one on the way to the store with some yummy looking cakes but I knew that I couldn't carry it and the food so I had to pass. I got some things at the Carrefour, hardly anything by American standards, but still I was the person with the most at the checkout stands. The checkout guy said something to be about the lettuce - I could gather it was about the price - but my brain seemed like it was one step behind. Then he typed something on the cash register and pointed to .59 euros and I said "d'accord". (Although I think it was really .89 euros). At the end of our transaction he said something like "have a good journey" in French and I was proud of myself for understanding even if I couldn't produce a response.



I headed home and then asked Gwyneth to come back out with me to the bakery. I thought that we could get something to celebrate her math book victory and to get an early start on Father's Day which would be on Saturday. She picked out his. (Only 20 euros, oh but worth every penny). Everything on top was edible - even the think that has the stores logo on it - which I thought was a plastic pick until I picked it up! I asked if it had chocolate inside and I understood "chocolate mousse" but I didn't catch the second statement, I just assumed it would all be good.






As you can see by the photo we didn't like it at all. And we discovered that the second description of the interior was for the meringue layers (white) that you can see.

Here is a sideways picture of everyone (except the picture taker celebrating). We didn't get Ethan dressed all day in case he was going to puke anymore. (He is wearing underwear). Nic is wearing his French Father's Day shirt "No 1 de touts les papas!". The kids had picked it out the day we got the free balloons. Gwyneth have Nic a few of her specialty hand made cards and she was excited to celebrate! After dinner we did some planning for our car trip the next day. We were finally going to be able to use Veronique's car. The scheduling hasn't worked out very well up to now. We had planned on going to the beach which was 1 hour away, but the weather didn't look quite warm enough (low to mid sixties). So we changed course and decided to go to bird park nearby that Fabien had mentionned to us. The beach was nearby so it would be possible to go to the beach for a little bit if the weather cooperated (i.e. no rain).