Yesterday, Nathan complained of a headache in the morning, but I sent him to school anyway. After lunch, the secretary called to say he was in the office complaining of both a headache and a stomachache. I told her he probably just wanted to come home and play video games, and to have him rest in the office and stick it out for the rest of the day. At 3:30 he called and asked me to come pick him up because he didn’t feel well enough to walk the eighth of a mile home.

He was white as a sheet when I picked him up. We had to stop at the township library to get Ryan a book for a report, and I asked Nathan to wait with Kaitlyn in the children’s room. When I went to get them, Nathan had fallen asleep face down with his cheek on a puzzle piece. He asked if he could get some hot chocolate on the way home, that it would make his stomach feel better.

Now, I have been a mother for eleven years. I have dealt with everything from RSV to Roseola to Bronchiolitis. I know that when kids are sick, especially if they say their stomach hurts, it’s best to stick with clear, easy to digest liquidy things until they feel better. However, I must have forgotten that as I drove through the McDonald’s drive thru for hot chocolate and a juice box for Kaitlyn.

Nathan came home, drank the hot chocolate, and then promptly ran into the bathroom and threw it up. Oh yes, my instincts were just excellent on that one.

I sent him to bed and he went without protest, and slept for two and a half hours. The rest of us ate dinner, and just as we were finishing up, Nathan walked into the kitchen half-asleep, asking for help getting his lunchbox down. An alarm bell went off in my head, and I sent Chris for the thermometer. Sure enough, 101.9. Peachy. I settled Nathan on the couch with a glass of cool water to sip through a straw, and a cool washcloth. I know kids’ temperatures go up while they sleep, so I was relieved when we took his temp again an hour later and it was normal.

This morning, however, he was hot and pale again, so I kept him home from school. He’s been on the couch all day, we watched “The Game Plan” (funny movie, I’ll have a review soon), and all he has had is water and apple juice. My poor sick little man.

Oh, and Chris flew to Orlando today for a three-day work training session. Freaking Orlando! Before he left, he had to use the snowblower to clear ours and our neighbor’s driveways and sidewalks of the two inches of snow that fell overnight. I don’t know how warm it is in Orlando, but it has to be warmer than here. I’m just glad Nathan isn’t more sick since it’s just me with the three kids until Saturday night.

But does that mean that every time a kid complains of a headache, that they should stay home? No, not necessarily. And that’s the difficulty a parent faces where sick kids are concerned-how to know when they are “crying wolf” and when it is real. You just have to trust your instincts, sometimes they will be wrong, but most of the time they are probably right.

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