Tuesday, May 02, 2006

One track mind

I suppose that I shouldn’t be complaining that Big Guy loves school and is totally conscientious about his schoolwork. But I was certainly not happy about it yesterday morning.

We had a really full weekend of activities. The boysies were exhausted by the time they finished their baseball game Sunday evening. It was my plan to get them into bed by 7:30pm Sunday night; it was probably more like 8:00 when I turned out the light and closed the door.

Just as an aside, can I just say how much I adore the goodnight routine we have? After we read our stories, and it’s time for goodnight hugs and kisses, the boysies each have me give them ten kisses. In between each one I have to count them while doing my best The Count (Sesame Street) impression, including the ending “ah, ah, ah.” It makes them giggle, and leaves me with a smile on my face each and every time.

Anyhoo, back to yesterday morning. Big Guy’s biggest worry when he went to sleep Sunday night was if he would be allowed to watch Sports Center in the morning to see the Yankee highlights (this boy is soooo his father’s son, but I digress.) I promised that when he came to wake me up in the morning I would let him turn it on then (yes, he is my alarm clock.)

6:05AM: Like clockwork, Big Guy is at my side asking me if he could turn on the television. I beg him for fifteen more minutes.

6:20AM: “Mommy, now?”

“Fine.”

I drag my ass out of bed and into the kitchen to start the morning routine (which is so not as much fun as the bedtime routine) of getting the boysies’ lunches ready, getting them breakfast, getting them dressed (or at least picking out their clothes, they can get themselves dressed, even though Little Dude would prefer me to believe he can’t) making sure their backpacks have everything they need, and then finally trying to get myself ready to walk out the door (can you understand why I’ve forgone makeup lately?)

I’m about ten minutes into trying to get this accomplished; all of a sudden I hear loud, hysterical crying coming from my room. Ooookaaayyy….

“The highlights didn’t come on yet! He changed the channel! You promised me I could see the highlights!

It seems that Little Dude had changed the channel at 6:30 to his favorite PBS morning show. He didn’t say anything first, just walked up to the cable box and did his thing.

This did not sit well with his big brother.

I tried to remind Big Guy that I had promised him he could watch Sports Center until 6:30, and then we would put on Caillou for Little Dude. The same routine we have EVERY morning.

Big Guy could just not let this go. He worked himself up into a nice little frenzy. And no matter how much I tried to get him to pull himself together, he was having none of it. He was gonna be hysterical dammit!

Twenty minutes later I was still having no luck calming him down. Then it clicked.

“Big Guy, what time did you wake up?”

Sheepish look. “In the 4’s.” (this is Big Guy speak for 4AM.)

I put my hand to his forehead. Sure enough, he was running a fever.

“Buddy, you’re not going to school today. Let’s get you back into your jammies and you can get into my bed.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I WANNA GO TO SCHOOL!!!"

“Buddy, there’s no way I’m letting you go to school. You have a fever, you’re exhausted and you haven’t been able to do anything but cry since you woke up.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I WANNA GO TO SCHOOL!!!"

“I’m going to call my boss right now and tell her that I’m not coming in, that you’re sick and I have to stay home with you.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I WANNA GO TO SCHOOL!!!"

I pick up the phone and dial, all the while Big Guy is crying and screaming in the background.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I WANNA GO TO SCHOOL!!!"

In the message I left, I first apologize to my boss for the crying and screaming that she can obviously hear in the background, and then explain that I won’t be coming in today.

I hang up the phone, come out of the locked bathroom (otherwise Big Guy was coming after me to steal the phone from my hands) and look Big Guy in the eye.

“Done. You might as well go change into your jammies now.”

“Bu.. bu.. but mommy…. If I don’t go to school, how am I going to get my spelling words for the week? And tomorrow… I’m going to have two pages of spelling, two pages of math… An… an… and my reading log…. (sniffle, sniffle.)”

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll call Mrs. B and ask her to send your homework home with Little Dude. Does that help?”

Head nod. He turns and walks into his room. He emerges, back in his jammies.

“Can I watch Sports Center at 8 o’clock to see the Yankee highlights?”

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