Fever and Torture

Some days all I wish for is a whole day to sleep with NO interruptions.  With 3 small kids, a full nights sleep is something of the past.  There are some nights that are worse than others though.  Last night was one of them.  I didn't get to bed until midnight, and then from 2am to 6:30am was up 7 times with various children.  Needless to say I am dragging my butt today.

Anyway,  since its Tuesday and Tuesdays are supposed to be tales of my three boys, I will tell you about there rest of my morning.  My oldest (who had been up the most through the night) was running a fever....mild, but still there.  That was his only symptom, and I was trying to decide whether or not to send him to school. (It is only the 6th day of school after all, how can we have a sick day already).  My middle son who is now in JK and has only been going to school on the bus for 3 days had a meltdown at the thought of his brother not going to school with him.

I had decided to send Gabe to school, and hope for the best, but as the morning progressed, and the lethargy set in, I knew he wasn't going to have a good day if I sent him.  So, we broke the news to Zach that he was going to go by himself today. 

Well, you would have thought that I was torturing this poor kid.  I fought with him to get his shoes on.  Fought with him to get his sweater on.  The whole time he is wailing.  I kept trying to reassure him that everything would be fine and he'd have a great day, just like the last 3, but he was having none of it.

We got outside to head down the driveway to meet the bus and he grab onto the railing at our stairs....still wailing.  I pulled him off and kept heading for the bus.  We started down the driveway (long country driveway) and the whole way he wailed.  He told me he was going to throw up.  He said he hated school.  He said he would stay in his bed (lol....this came out because I had told Gabe if he was staying home he would be in his bed, not watching tv or playing games).  Still we pressed on.  Arriving at our pick up spot he is STILL wailing, pleading with me not to send him. 

The bus arrives and I can see the drivers face as she pulls in.  She can already tell there is an issue with him.  She opens the door, I tell her Gabe is sick and not going and that's why Zach is having a fit.  (She is wonderful!!!)  She looked at me, said OK, just give him to me.  I literally had to lift him up the stairs into the bus.  He was fighting with all he had to not get on.  She grabbed a hold of him and I backed out of the doors.  She held on to him while she closed the doors, and promised to call when they got to school.  As she backed up he was in the window and did wave goodbye to me.  The windows are tinted so I couldn't tell if he was still crying (which is probably a good thing).

I did my usual wave and watch the bus head back out our driveway and down the street and as I turned to come back to the house, I burst into tears.  That was SOOOOOO much harder than the first day of school had been.  I knew that I had to make him go otherwise we would have the same problem the rest of the year.  He needed to figure out that he can do it on his own without his brother.  I KNOW all of that, but it hurt so bad to see him that upset with me.  I felt like a horrible Mom.

I did chat with the bus driver and she said he was fine within about 5 minutes.  She reminded me that it is always so much harder on the Mom's, but you MUST do it or you create an even bigger problem the next time.

None the less, It was an awful feeling and I can't wait for him to get off the bus so I can hug him and tell him how much I love him.