Sick kids

Family:1 , Flu: 4

As of this writing, only Dad is still standing. I cancelled classes today. Spent the morning working from home (catching up on grading and downing 2 pots of herbal tea). Tried to hide in our "home office" (the desk in the corner of the family room) but the kids were a bit of a distraction. Funny how kids who have been raised every bit as much by Dad as by Mom, when sick, suddenly retrench so that they only want MomMomMom all the time.

When Jeremy left for work at lunchtime, the kids and I went into full self-pity mode: oatmeal for lunch, at 1:30 PM, in our pjs. Books on the couch. Books on tape. PBS. Circle the wagons. Kind of nice change of pace, really, if we didn't all feel so yucky.

Fortunately, the misery seems to come and go. One kid at a time would be perky, while another was apparently in a Motrin-energy-low and in the throes of unbearable suffering. So, my lap was big enough for the one (sometimes two) neediest child at any given moment.

Seemed a bit strange. I can't recall the last time I actually took a sick day and cancelled classes. I always figured if I can stand up, I may as well go to work. But this year, with the Provost encouraging us to all do our part to stop the spread of H1N1 flu, I decided to join in the pandemic-mania. It may have been a fatal mistake. It is like falling of the cold-turkey wagon. I have tasted a sick-day, and I may never go back. :)