March 13th, 2007

better, but not good

Cheek still hurts (can't yawn or stretch my jaw without substantial pain but chewing isn't too bad) but the swelling went down a bunch. No more chipmunk face. Should have taken a picture. Child care cancelled again (I think we got 3 hours last week, none so far this week or last weekend). Yesterday was mental health day and today was stomach flu. Maybe we'll see her tomorrow.

Surprising how exhausted I am. We voted this morning, which would have been a bummer missing playgroup, except I would have felt too guilty going anyway and potentially exposing under 1-year olds to mumps. Not that I haven't already, altho not knowingly then.

I'm into the country-specific stuff in _Take Your Kids to Europe_. Definitely not the strong part of this book, but otoh, there are some interesting ideas in it, and at least it isn't solid zoos. Lots of open-air museums included, historical villages, stuff like that, which I tend to enjoy. I don't think Teddy will be that interested for a little while yet, tho. I still can't quite figure out what the deal is with theme parks. They include Paris Disneyland and Legoland, but not Tivoli Gardens. Completely mysterious. Maybe they don't know about it? That seems impossible.

Author is from Portsmouth (which is where I picked up the dress a week or so ago and took Teddy to the children's museum). Funny, that. Helps explain some of the parochialism.

I'd recommend this to anyone with kids that wants to travel, and isn't sure whether to bring the kiddies along or not. It's a bummer that it is 6 years and up, but there are other books that are good for traveling with preschoolers and toddlers. I'll be reading some of them next.