Owen hadn’t felt the best all weekend but it was never anything serious (i.e. no fever)—he just seemed more tired than normal but nothing that out of the ordinary.
So come this morning, he was even MORE tired than normal, but I still didn’t think much about it because it was Monday and he’s been tired every morning. I didn’t think he wanted to miss school because he loves school, but I thought maybe he was milking it a little more.
He ate his breakfast but didn’t eat as much as he normally would. Then instead of playing afterwards, he just curled up on the couch. Hmmm. Okay. So then the alarm rang to get ready for the bus stop and he got up and walked to the foyer but wasn’t putting his shoes on. He said he didn’t feel good. Well, he’d been saying that all morning so I wasn’t really sure what to think.
So as I was debating what to do (make him go to school, keep him home) he vomited all over. Four times. Poor Owen. And poor me because he was ROOTED to his spot on the floor and couldn’t move five steps into the bathroom to hit the toilet. At least it was 1) on the wood floor and 2) not AT the bus stop or ON the bus.
So he was obviously staying home…but of course then he felt better and wanted to go to school. And when I told him he was staying home he suddenly wanted to color and play and watch TV. Sorry, kid, right now you’re going back to bed since you’ve told me all morning how tired you are and want more sleep. I told him after he rests awhile he can come down to watch TV (I’m not evil, LOL, I remember the fun of watching TV while I was home sick).
So he was kind of upset and Katie was a HOT MESS because she was already ready to go—with coat and boots on—and she did NOT want to get undressed. So I sent Owen up to change into jammies and rest and he had a fit because he did not want to rest…but he finally went upstairs. I set him up with a barf bucket and tucked him in. And he was back downstairs less than 10 minutes later. So I explained that he’d been complaining how tired he was all morning and how he was practically sleeping on the couch so he needed to rest to get healthy…and we had a talk about how staying home from school sick doesn’t mean we can have fun and play games and watch TV all day. Staying home sick meant you had to rest. So back up he went, where he stayed for about 30 minutes. Okay, fine. Then I let him watch TV.
He seemed to be feeling better around lunch and ate a piece of toast with peanut butter. Then I made him lay down for a nap when Katie took hers and he rested but I’m not sure he ever slept (though his eyes were closed when I went up to check on him—and I think if he had heard me, he would have popped up). So he got to crash on the couch and watch a movie. This is how I found him. Such a boy. 🙂
And after Katie got up I happened to get a call from a friend asking if I could go rescue her son from their front porch because she hadn’t made it home in time and he would be wondering why he couldn’t get in the house. 🙂 So I dashed through the back yard to go get him and when he came in the house, it was GAME ON. It was like Owen had never been sick. Running and jumping and playing and screeching like nobody’s business. 🙂
Interesting sidenote. When I called the attendance line, you didn’t get to talk to anyone and you just left a message—and they asked what the doctor said or what the symptoms were. Then about 4:15 I got a call from the school confirming that Owen was home sick and what his symptoms were. Apparently they keep track of these things? In case…they need to know who Patient Zero was?