When Jake came downstairs he informed me that he did not feel well and that he had a sore throat. I pushed him hard to go to school. I even packed his lunch and put his backpack in the car when we went to the bus stop. He was adamant, however that he did not feel well enough to go to school. So in the end I let him stay home. This put the kibosh on my plans for the day. I wanted to go to the post office, the supermarket and Max and Rebecca had a dental appointment. I really couldn’t do the first two with a sick child in tow and the dentist would be a challenge.
After Nate boarded the school bus we retreated homewards, Max and Rebecca’s appointment wasn’t for over an hour. After puttering about I loaded up the van and drove to the dentist’s office. This was only their second visit to the dentist so they were a little apprehensive. We discussed for a bit what was going to happen today. I told them that their teeth were going to become sparkly clean. Max, for whatever reason, objected to that idea. He announced that his teeth were going to become cool. Rebecca then replied that her teeth were going to be pretty. They went back and forth for awhile.
Once we got to the Dentist’s some of their bravado disappeared. I trailed after them when they were called to the back. They both balked at the entrance to the room, in the end the sat in my lap. Rebecca was fairly cooperative. She passed on the mechanical tooth polisher, but was very willing with the regular toothbrush.
Even kitties need to brush.
Max was a bit trickier. At first he refused to open his mouth and kept his fingers in the way. I was finally able to get him to grudgingly agree with the promise of filling the wading pool when we got back home. Oh, and did not want any toothpaste on the toothbrush. All throughout this Jake was very helpful in corralling whatever sibling was not in my lap.
When we were finished I called Larry at work to consult with him on what I should do with Jake. I was trying to decide if I should take him to the pediatrician. Since Jake gets Strep throat at the drop of the hat, we decided I should take him in. I really did not want to go, but it is rare for him not to want to go to school and to complain about being sick. When we arrived I was happy to see that the waiting rooms were not crowded and our two favorite Doctors were on duty.
After a short wait we got called back to the examining room. The Doctor took a look at Jake’s throat and was amazed at how red and raw it was. She then snuck a peek at Max and Rebecca, but they were fine. Jake then got the joy of a throat culture. Unfortunately she was so vigorous that she caused Jake to gag. After he was sick she admitted to the staff it was her fault and apologized to all. Ten minutes later we got the results. Yes folks, it’s Strep once again. Prescription in hand we left to get it filled and then go home.
Once home we all settled down for lunch. When I was halfway through my sandwich the phone rang. I decided to answer it. It was the school. The caller identified herself and then said everybody is fine. Hmmm, I thought, why are you calling me?
It turned out that Nate had a little incident on the playground. His arm got stuck between a pole and the slide (he had been trying to reach someone while playing freeze tag). By the application of a lot of liquid soap they were able to ease the arm out. Nate was then sent to the clinic (aka the nurse’s office) to get cleaned up and checked out. He was just fine. His arm was a little red and very clean. I was in formed that the principal and the two assistant principals were investigating this and that the equipment would be fixed to prevent this from happening again.
All throughout this conversation I was being treated with kid gloves. As she was winding down she mentioned that nothing can be completely childproof when large numbers of children are involved. I then commented that it is truly amazing what kids can do. They can stick there arms and heads in the oddest places. Having now established myself as a reasonable parent, I could hear her relax at the other end of the line. I thanked her for calling me and expressed my appreciation that they were able to free my child.
When Nate got home I asked him about his little adventure. He told me he got a little scared that he wouldn’t see me again. I told him I would always go to him if he needed me, no matter where he was. I said if the soap hadn’t worked they would have gotten someone to cut away the pole or call the fire department. If the fire department came they would use something called the Jaws of Life to pry away the bar. He thought that sounded pretty cool.
I think that was a pretty full day.
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