Sick Days with Kids

I caught a nasty cold on Sunday afternoon. I went to church feeling fine. I might have been a bit paranoid that I would catch something, and now I know that was rather warranted. By late afternoon I could feel that yuckiness in my nose. It lived in my sinuses for a couple of days and then traveled down to my throat where it scratched and throbbed and stung.

I decided to take a couple of days off of my usual schedule so I could stay home and rest. That's what cures colds, right? Rest. Well, now I feel like a sucker, because I was reminded there is no rest when you have young kids at home. Silly me.

Now my schedule was a lot slower, but I still had all the old demands. What is up with children still needing to eat when the mother is sick? How insensitive! No, I'm kidding about the eating part, but there wasn't much "rest" as I used to think of it. See? Now that's the point. "Rest" used to be serving one's self on the couch with lots of movies and peace and quiet. Now my "rest" involves sneaking in school where I can, no matter how small, making the usual three meals a day plus two snacks, helping children wipe their bottoms and noses, and on and on it goes. It's rather endearing as I write the list, but when I'm going through it it only feels annoying.

Talking about meals... let me tell you about the child I have always called my "odd duck". Kaeley. One day she just stopped eating the picnic lunches I was making for her. It turns out she no longer liked peanut butter. She would rather go hours on end without eating than to have to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Last week she said she wanted a piece of toast with peanut butter and honey on it. I gave her a skeptical look and assured her that if I made that for her she would be eating it even if she had to sit at the table for half the day. It turns out she liked peanut butter, because it tasted like honey. (?) She snacked on pbj sandwiches yesterday. So today I offered her two choices for lunch. Chicken soup or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She chose the pbj. She ate half of it before asking if she could save it for snack. No. Eat it. She slowly sludges her way through this silly sandwich. I was really tired at this point of the day. I asked her in a really irritated voice, "What is wrong with your sandwich that you're not eating it?" Her answer? "Well, it has peanut butter in it." (?)

I then told all three children I was exhausted and needed everyone to stay in their beds for nap time. Yesterday I had fallen asleep for about ten minutes when I heard a literal, "Screech!" It woke me up, but then I didn't hear it again. I began thinking it was my imagination. I then heard it again. Nathan was literally saying, "Screech!" Today it wasn't him. I told Kaeley quite plainly that she could come out of the bedroom at two o'clock. IF I was still sleeping DON'T wake me up! Just find something quiet to do and let me sleep so I can get the rest I need. What does she do? She gets out of bed a little after two and then wakes me up to tell me she was a little late. (?)

Oh well. One day I'll get them back. One day they'll all be teens. I'll get sick and I'll excuse myself into my bedroom, tell them to get their school work done or they aren't going out for the weekend, and tell them what I want for dinner. I might even buy a bell to ring when I want to "fetch" one of them. I will find a way for revenge!