Sick Days

Whether you're a stay at home or work outside the house parent sick days with your kids can throw the whole world into chaos. My daughter had her first sick day of the school year yesterday and while I really felt for her I was also going crazy.

Her throat was sore and her stomach was really upset. This isn't that unusual considering the changing of the season and her complete dislike of super the night before. Still, I couldn't send her to school. So it was a couch day. In this house if you stay out of work or school you spend the day on the couch or in bed. No running around or playing. That's a rule for both my daughter and my husband. Neither of them like it if they're just kind of feeling bad, and the argument will convince them to go on into school/work.

Fire Hunt print release next month

Yesterday morning Lou didn't argue. So, getting any amount of writing work done was tossed out the window. Focusing on plotting/editing/creation just isn't possible for me with a child a few feet away. I did manage to get a graphic created for an upcoming release. It wasn't much, but it'll work next month for marketing.

Back with Lou. She spent most of the day under the covers either watching cartoons, playing Minecraft or reading. The reading was required. She wasn't on the brink of illness and that meant she could at least read a chapter of the book her class is reading. The way this went down was awesome.

Me: Read the next chapter of your book.
Lou: What book?
Me: The book you're reading in English.
Lou: (small smile) I left it at school.
Me: You bought the eBook because you forgot it last week too.
Lou: (shocked remorse) Awww...

It was great. Lou spent her allowance on the eBook copy of Tales of a Forth Grade Nothing last week because she'd forgotten it at school. Her homework was to read a chapter. If she didn't she'd have to walk a few laps at recess. Instead of losing play time she offered to pay for the book herself.

I didn't get to sit down with her and read. Laundry was calling my name by this point and because Lou was stuck to the couch I picked up her normal chores with the animals. Basically watering, letting them in and out, and keeping them out of trouble.

Nothing is more entertaining than a cat gently walking across memory foam. Their paws sink because of the foam and they constantly feel like they are going to fall. For a cat this is extremely uncomfortable. Shadow, the fluffy grump, has found a way to lay on the bed without dealing with the memory foam. She just dumps over the laundry basket and lays on the laundry.

Anyway, the first sick day of the year cam to pass. Keeping Lou down and enforcing the reading was the key to set the tone for this school year. This morning she woke up complaining about having to do the catch up from missing a day. A swift reminder that she could have tried to go to school yesterday and she was a little less upset about extra work.