Laryngitis Not Recommended for Moms

I have had laryngitis a few times in my life, and typically I have been able to continue on with all of my usual activities. Even as a teacher, I didn't miss a class; when I lost my voice I simply put everything I wanted to say on overheads (yes, we still used overhead projectors in those days), and my students did fine.

Well, once again I have lost my voice (I've had a cold/flu that has turned into a sore throat and laryngitis), but I am finding that it is not as easy just to carry on, now that I am a mom.

While it is true that on a typical day I might feel that my children aren't listening to me, I have to admit that I always hope they might. Now they can't even hear me--let alone listen to anything I say. It is quite discouraging!

So, since I can't talk, I thought I'd take the opportunity to write about some of the things I can't do without a voice.

Believe it or not, these three require some immediate correction from time to time.



Without a voice, it is hard to remind Alaina not to pull Janae's hair

 

or to caution Janae against giving Frisco too much love.

 

I can't intervene when Benjamin has one of his wild ideas--like spying on the neighbors (although in this case the size of his step ladder was a bit of a help),

 

and I can't sing Alaina to sleep (when I tried I sounded like the crib toy when it is running out of batteries).

 

I thought things might get better when Jason came home, but they actually got worse. When I tried to explain a few things to him (believe me, I had a few saved up by the time he got home!), he turned away to tickle Janae--causing me to try to raise my non-existent voice. As you can imagine, he had a hard time holding back a smile at the sound of that, which made me even more upset--which led to more voice strain.

So, I guess I'll be sticking to compiling photo evidence and written documentation over the next few hours. . . .

Moms really do need to talk!