Nick is at home, sick yet again. Yesterday, I took him to school just before lunch and he finished out the day even though he really wasn't feeling at all well. I imagined him sitting there, coughing all over his desk, his nose running, that clogged-up feeling in his head and chest that only being home will ease. Last night, he said he was scared, that his chest felt bad and he thought it was going to get tough the way it does almost every spring. Today, he wasn't well enough to go to school at all, but I didn't make a final decision until 12:30 pm. It didn't help that I only got four hours of sleep last night, so making a decision involved bugging Mike at work at least twice to report on Nick's statistics and get his opinion. It didn't help that last week, the school sent us a letter defining the number of days Nick has missed from school this year and warning that this was bad. As if we didn't already know.
This letter has me worried. It was signed by Nick's teacher and the principal, causing me to agonize over whether to send him to school or keep him home when he really is too sick to learn anything. In a way, I'm a lot like those people who decide whether or not to cancel class due to snow. At the beginning of the year, it's easy. Snow in the forecast? Snow day! Yay! In fact, early in September, we let Nick go with Adrian to the Puyallup fair and skip a whole day of school. I was honest with his teacher about it, feeling that it was futile and just wrong to lie with two excited fifth graders chatting about their day off from school. Plus, I didn't want to have to coach Nick to keep quiet about it. We don't usually let Nick skip school for anything since he loses an average of 15 days a year to illness. Somehow, we let our resolve slip and let him go to the fair. Now, I wish I could have that day back.
Today was day ten and it's only February. March and April are the worst months for him because of RSV season, sometimes costing him two weeks of class time. You might know RSV as that virus that keeps preemies at home for their first months with few visitors because of the risk of catching it with their undeveloped lungs. Well, Nick has had pneumonia from RSV five or six times. I'm losing count. So losing more time from school is almost inevitable. Crap!
Now, it's as if there are eight inches of snow on the streets and I'm still trying to figure out how to keep from calling it a snow day. Nick's school subscribes to IXL, an online math program. It's a good program and Nick even says it's fun once he gets going. It's also a good yardstick to see if Nick is well enough to manage at school despite being sick. This morning, Nick couldn't add six plus three. He could barely sit up in the chair and kept misreading the computer screen. The math was simple, but he kept making mistakes, so I knew he needed to stay home. He isn't savvy enough to fake it yet. Plus, he kept sneezing all over the keyboard instead of into his elbow. Ew!
I canceled everything, tried to nap, and played with the dog so he wouldn't miss a walk so much. I didn't get to the store. We're almost out of milk. I didn't walk with my friend and her dog. I watched television with Nick. I hate watching a lot of television, especially those inane tween shows. We read together for a while. I made soup and tea, doled out medicine, and picked up tissues that missed the waste basket. And nothing I do, really, can stop this virus from running its course, so I'm probably going to call a snow day tomorrow, like it or not.
Thank you for listening.
This letter has me worried. It was signed by Nick's teacher and the principal, causing me to agonize over whether to send him to school or keep him home when he really is too sick to learn anything. In a way, I'm a lot like those people who decide whether or not to cancel class due to snow. At the beginning of the year, it's easy. Snow in the forecast? Snow day! Yay! In fact, early in September, we let Nick go with Adrian to the Puyallup fair and skip a whole day of school. I was honest with his teacher about it, feeling that it was futile and just wrong to lie with two excited fifth graders chatting about their day off from school. Plus, I didn't want to have to coach Nick to keep quiet about it. We don't usually let Nick skip school for anything since he loses an average of 15 days a year to illness. Somehow, we let our resolve slip and let him go to the fair. Now, I wish I could have that day back.
Today was day ten and it's only February. March and April are the worst months for him because of RSV season, sometimes costing him two weeks of class time. You might know RSV as that virus that keeps preemies at home for their first months with few visitors because of the risk of catching it with their undeveloped lungs. Well, Nick has had pneumonia from RSV five or six times. I'm losing count. So losing more time from school is almost inevitable. Crap!
Now, it's as if there are eight inches of snow on the streets and I'm still trying to figure out how to keep from calling it a snow day. Nick's school subscribes to IXL, an online math program. It's a good program and Nick even says it's fun once he gets going. It's also a good yardstick to see if Nick is well enough to manage at school despite being sick. This morning, Nick couldn't add six plus three. He could barely sit up in the chair and kept misreading the computer screen. The math was simple, but he kept making mistakes, so I knew he needed to stay home. He isn't savvy enough to fake it yet. Plus, he kept sneezing all over the keyboard instead of into his elbow. Ew!
I canceled everything, tried to nap, and played with the dog so he wouldn't miss a walk so much. I didn't get to the store. We're almost out of milk. I didn't walk with my friend and her dog. I watched television with Nick. I hate watching a lot of television, especially those inane tween shows. We read together for a while. I made soup and tea, doled out medicine, and picked up tissues that missed the waste basket. And nothing I do, really, can stop this virus from running its course, so I'm probably going to call a snow day tomorrow, like it or not.
Thank you for listening.
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