don’t blink

We just finished a bout with the infamous cocksockie virus, also known as hand, foot and mouth disease. Why on earth anyone would give such a not big deal virus such a grossly intimidating name is beyond me. Not to say that the virus was a cake walk. It was miserable. Finley didn’t want to eat due to the fact that his mouth and throat were full of canker sores. Add a dash of fever and a sprinkle of body aches and you have a really unhappy almost-three-year-old. We spent the Fourth of July in the ER, waiting to be told he had what we already had figured out he had, but what our pediatrician said he did not have.

Today was better though, we spent the day in Central Park among the hustle and bustle of European tourist. Our dollar may be weak but the rest of the world seems to be doing just fine. We laid around in the grass while Finley blew bubbles, played soccer and ate rice cakes. He was clearly feeling better.

In other news, there was a very interesting story in the times about noise complaints regarding children. I was a great article. It really captured all the feelings involved with this kind of neighbor dispute. I want to photocopy it and shove it under my downstairs neighbors door. I printed it out just in case. Not that the article made a case for people with kids, it just used the right language. They talk about how the whole thing makes the parents feel persecuted. That is exactly what it is, its like you are somehow being punished for making the choice to have a kid. Anyway, read it for yourselves here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/realestate/06cov.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20noise%20children%20make&st=cse&oref=slogin