Humility

Oh autumn how I love thee! I will say that I can't really understand how we already have illness in our house before it's even chilly and crisp all day but so it will be.
Kait woke up Thursday telling me her throat hurt. I thought maybe it was dry. She ate breakfast and told me now her head and tummy hurt. I couldn't decide what to do so I sent her to school and sent a note to Ms. Baxter asking her to let me know if Kait looked peaked. She told me Kait was rolling along not the least bit sick. I picked her up after school and her eyes had tears standing in them and she was holding her throat. I felt like such a rockstar mom. I babied her all evening and the next morning I couldn't tell whether she was still sick or just wanting more attention. I told her she could stay home but when she saw me chopping apple slices for her math group she was reenergized and decided at the last possible second to go to school. I thought it was a short little bug. Then Jenn picked her up on Friday and took her to gymnastics in Lafayette. She said Kait was happy, high energy, and passed me on 287 as I headed to my midwife appointment. 15 minutes into gymnastics the gym staff called me to tell me that Kait was there crying and saying she had strep throat. I was then lectured on the highly contagious nature of strep throat which I had no idea how to respond to. How do I tell them that Kait thinks the name "strep throat" is another way of saying her throat hurts. Kait got on the phone crying that when she did a backbend her throat started hurting again and she wanted to go home. Jody had finally been able to make it to an appointment, but didn't get to stay for a minute of it. He hopped on his motorcycle, went home to Erie, got his truck and went to Lafayette to get Kait while Jenn sat with her at the gym. She got home, I gave her ibuprofen and shined a light down a very red and pussy throat. Aha, so maybe she had something there with the "strep throat" after all. Why do I always handle childhood illness this way? Poor darn kid. In the mean time, Kait took her continent test on Friday with strep throat and got a big fat 0. How did this happen? Oh, her pregnant, overwhelmed mother/Room Parent Coordinator/She Finds Retro/wife/cook/sock folder can stand for an ovation now... anyway here's how it went as I chopped chicken:
"Kait name the continent where giraffes are from."
"Banana (giggle giggle)"
"Kait, name the continent we live on." "America (giggle giggle)"
"Kait, are you going to study for this continent test?"
"I... don't know.... (giggle giggle)"
"You know what? Have fun on your continent test, if you don't want me to help you study, we'll see how it goes."
Um yeah, so if Mom has no patience, doesn't prepare you and sends you to school with strep in first grade, you might get a 0 on your continent test. I got a note from the teacher. She wondered about Kait's test. I told her Kait had elected not to study and I had decided that was fine so she could see the value of studying when she bombed it. The saving grace is, that Kait's teacher knows Kait's mother very well and tactfully suggested that Kait study over the weekend and retake the test so she can clearly see the value of studying. I took the lifeline.
If I make it to the end of this pregnancy and my three amazing kids are still wrapping their arms around my giant belly and telling me how much they love me and the baby... I'll assume we "survived" this very surreal experience and try to forget all of my "pregnant" moments this time around, there have been so many. I'm pretty sure everyone I know has had to pick me up and set me back on my feet at least once. So, Ms. Baxter took a turn too. That was nice... and humbling.