Tuesday June 7

A seemed a little better this morning -- more energy, temperature down -- but he seems to have an eye infection in both eyes.  I've been cleaning them out with warm water and applying breastmilk, but I can't keep his hands off his eyes.

I didn't need to do much in the garden, just adjust the soaker hoses a bit and switch the water supply from one garden to the other mid-day.  I did water some areas with seeds that looked dry on the surface with the watering can, but it went very quickly.  A neighbour came by to take another load of the topdressing, and he saw the hoses set up and was very interested in them.  And it's no wonder, because they are awesome.  The transplants have perked right up and seem to have grown overnight.  The beans are starting to come up, the peas are all up about an inch, and the nasturtium seeds that I saved two years ago (I think) have started popping up.  I wasn't sure if they would germinate.  And I saw a few little leaves coming up around the cucumber where I planted the lettuce mix.

That was about it for us going outside today.  A was cranky and warm again by noon; I spent a lot of time carrying him around.  R and M and S were busy building forts in the corners between couches, stacking up couch cushions and tossing blankets over them, and building blanket piles and cushion towers for jumping.  D worked on some math and we worked on some memorizing.  He has been reading The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make: A Guide for Teens by Sean Covey.  He picked it up at the library.  It's full of funny little anecdotes and comics, which he keeps on sharing with anyone in earshot as he reads it.

PBJ for dinner tonight.  Well, PBJ for those going to scouts/meetings, leftover pancakes for the rest of us.  I recently made a meal plan for the month and corresponding grocery list, but I'm not really following it with these sick kids.

Miraculously, A fell asleep and stayed asleep at around 6pm.  I ended up rushing around to get caught up on the cleaning.  I even managed to vacuum and clean the bathroom (well, parts of it).  I also went outside to turn off the hose.  Parts of the surface were still dry, but I think the way it works is that the water spreads out as it travels down.  I noticed that the ground along the edge of one of the beds was very moist, and there were big nightcrawlers up on the surface of the garden.  There was a mating pair just by one of the zucchini plants.  I'm hoping that's a good sign, and it doesn't mean that I put in too much water.