Girls were in rare form today. A bunch of things:

M stayed home from school. At 11, we went to school to pick up A to take her to the doctor, along with M. On the way, she said some funny things – "Mommy, your car is so cool. When you put on your seatbelt, it stops beeping, and when you put those arrows on, the car turns. How did you get this car? Did it cost a lot of money?" I said, "Yes."

We picked up A, who had had Show, Tell and Share today. She brought in Chirpy, a small stuffed chick that came in the Easter basket from Nana and Grampy. I asked her what she said about Chirpy in class. She said, "This is Chirpy. It makes a chirpy sound, it is very soft, and it is very special because Grampy gave it to me for Easter."

Then we went to the doctor. M went first – she had a throat culture and was very brave – minimal gagging and no tears. While we were waiting for the results, A asked me whether she had to have a throat culture. I said that if M's test came back positive, she did, but that if M's test came back negative, she didn't. She was in tears even before the nurse came back in to say that M's test was positive for strep. By the time she said "It's positive," A was in full-scale sobbing mode. That made it easier for the nurse to do the culture, because her mouth was wide open. The whole time, A cried to me, "I KNEW I was going to need a strep test and YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T THINK I WOULD. YOU WERE WRONG, MOMMY!"

I had to go back to the front desk to get A's chart pulled, and I could hear her sobbing the whole time – from pretty far away. So could the other 200 people in earshot. When I got back to the room, M was crying too because she was trying to talk to A, who wouldn't listen.

A's test, of course, was negative.

Crying continued until at least 4 miles away from the doctor's office, and abated only when we stopped at the pharmacy and I said they could each pick out some candy and a coloring book. A later said that the candy she picked – Dots, at my recommendation – was the worst candy she'd ever eaten. M got Dots too but she claimed to like them, possibly to spare my feelings. 🙂

Also on the way home, A said, "I do not want to have a healthy lunch today." She also claims that she can't eat anything because the throat culture is making her throat hurt so much.

So one has strep and one doesn't. My prediction: A spikes a fever just in time for her birthday, needs another culture, and has it too by the end of the week. Please prove me wrong, fates.

M has to stay home tomorrow, poor pup, but she's on meds so she can return on Wednesday. A will go to school as planned. It's "Bagel Bop" day, whatever that is.

Oh, and my healthy snack of carrots and dip which I sent to school this AM was rejected because carrots are apparently a choking hazard.

And all that was before I went to work.

Long day.