"Why do hurricanes always have girl names?" My daughter asks while watching the President on TV.

I try to explain that they alternate names – boy, girl, boy, girl. But it does seem like some of the worst have been women’s names: Camille, Betsy, Gloria, and now Katrina.

Today my daughter came home with a raging fever. At dismissal, she said she had a headache and promptly took a nap when we got home (a very unusual thing, I might add). She woke up feeling like a furnace and the electronic ear thermometer revealed that her temperature was 102.8.

Immediately, we launched into "sick child mode."  I gave her 2 teaspoons of Motrin, heated up Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup, and served it to her on a tray in bed.

After a little while, her fever went down and I let her lie on the living room couch and watch a show called The O.C, which I think is a very popular show on Fox. It’s a pretty awful Southern California soap opera, but it’s also kind of fun in its awfulness.

That’s over now and she seems to be getting her energy back. She keeps asking if she’s going to school tomorrow and I keep telling her that she will be staying home and that she might even be going to see her doctor if her symptoms persist.

Reassured, she goes back to watching a Simpsons Video on DVD (she got bored of W and turned him off). I go into the kitchen to listen to the President speak from New Orleans. Seventeen days after Katrina, he’s trying to win back the nation after the debacle of Katrina and convince people that he’s firmly in charge. While not exactly contrite, he did say that "four years after 9/11, Americans do have the right to expect more."

I know that the Motrin is responsible for lowering my daughters fever so I expect her high temperature to return later this evening. Like most moms, I have a good deal of experience with high temperatures and other childhood sickness. I am not looking forward to seeing her all droopy and hot. But it comes with the territory. Of being a mother, that is. We take care of our own in the best of times and the worst. That’s all part of the job.