We had a mystery at our house: our snail disappeared from the aquarium. We realized we hadn’t seen him for awhile, and then we peered and peered and couldn’t find him in the tank. After much peering, Paul rummaged the plants and other fish-furniture around, but nothing. We wondered if he might have crawled out through the hole in the lid around the filter? Or could he have been hooked out by a cat paw through that same small opening? Or could he be buried down in the gravel? Or…?
Today I partially solved the mystery. Driven crazy by the idea that there could be a dead, rotting snail OUTSIDE the aquarium, I used a high-powered flashlight to freak the fish completely out—but also to let me do a leveled-up peering of the inside of the tank, where I found the snail very well camouflaged between some similarly-colored rocks and the side of the fake broken Grecian urn.
The shell was empty. I think it’s safe to conclude that he moved to a farm where he’d have more room to run.
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I’m wishing quite hard for a laptop right now: Elizabeth is still sick and has been very clingy. Sometimes she just wants me to sit NEAR her, in which case I would rather be type-type-typing than half-watching Teen Titans or My Little Pony. Paul’s been doing everything else, though (all other kid-care, all dishes and food prep, bringing me the remote or the thermometer or another cup of water or a snack or a new box of kleenex, finding more shows Elizabeth might want to watch), so I’d probably feel a little self-conscious sitting there with a computer. It looks more worthy if I’m reading a non-fiction paperback or something.
I think it’s possible she was ALSO having an allergic reaction to something the day I took her to the doctor, but I think it’s more likely she was in the early stages of a virus. Yesterday her fever got to 104.5 and Paul said, “I think we might actually need to take her to the emergency room.” But we didn’t. Instead we gave her more ibuprofen and we fretted and, as she dozed on me, my mind teased me by playing through various Extremely Regret-Filled Sample Scenarios.
Last night she and I slept in the living room, so that she’d sleep mostly sitting up (she’s congested and snarfy, especially when she lies down) and so that I would sleep lightly and could keep an eye on her. I also find that such measures help me switch more quickly into the mode of EXPECTING not to get more than a little sleep here and there, which makes the nights far more tolerable. If I’m in my bed in the dark, I feel injured indignation at having my sleep disturbed; if I’m curled on the couch with the Christmas lights on, I’m grateful for each nip of sleep.
Oh, I hate the Regret-Filled Sample Scenarios. I hope Eliz. is feeling back to herself very soon!
Having the Christmas lights on makes everything a little better, doesn’t it? I’ll probably find myself sleeping on the couch by the tree this week. The other kids at the family Christmas this past weekend came down with the flu later on in the day after we saw them. My kids are sure to get it.
It’s so true that I’ve found quite a bit of parenting seems to involve managing my expectations rather than hoping things will be different.
When confronted with sick child at night it’s better if I just expect to be up half the night and mentally move on than if I keep hoping I’ll get more sleep.
Similarly I am not disappointed if I accept that I’m not going to have a chance to read an adult book until my toddler goes to bed or watch an adult TV show until both kids are in bed. If I hope to do either while they are awake I am always disappointed.
It’s all about getting in the right head space for me sometimes.
Sick kids are so hard. I hope she is feeling better soon.
Well, I’m very glad to hear that Elizabeth doesn’t have some Crazy Mystery Allergy. But a virus doesn’t sound GOOD.
And I hope that the snail has found a lot of snaily friends to romp around with on the snail farm.
Psst — should one of us disillusion Swistle and lifeofadoctorswife? I don’t want the other grownups to make fun of them, but is there any harm in letting them persist in their delusions?
NOTHING. NEVER MIND. WE WEREN’T TALKING ABOUT ANYTHING.
Obviously, the snail has gone to play in the backyard pool in a real-life version of plants vs. zombies.
I also find that I resent loss of sleep less if I’m, say, in a sleeping bag on the floor of my son’s room or both of us are in the living room, than if we’re in my bed.
i feel like this info about staying on the couch vs. trying to sleep in your own bed is Seriously Helpful Life Information. i’m filing it away.
We always had teeny tiny fish EAT the snails from our aquarium! The snails were always 2-4 times the size of the fish too!
I hope she feels better soon!
When I have a newborn, I move to the couch temporarily so that when I am awake and nursing every 2 hours I am less resentful. It’s so much BETTER than getting out of bed time after time after time.
If my children are going to get sick, I really prefer they do it prior to bedtime so that I can adjust my expectations about the next day and have plenty of time to mourn the screwed up schedule. It completely unglues me when we have a “middle of the night” illness or early morning illness. I have no time to adapt.
Which is like the bed versus couch thing. One does expect to actually sleep when one goes to bed.
Of course, you would think after all this time parenting I would know that I should expect the unexpected.
Hope springs eternal, I guess.
I remember that advice about how it was easier to get up from, say, the computer desk than your bed and I have used it since. I’m so sorry she’s still sick. Will she take a bath when she is fevery? I have been super impressed with how a bath will help. My two year old had a wicked fever and my old timey ped recommended a bath and to pour the water over her and let it evaporate. It really, really helped, so much that I just did it with my poor little 10 week old when she was fevery with her first ear infection. I hope you all get some rest soon!
Lucy and I do a good amount of sleeping on the couch as well, for similar reasons. Justin gets to remain all curled up in bed, because he “can’t function on no sleep”. Sometimes it’s REALLY HARD to remember that he can’t lactate, so this arrangement does make sense in some ways – at least he’s well rested enough to help out during the day.
I hope Elizabeth is better soon – for all of the obvious reasons, and because you have done your fair share of night waking with 5 newborns and have earned your right to sleep in peace.
Poor Elizabeth (and poor you!) I hope everyone is feeling better soon.
Yes! You explained it perfectly. I agree to sleeping on the couch because I think she can be propped up and I can watch her better, but you’re right. My expectations for sleep are lowered so I’m not as irritated. I’m sure we’ll be on the couch tonight. No fever, just sniffles, thanks to a preschool friend. Of course the older kid has a weird lingering cough I’m taking her in for tonight…nothing like illness before the holidays.
ooh, I hope Elizabeth is feeling better soon!
We had our sucker fish (I don’t know the right name…) disappear without a trace a few months ago and I never found any evidence of what happened, although I can obviously guess!
devan, that happened to the sucker fish my brother had. It used to disappear regularly, and we could never figure out where it went. One day, we saw it flow down in the water that had run through the filter. The next time he disappeared, we opened the top of the filter and he was in there, eating. Unfortunately, he miscalculated his descent one day, and we found him months later stuck to the baseboard behind my brother’s dresser (that’s where the aquarium sat). That, or he made a leap that went wrong. Either way: crispy, baseboard.
I really hope Elizabeth is on the mend soon.
Wait wait, the FISH ate the snail? That’s… bold of them.