sick day (lyn)

Yesterday morning Alexander comes into my room around 7:30.  “I don’t feel well.  Can I skip school today?  Puh-leese.”  “No,” I say,  assuming his senioritis is just getting worse.

Alexander comes home around 4:30 and feels warm.  His temperature is 101.7.  I feel terrible.  I hear him on the phone with his grandmother.   “When I told her this morning that I was sick, she didn’t believe me…”  Do others really need to know? I feel bad enough as it is.

Today Alexander stays home with a fever of 101, and I try to remember…is it starve a fever or feed it?  I do an internet search and find an article in The NY Times that says neither strategy works.   Just rest and fluids seem to help.

“Can you get me some ginger ale?”  I go out in the cold rain and come back with three, 2-liter bottles.  I don’t want to risk being a bad mother two-days in a row.  “Can you hand me the remote?”  “Can you heat me up some soup?”  “Can I watch a pay-per-view movie?  “Can you serve me some blueberries and strawberries?”  “Can you go in the other room so I can concentrate?”  I’m surprised he doesn’t ask me to tie his shoes.  But that’s probably because he’s not wearing any.

By five, Alexander’s appetite is back, and his fever is in check.  I make a roasted pork tenderloin with vegetables, and add to his plate potatoes and a Caesar salad.  We watch Fair Game, a Netflix movie I’ve had for about two weeks.  


I hate when my baby is sick.  But hanging out with him is nice.