Flying Solo, Day 5
This Tuesday afternoon finds me not at work where I would normally be, but at home with a(n) (allegedly) sick little boy.
Sick kids. Always such a tough call. I know Christopher has been a bit under the weather the last few days ... having more trouble than usual getting to sleep at night, complaining of headache, sore throat, etc. But as these symptoms usually seem to appear when he has to do something he doesn't want to do, and disappear when he's doing something fun, I've been guessing this might be more emotional, to do with Jason being away, than an actual, physical, viral-type thing.
The "I can't go to school this morning!" complaint is pretty frequent 'round our way, so I have a gold standard: you can't stay home unless you're a) running a fever, or b) vomiting. Preferably both. Neither was in evidence this morning, so I fell back on my old favourite, "Just go to school and see how you're feeling ... you can call me to come get you if you're too sick to stay." I've found 90% of third-grader symptoms disappear within seconds of hitting the pavement outside the school and seeing his friends. Not always, though.
I was heating up my lovely leftover chicken korma in the lunchroom at work when the call came. "Mom, I'm feeling really sick. Mrs. Cadigan said I felt warm to her. Can you come get me?" So I quickly ate some korma, left instructions for my 1:00 class on the board (without much confidence that they're going to be followed!) and headed off for school, where Christopher was sitting on the front step waiting for me.
No sign of fever (maybe Mrs. Cadigan has very cold hands?) but he did seem tired and listless and complained of a headache and upset stomach. So far, we've been home for about 1/2 hour and my attempts to get him to lie down and take a nap have met with little success -- after being in his room for all of five minutes he wandered out and said he had had enough sleep for now. Currently I'm trying to get him to take a nap here in my room and that's not going over so well either. He's lying on my bed trying to reprogram my clock radio, also staring at my bookshelves saying, "Mom, how many Jasper Fforde books do you have?" Doesn't this sound like someone who's well enough to be in school?
To top it all off, he just sighed and said, "I've been asleep for at least half an hour!"
Sick kids. Always such a tough call. I know Christopher has been a bit under the weather the last few days ... having more trouble than usual getting to sleep at night, complaining of headache, sore throat, etc. But as these symptoms usually seem to appear when he has to do something he doesn't want to do, and disappear when he's doing something fun, I've been guessing this might be more emotional, to do with Jason being away, than an actual, physical, viral-type thing.
The "I can't go to school this morning!" complaint is pretty frequent 'round our way, so I have a gold standard: you can't stay home unless you're a) running a fever, or b) vomiting. Preferably both. Neither was in evidence this morning, so I fell back on my old favourite, "Just go to school and see how you're feeling ... you can call me to come get you if you're too sick to stay." I've found 90% of third-grader symptoms disappear within seconds of hitting the pavement outside the school and seeing his friends. Not always, though.
I was heating up my lovely leftover chicken korma in the lunchroom at work when the call came. "Mom, I'm feeling really sick. Mrs. Cadigan said I felt warm to her. Can you come get me?" So I quickly ate some korma, left instructions for my 1:00 class on the board (without much confidence that they're going to be followed!) and headed off for school, where Christopher was sitting on the front step waiting for me.
No sign of fever (maybe Mrs. Cadigan has very cold hands?) but he did seem tired and listless and complained of a headache and upset stomach. So far, we've been home for about 1/2 hour and my attempts to get him to lie down and take a nap have met with little success -- after being in his room for all of five minutes he wandered out and said he had had enough sleep for now. Currently I'm trying to get him to take a nap here in my room and that's not going over so well either. He's lying on my bed trying to reprogram my clock radio, also staring at my bookshelves saying, "Mom, how many Jasper Fforde books do you have?" Doesn't this sound like someone who's well enough to be in school?
To top it all off, he just sighed and said, "I've been asleep for at least half an hour!"
Silver lining: An afternoon at home with a sick child should give me plenty of time to catch up on my writing as I push towards my pre-NaNo deadline of finishing the fantasy novel.
Which, of course, completely explains why I'm updating my blog.
BTW, if anyone's interested in what Jason's up to, check out his blog. And tell him to hurry home to his family who need him!!
posted by TrudyJ | 1:12 PM
5 Comments:
I hope Christopher feels better soon. I love Jason's blog posts and how you guys are keeping touch like that. It is very romantic in a techy kind of way.
Oooh, I just discovered Jasper Fforde, thanks to blogging recommendations, and I'm enjoying The Eyre Affair so much that I've got the next book on order from the library already. So how many Jasper Fforde books do you have?
Yes Tina, it's Romance for Geeks.
How many Jasper Fforde books do we have? Every one except The Eyre Affair, in both the Thursday Next and the Nursery Crime series. There are a couple of series of books for which we own every one but the first (Laurie King's Holmes/Russell novels being another) and in each case it's because I got the first book out of the library, discovered that Jason and I both loved it (rare enough) and went out and bought all the others!
I could have written this post. My son did THE EXACT thing to me on Monday. I have a "fever and or vomit" rule at my house, too. I have another rule now due to Friday's iffy sick leave situation: If you are sick, you must stay in bed and rest... WITHOUT the benefit of TV.
I found that if my kid is truly sick, he'll welcome the R and R. Otherwise, he'll think twice before having Mom come pick him up. Well... we'll see anyway. I've only tested it out once.
Yes Catherine, I have the same no-TV policy for sick leave! It's a good idea ... there's no way being home "sick" should be viewed as an opportunity to laze around and watch videos!
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