Sick Days

Yesterday was a sick day. Jayci and Isaiah had their throats swabbed, which tested positive for strep throat. The doctor showed them the strips, told them their throats looked angry. Later, Jayci asked me what she meant by that. Both kids’ cheeks flush pink with fever. This is how I know they don’t feel well: they dont even ask to eat the lollipops that the doctor offers after their appointment.

Yesterday, we stayed inside all day, watching Into the Spiderverse and the new Mary Poppins. I napped and Jayci and Isaiah napped, a rare and luxurious quiet seeping through the house. They ate applesauce, and Jayci worried about her angry throat. Isaiah meanwhile, seemed to respond enthusiastically to his antibiotics and when I told him he could have dessert after he got better he kept insisting he WAS ALREADY BETTER. I didn’t disagree, but still we waited one more day for dessert. He played “Ultimate Beastmaster” which is a show on Netflix he loves and involves creating elaborate obstacle courses through the house.

We haven’t had a good sleep in two weeks. Every night, a kid or two winds up climbing into our bed with a sore throat or tummy-ache. We let the boys do this because they share a room, and we hope this way they won’t wake up the other still-sleeping child. My kids, in fact, have only all gone to school two or three times in the last two weeks. One of those times is today, thankfully. I am again in a quiet house, but trying to catch up on emails and editing and laundry and dishes. Later, we will eat dinner with grandparents while Adam takes a bunch of neighborhood boys camping. He is excited, and plans on sleeping in his hammock. I groan at the thought of tackling bed-time alone and kids climbing into bed when I am already exhausted. And yet this is life, the choices we make and the ones we fall into.