Monday, November 1, 2010

Well I'm hot blooded, check it and see...

Remember my glowing words about how delighted we were to move here for the divine South Pasadena Public School system? Well, this is the fifth virus poor Little Bit has brought home to our family since school started in September and I've caught every one. Including another one last week that we were barely through sniffling with. I'm ready to move to a compound for a life that would make Howard Hughes have said, "hey, dude, don't be so paranoid." Little Bit is almost over the latest, just in time for me to catch it. I don't remember having a fever of 103 since I was a kid. But hey, I haven't had my husband sing a Foreigner song to me in, like, ever.

Kindergarten is not a classroom. It is a petri dish. With crayons.

I did not need a Halloween costume. I was Zombie Mother from Hell. In bed with the chills. Feeling about as good natured as, well, I don't know. But Joan Crawford would have played the role.

I have a brand, spankin' new column and video up at South Pasadena Patch today, sometime around 10:00 AM. It's all about Mission Street. At least I think it is. I'm delirious and I swear I might have included something about psychedelic monkeys. Please read it and comment. I'm sick, here!

16 comments:

Dixie Jane said...

I feel so sad for you, Laurie. Being sick with a five year old to care for is just hard. Something needs to be done about the petri dish condition. I wish I had some answers. I can only send my love and healing thoughts your way.

Judy Williams said...

Heh kiddo. Hang in there. By the time she's 7, you guys will have the most resilient immune system known to the human race.

So looking forward to the new Patch entry. WOO Hoo!!!

Be well. If I were there, I'd bring you chicken soup (wearing a HASMAT suit and a gas mask).

Mister Earl said...

Hang in there, Allee family!

I GET DELIRIOUS!

Jean Spitzer said...

petri dish with crayons, indeed! I remember those days. I caught everything, including stuff just for kids.

Feel better, hot stuff.

Wayne said...

Kindergarten isn't a petri dish. It's a snot factory.

Get well LA !

TheChieftess said...

Well, darn!!! Drink plenty of fluids...eat chicken soup...and feel better soon!!!

TheChieftess said...

And you might want to take some Healthy Trinity probiotics!!!

Mike said...

Feel better!

Anonymous said...

Glad to know that other moms get sick, I thought that I was the only one.

San Diego Farmgirl said...

If it were me I'd have pink eye, ringworm and impetigo. Colds and flu are too sophisticated for me, like Jean I catch the kid stuff. Feel better soon! Maybe take a nap out in the beautiful sun today and get those Vitamin D levels back up to SoCal normal! =)

Another Mom said...

Add me to the list of moms who are always sick. There is no school plan for dealing with kids who come to school sick. I think they should be isolated if they are obviously coughing and sneezing all over the school supplies that all the children use. Even having an area of each room for the kids who still have symptoms would be better than just letting them blow their noses all over the rest of the class. I also think that the children should have hand washing time and lots of antibacterial wipes in class. I dont even think my kids classrooms get wipe downs at the end of the day and even gross mall play areas do that. My kids teachers are always at school with coughs and sniffles and so many of us have babies at home as well as our schoolage kids. I feel like basic health precautions are a joke to the school district. I know kids get sick but it seems like more could be done to prevent so much spread of germs.

I am sorry you are finding this out!!!!! Hope you feel better. I really enjoy your blog. Maybe our kids go to the same school?

Laurie Allee said...

Thanks for the kind words, everybody.

Welcome Anon Mom and Another Mom! Another Mom, I swear you are my alter ego. In fact, I was wondering if I wrote your post in some fever dream and don't remember it. You voice a LOT of my concerns. I remember when I worked at a day camp for two summers for kids ranging in age from 4-12. When kids showed any symptoms of still being sick,if they couldn't go home they were put in a specific sick area. Period. In pediatricians' offices there are often sick waiting rooms and well waiting rooms.

The new teaching model of moving kids from learning station to learning station in groups is interesting, but it also means that unlike our school experience (where we had our own desks, and our own school supplies) kids are spreading even more germs by moving from table to table, where 20 other kids have been grabbing stuff. I hate to get too OCD, but seems to me that there isn't much emphasis placed on prevention of illness, especially when the school district makes a point of reminding you that every absence costs the district $47, so try not to be absent. That's a weird message. Most kids are only absent when their sick, especially since most kids have two parents who work.

Little Bit has told me that several kids in her class have told her they can't stay home when they are sick because their parents have to work.

I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that I've never gotten sick so much in my LIFE. I know our family is at a disadvantage because Little Bit was not in Day Care, but still. Sigh.

Anyway, thank you everyone for all of your loveliness! Since Jon is on Little Bit duty, I'm under the covers with a hot water bottle. Until tomorrow, all.

Petrea Burchard said...

103 degree fever and still funny and witty. That's my Laurie.

Jilly said...

You sound just awful but that has to be the smartest thermometer I've ever seen. I love Petrea's comment. She is right! Get well soon, Laurie.

Trish said...

oh my...feel better soon---chicken soup STAT!

what one friend did was go to Costco, buy a bunch of the big bottles of hand santizer, the individual wipes and then a flat of the clorox type wipes to donate to the class and printed out large instruction cards on how to properly use them all--and to not be touching your face without a kleenex and without using the hand stuff liberally. She told the teacher to let her know if they needed more. Teacher wipes down desks every day and as many shared tools as she can.

In 2+ months of school, her kid has had one cold and absentees are down in the class by like 75%. Friend and her spouse haven't had a cold yet. She's putting into HER budget every year to do the same thing from now on.

Laurie Allee said...

Trish, it just seems like common sense to me. At Amy's Playground, someone wipes down the place regularly. I always see them doing it. I'm so tempted to send Little Bit back to school wearing a gas mask!

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. Now Jon has gotten sick. I'm on the upswing, I think. Until next week... AGHHH!