Cold and flu season—when can the kids go back to school?

by Jennifer Dyer

A few weeks ago, my eldest child had a slight fever and developed a cough. No big deal. We kept her home over a weekend, and by Monday she was ready to take on life again.

Not so with the rest of us. Over the next few days, the three of us dropped, one after another. First, our 5-year-old came down with a fever and didn't move around much, which is not typical. As she is still nonverbal and autism has left her with sensory system issues, I couldn't tell what else bothered her, but I knew she'd have to stay home. Sadly, hubby came down with it that same day, so we left him alone in the guest room, and I tried to keep my daughter occupied elsewhere. Not an easy task. We went for a very long walk in her creaky, too-small stroller, and I tried to keep her quiet in the house.

How did she stay quiet? She pulled every single book off of our bookshelves, flooded our bathroom, dumped clean clothes all over the floor, tortured the dog, dumped markers onto the carpet, colored on the floors, and smeared glitter glue all over her face. She also found a step stool and used it to get the bottles of lotion I'd put in the top of my closet so she wouldn't smear them into the carpet ... again.

Where was I this whole time? Right there with her! She's so fast, I should know better than to take my eyes off of her for even a second, but what's a mother to do? When I left the room to toss in a load of laundry, answer nature's call, clean up a mess she'd left behind, or fix her something to eat, she'd get into something else.

This reminded me of having a 2-year-old, which is about where she is developmentally. But her motor skills are those of a 4-year-old. Not such a good combination. Plus, I am not in the same shape I was the first time I had a 2-year-old, a fact of which my body continues to remind me. During the week, I succumbed to the girl's illness and spent the next few weeks coughing like an old, backfiring car and shuffling between the couch, the car, and the microwave to fix the kids something to eat. Fun, fun. 

And to think, I'd been worried a few weeks ago when nothing disastrous had happened and told the Lord I had nothing to write about. I will think twice before making that kind of statement again ... 

Comments

[Susan T]

Sorry your family has been sick. It seems it has been a very long 'sick season" already and we haven't even gotten into winter. We have had some kind of viral thing that has held on for 6 weeks here. Hope things are on the upswing at your house!

[Penny]

Hang in there, Jennifer. I could have written that post a few years ago. My daughter w/ asd is now 10 and with RDI(r), she's made a lot of incredible progress. The dumping of bookshelves, clean clothes, lotion, etc etc etc is mostly a memory. She sometimes has sensory "surges" which I have learned through experience are associated with an oncoming illness, usually strep throat or a sore red throat that is negative for strep. FROM ONE MOM TO ANOTHER, IT GETS BETTER! :)