Cloudy with a chance of rain

Natalie didn't feel good yesterday. Her usually-sunny disposition had a black cloud hanging over it. It sort of reminded me of that old song by Marvin Fisher and Jack Segal...

"When Sunny gets blue,
Her eyes get gray and cloudy,
Then the rain begins to fall.
Pitter patter, pitter patter..."

She started the day without an appetite and was ready for her first nap at 9:00 a.m. She felt a little warm when she woke up two hours later, so I gave her some ibuprofen. That perked her up a little, and I took her outside to play in the sprinkler, thinking it might make her feel better. I was wrong. She was ready for another nap in the afternoon, and she woke up even warmer than before. That's when I called her mama and suggested she might want to contact the pediatrician. They couldn't see her until this morning, so Natalie and Mama had a sleepless night last night. I'm waiting for a report about their doctor visit.

When Natalie's daddy was in kindergarten,

he developed an earache at -- of course -- bedtime. I had some pain drops that I administered through the night. He settled down to sleep and I started to relax enough to get some sleep myself. About that time, the pain meds wore off, and we started the process all over again. That went on all night. When I got him in to see the doctor in the morning, she looked in his ear and said, "Oh, Andrew! Ow!" Thanks, Doc, for making me feel guilty.

I suspect that Natalie and her mama had a similar night last night. That's pretty much the story of being a parent. It's mostly sunny, but you know the next storm is just a bedtime away.