Sick Children

My children are getting "sick" right at the end of the school year. Natalie missed school on Wednesday because she had a fever or 101.9 degrees Fahrenheit, a sore throat and headache. I was off on Thursday, and although Natalie did not have a fever or headache, she stayed home because her throat was really sore. She didn't look that sick to me, but we let her stay home and told her to get ready to go to school today (Friday). She had an all day field trip to The Main Event, a big "entertainment" place where they can play different types of games including bowling and laser tag, so we figured if she didn't play too hard, it would be an easy day for her anyway. Well, she texted us after lunch to ask us to pick her up. Her teacher even said that she looked good this morning, but then started to look pale. She came home and went to bed but I can hear her coughing from time to time.

Meanwhile, Eric was doing fine, but he has been super busy. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he has Jiu-Jitsu from 5-6pm, and on Tuesdays he has piano lessons along with his sister from 5-6pm. On those days, he has to get home and quickly change so he can go to the neighborhood swim team practices which are 6:30-7:30pm Monday-Friday. He doesn't get to bed until around 8:30pm every night because of that, and we have always gotten him in bed by 8pm on school nights. I also usually bring him lunch to his school once a month when he has Art Class, but they didn't have an art class this month, so I offered to bring him lunch today. Everything looked normal until I got there. He was "really cold" and had his arms inside his T-shirt because he was so cold. I'm usually cold but I was okay, so I let him use my sweater. I bring a sweater everywhere in the summer when I know I will be indoors because of all the over-airconditioning around here). He was eating his lunch as per his routine when suddenly he started complaining about his feet hurting. I thought that it was just his feet falling asleep, but after quite a while, he was crying and inconsolable and the "soreness" didn't go away. What could I do but bring him home? He doesn't have a fever or other symptoms, but he fell asleep very quickly after we got home and I put him in bed (now complaining that his legs were sore now also). Hopefully he will be better after a good nap because he is signed up for a Jiu-Jitsu tournament tomorrow (that he has been looking forward to).

Alex has been mostly well, but he has had a cough, likely due to allergies. He was asked by his magnet school principal to read out the names of awards recipients at their awards ceremony last night. Alex turned him down because he thought all of that talking would make him cough more.

I am on call tonight, my third call in two weeks. I'm still tired from the calls last Tuesday and last Saturday. That's two 16-hour calls and one 24-hour call and about 100 total hours in two weeks. I need to make it through tonight and I will only have one 16-hour call in all of June. The kids have less than two weeks of school left. I think we're all tired, but we all have to hang in there just a little while longer.