102.8

Oh, dear, Juma's got a fever. He came down with it Sunday afternoon ("I have a fever: one-oh-two-six"). So we kept him home from school Monday. Justin and I had to negotiate who would stay home with him and who would skip class (me).

(J: I can't skip class; I'm the TA!
S: I've got three midterms this week!
J: I've got 40 papers to grade by Wednesday!
S: I've got 6 classes and two jobs!)*

It lasted until Monday night/this morning ("My fever is gone! Ninety-eight-point-oh!"). He still had to skip school, but he felt so good today that we went out to the library and ran some errands. (We waited in the post office line for 20 minutes to buy 30 cents worth of 2-cent stamps. I somehow completely missed the rise in stamp prices. I sent my phone bill out 10 days ago, and only just got it back today--the day it's due--saying it needed two more cents to be sent. Didn't it cost them more than two cents to send it back to me?)

The fever returned, though, this afternoon, up to 102.8. Which means we'll have to keep him home tomorrow. And there's no way I can miss class, because there's a midterm. And there's no way Justin can miss class, because he's got to teach a section based off of it. And our usual babysitter--whose son gave Juma the fever--has a meeting. And we can't send him to a backup babysitter because Juma will infect their kids.

Which leaves one option: bring Juma to class with one of us, boot up a DVD on the laptop, strap on the headphones, and hope he'll last an hour with no attention from an actual human.

Why couldn't he have been sick last week, when his school was cancelled anyway? Or next week, when our school is cancelled anyway? Ah, two-student-parent families. The few; the proud; the insane.

*This conversation never happened.

scuba tip number 1: Don't Panic

I had yet another scuba diving class today. I had to take my mask off under water, put it back on, and get the water out (while still under water). We've been doing that for weeks now, but I still haven't managed it without getting water up my nose. That'll be brilliant when it's Long Island Sound seawater.

I also had to take off my buoyancy compensator (vest that holds the oxygen tank, and can fill with air to help me float) and replace it; share my regulator (the mouthpiece that I breath through) with a buddy; and ascend (slowly, at two feet a second) as if my air had run out (breathing out the whole time). Harder than you would think.

But still it's a lot of fun--and that's just at the bottom of a indoor pool. The most interesting things you find there are the occasional nickel or hair band. I can't wait until we can go diving in Zanzibar on the coral reefs, in water that's actually over 80 degrees. Just wading in the the low tide there, I've seen sea snakes, brilliantly red and blue star fish, manta rays, sea cucumbers, coral, sea urchins, crabs, flounder--all sorts of stuff.

midterms!

Ugh. One midterm this week. Three next week--three days in a row. How do they manage to hit like a blizzard?

And am I studying, or surfing the internet?

Yup, you guessed it.

take my breath away

We were listening to the radio and Juma started singing along--to a song he'd heard eariler in the day. "Take my breath...take my breath away..." he sang.

Sarah: Juma, do you know what that means?
Juma: Yes. It means a pretty girl. Girls take away boys' breath. You take away Baba's breath, 'cause he thinks you're pretty. You are very pretty, Mom.
Sarah: melting Ah, thanks, Juma.

Justin, 1979...or Juma, 2006?!?

pictures from blizzard

what are they teaching in school these days?

Juma was playing with his "pretend friends" and he threw a karate kick and said "Haiyah!" When I told him I learned karate when I was a kid, he denied what he was doing was karate.

Sarah: What are you doing then?
Juma: My pretend friends are police and they're trying to take me to jail. So I kicked them.
Sarah: trying to hide my shock Oh, did you do something bad?
Juma: No.
Sarah: Did they think you did something bad?
Juma: No.
Sarah: Then why are they taking you to jail?
Juma: Because I'm a rock star.

blizzard

Temperature 2:45pm, New Haven, CT: 22
"Feels like" temperature: 9

Temperature 11:45am, Merced, CA: 58
"Feels like" temperature: 58

Inches of snow fallen today in Central Park, NYC: 26.9
Previous record, from 1947: 26.4

Minutes it took to get Juma's snow clothes on: 6
Minutes it took until Juma said, "I'm cold," and ran back inside: 1/2

conversation with a three-year old

Juma: You should try this [root beer]. You'll like it. It's really good.
Sarah: Oh, I don't really like root beer.
Juma: When you grow up and be a dad, you'll really like it.
Sarah: I will? But I thought I am grown up and I'm a mom.
Juma: When you don't want to be a mom, you'll grow up and be a dad!
Sarah: Grabs paper and pencil and starts recording the conversation.
Juma: Finishes his root beer and wants some more. I can pour some of this myself.
Sarah: I better do it. You might spill it.
Juma: I won't! I'll get it straight in the cup.
Sarah: No, I'll do it.
Juma: Why don't you like me?
Sarah: I do. I just don't like spilled root beer on the floor.
Juma: Oh. Why you writing everything?

scuba!

Well, I did it! I scuba dove (scuba dived?) for the first time. An hour on the bottom of a 14 foot pool--now that is weird.

I even had to take off my mask underwater and replace it--full of water--and drain the water out--while still under 10 feet of water. I got some water up my nose and swallowed a bit too, but managed to avoid panic and just keep breathing (and coughing) into my mouthpiece. I also had to remove my mouthpiece, drop it, find it again, and replace it without swallowing any water. That part is actually easier than the mask test.

It'll all pay off, though, when we're in Zanzibar this summer, diving around some of the best reefs in the world.

anticipating Africa

We're planning on spending this summer in Tanzania again. Juma can't really remember last time we were there, and he's a little nervous about this next trip. Today he said doesn't want to go. I told him that he liked it that last time we were there, and he made a lot of friends.

He answered, "Okay, okay, I changed my mind! I'll go! I'll go!"