House Arrest

Poor little Alton has caught a nasty cold. We are currently on Day Four of staying at home all day long, and it's abating very, very slowly. A slight cough kept us home and relaxing on Tuesday in hopes that a little time to rest would get him over the hump, but despite getting creative with monster trucks and dish towels, Wednesday dawned for Alton with a runny nose, hacking cough, and slightly feverish, achy head. We placed ourselves under official house arrest and are serving our time with Puffs tissues, Vicks' BabyRub, Motrin and Vaseline, and a device called the Nosefrida that I'll just describe as a "nasal aspirator" and leave it at that. We did have one semi-sleepless night, but so far I have not gotten sick and will continue to wash my hands until my knuckles are dry and cracked and accept the good "cold carma" that my friend Julie is airmailing to me: she has been sick already about four times this year, so she says that she is due for a "get outta cold" freebie and is sending it over. Thanks!
After this many days at home, you would think that Alton would be getting a little stir crazy, but he is far too inventive for that. After selecting our little storage ottoman/footstool as a repository for a dozen or so of Daddy's business cards, Alton decided that it would be even more fun to climb inside and hunker down, so that's just what he did. He accomplished this as quick as a flash, before I even realized what he was trying to do, so there was pretty much nothing for me to do but grab the camera to document the process. You can see in some of the photos how red and sore his nose and face are, and how liberally smeared they are with Vaseline to help with the rawness! Here's hoping that we kick this bug soon and that Mommy escapes unscathed.






And in somewhat unrelated news, I finished the sweater I was making for myself! The first sweater I have made for myself in probably about five years? It's a supersoft nylon/cotton yarn called Cascade Cotton Rich, and it's a cropped wrap sweater with elbow-length sleeves. I need Andy's assistance for pinning so that I can measure where to put the fasteners with the sweater actually on me, but then I'll be done!