Nov
23
Stinkerbelle took a sick day from school today.
She’s not REALLY sick. In fact, she’s on the mend from a cold we’ve both had for a week or so. But she’s got this lingering cough, as do I, and we’re both a bit hoarse. This cough had her up quite a bit last night — and, by extension, so were we — so I decided that this morning it was probably best for her to stay home and have a quiet, restful day.
It’s weird being in the position to make these decisions. I remember as a kid just DREAMING of having a day at home from school. Stinkerbelle is not of the same mind. She LOVESLOVESLOVES school so she was kind of sad not to be going today. But I think she’s quite tired, too, so I think it was the right call.
But it IS strange, being the one to make the call. Between always hoping as a kid to be kept home from school, and then growing up and going to work and never feeling comfortable taking a day off (except for mental health days, because I worked in Hell) because there would be twice as much work when I returned, days off were a sweet thing.
And here I am, at 7:30 in the morning, hemming and hawing about what to do… my, how perspective changes things.
So we decided to take the day and get That Girl some rest. Last night we were out late at the mall, where I had an optometrist’s appointment — can I just say, I was looking forward to a new sexy pair of glasses, but there’s nothing like being told by a doctor young enough to be your son that you are potentially heading for glaucoma to make you feel REALLY OLD — so not only was Stinkerbelle to bed later than normal, but she was up coughing and fussing a number of times, so we’re both a little run down.
We’re parked in front of the big TV in the new-style family room, with the Christmas tree and a little picnic and watching Doctor Who (only the not-so-scary episodes). We’re eating veggie chips and squabbling over who (intentionally) knocked over whose block towers. Stinkerbelle is brushing and “styling” my hair and shouting advice at the characters on screen (“Don’t fall down, Donna!” and “Run very fast, Doctor!”) and crawling under the Christmas tree to snuggle with Duncan. I’m even knitting a little bit.
So all in all, it’s a really good sick day. (For me, anyway. Stinkerbelle’s probably a little bored. I’ll put on some Shaun the Sheep later. That’ll be fun.)
