Calling out Sick

posted by Yvette

The little monster was sick! Poor little guy had a stomach bug of some sort. 

last Thursday evening at about 7:30pm, I get a text from my daughter –

(spelling as it was in text message)

Daughter: Can I go to Isbel’s party, remember it’s this Sunday ;) :p

Me: As long as your room is clean, your art poster is done and we work on your book cover. Deal?

Daughter: Yeah jude threw up and someone cloged the toilet and didn’t un clog it and so its leaking through the ceiling

I don’t think I can do the poster and the book cover all by Saturday her party is on sunday ;) :p

Me: What!?!

What toilet is leaking?

Is Jude sick?

Daughter: yup dad wants u to call or pick up ur phone ;) :p

So call my husband to find out what is going on and why I am finding out via text from my daughter who seems more worried about going to a party on Sunday.  My poor husband sounds exasperated as he tries to explain to me that our little monster had thrown up in the car on the drive home. He is not sure if he’s sick, or ate something that his tummy didn’t agree with. Then my husband proceeds to tell me that the toilet upstairs had been overflowing out of the tank (clean water thank goodness!) for who knows how long because the boys had been next door at a friends house. The water had saturated the carpet upstairs and managed to leak down into the living room! 

Lovely.

I hang up the phone and sit at my desk for another second before I run out the door.

I get home to a pile of wet towels on the living room wood floor and a rosy-cheeked little monster.

Friday morning comes and I start my weekday routine; 6am wake up, make the kids lunches: mustard only, turkey, jalapeño jack cheese on toasted bread for my 13 year old, mayo, mustard, turkey and munster cheese for my 11 year old boy, white rice and rosemary chicken leftovers in a bento box for my 11 year old daughter and finally mayo only, turkey on toasted bread for my 7 year old. I wake up the kids about 6:15 and head back down to pack the lunches.

Here come the arguments of “I’m not hungry” or “I don’t want to eat” and of course “why don’t you ever buy what I like?.

By 6:50, I am counting down to 7am which is when the first set of kids are supposed to be headed out the door and off to school and Ita’s house (my mother-in-law).

This time, my little monster tells me “my stomuk hurt” I check him for a fever and thankfully he doesn’t have one.  I tell him, “your going to be with Ita today, okay?” he say’s “no. stay at mama’s house” He’s looking at me with his giant eyes and I say “oh baby I wish I could, but I have to go to work”

“no work, I want to stay with mama”

How do I say no to that?

I don’t.

I stay home with my sick little monster….