Sick, sick, sick

It seems like it has been so long since we have not had a sick child in the house, but really, its only been two weeks. Two weeks today, actually. Finally we are all on the mend!

Boy B (who is 5) got sick two weeks ago today with a bad cough, fever and just acted lethargic. Wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, wouldn't move. He was miserable (adorable but miserable). His first soccer practice/game of the season was the next day and I knew he wasn't up to playing, but thought maybe he'd want to go along just to watch and at least meet the other kids on the team.

His response? "No, I don't want to. What if I cough on them and I get them sick?" This was said in a raspy, froggy-sounding voice. My heart just melted.

So, the kiddos stayed home with Grandma while Hubby and I went off to the game. Hubby is the head coach and Hubby's friend, C, is the assistant coach. It's kind of backwards, considering the fact that C is a huge soccer fan and LOVES to play and watch, and as it turns out, coach.

Then, that Monday, Boy B missed school, went to the doctor's office and we were told that he has para influenza. They did a quick strep test and a cultured test. Hubby and I thought it sounded like he had strep, but the quick strep came back negative.

We got a call the next day. The cultured strep test was positive, and where would we like the prescription called in to? So, we start antibiotics.

Wednesday, he still has a fever, Thursday morning it FINALLY breaks. Looking good to be back at school on Friday. I call his school and request his homework. Boy A brings it home with him after school.

Thursday night. Kitchen table. Two boys sitting down to do homework. Boy A, who is 8 and in 3rd grade with 2 pages of homework. Boy B, who is 5 and in kindergarten with 8 pages of homework (front AND back). Math problem: which child finishes first?

Answer: They finish at the same time.

It takes Boy A FOREVER to do his homework. He's a smart kid, he just does not like to sit down and focus on one subject long enough to finish a page of homework. Meanwhile, Boy B sits there, diligently and methodically, going through his homework one page at a time, stopping only to ask me to read him the directions. I don't understand this.

Actually, I think I do. We had discussed quite a while ago about homeschooling the kids. At the last minute, we enrolled Boy A in Kindergarten and he's been in public school since. His best year was first grade. His teacher was fabulous, she kept on him, it was wonderful! Kindergarten was good, but he slid back a lot in what he could do, second grade was horrible. Absolutely horrible. For him and for our family. It came out everywhere. Then we moved. That helped matters quite a bit, because we were in a different school.

This year, I don't know. I'm not even sure what to think just yet. Boy B does FABULOUS in school. I told Hubby years ago, when Boy A was about 5 and Boy B was almost 3, that I was pretty sure, based on their personalities at that time, that Boy A should definitely be homeschooled and that Boy B would probably do well in a regular classroom. Why do I not listen to myself? Honestly. I listen to others, doubt my own gut instinct and then my poor kiddo pays for it. And I pay for it, by having to sit next to him for an hour to make sure he gets his two pages done.

Hubby and I went shopping recently and we picked up a globe, which is not a huge deal for most people. But I have been wanting to have a globe in the house for, probably, four or five years now. I am so excited! I told Hubby that buying this globe only makes me want to homeschool Boy A even more. He said that he knew that. Maybe we can still do it.

Okay, so I started off with sickness...let's go back to that. So, last week, Boy B missed Monday through Thursday. He went back Friday. All was good. No school on Monday because of Labor Day (no sports that weekend either). Monday night, Boy B and now Boy A are BOTH running fevers. No school for either one of them the next day. And no school for Boy C because his teacher comes here to the house and we can't risk exposing her to the other boys because she visits a lot of families and some of the kids in those families have kids who are susceptible to sickness.

It's been crazy. This house of sickness. I'm so tired and exhausted. I got sick and ended up having to take a week off of work myself, this week. Thursday night, Boy B wakes up scream-crying. Take him in to get checked out because I know what it is. The doctor's diagnosis: "a rip-roaring ear infection" Hmmmmph. Can we not get ahead of this?

Okay, so here's my take on this. He had strep throat (caused by group A strep), used antibiotics which treats that (and also kills off good fighting cells too), thus making him more prone to the ear infection (caused by strep pneumo) for which we needed a different course of antibiotics. The question is...do I give him those and leave him vulnerable to yet another infection or do I forego them and just wait to see? We have done the wait and see approach with our kids before (oddly enough, it was after Boy A kept getting recurrent ear infections when he was younger that we kept treating him for) and our doctor is supportive of it. Most cases of ear infection clear up on their own in about the same amount of time it takes an antibiotic to work, but without the side effects of the antibiotic. At this point, I am taking the wait and see approach. I have the script ready to go if needed, but I'm hoping we won't need it. He's already missed almost half of his classes already this year. Poor kid may have to be homeschooled, just based on the fact that he's been too sick to be allowed in regular school. :) (Okay, so I'm not totally feeling that bad about it. I would love to homeschool him. But that's just between us.) :)