Abnormal Routine

The phone rang this morning as I finished my breakfast. That would be a little before 9:30. My morning schedule is as follows:

7:20- Wake up
7:30- Roll out of bed
7:35- Prepare breakfast for the kids
7:40- Change and dress the kids
7:50- Sit Ian and Tory down to breakfast
7:51- Find Abbie in her room having stripped naked
7:58- Sit Abbie down to breakfast while telling her to eat fast
8:10- Put Abbie’s shoes and coat on for preschool
8:15- Load Abbie on the bus
8:20- Clean the boys after breakfast
8:25- Empty the dishwasher while waiting for the boys to poop
8:35- Change one boy’s diaper
8:40- Get tired of waiting for the other boy, make my breakfast
8:50- Change the other boy’s diaper
8:55- Determine why a boy is screaming
9:00- Finally sit down to my breakfast
9:01- Chase down a boy who just stripped naked
9:10- Sit back down to my breakfast, periodically rising to investigate screaming
9:30- Finish breakfast

I stayed in my seat through the first telephone ring. I wanted the caller ID to ID the caller before I rose from my breakfast again. Much like waiting until a boy’s screaming reaches panicked level before abandoning my seat, I wanted to make sure this was an important before I left my bran flakes to absorb even more milk. Three political candidates called last night over dinner, and I wasn’t about to let them ruin my breakfast too.

When I saw the caller was from Abbie’s preschool, I considered staying in my seat. Preschools never call to say how great your child is; they only call with bad news. Maybe Abbie bit someone. Maybe Abbie is hurt. Maybe Abbie ran through the stash of pull-ups I left in her backpack.

When I eventually answered the phone, the school nurse was on the other end. Abbie was sick. She’s been crying, and has a nasty cough with a low fever. I knew she’s had a nasty cough for about the last month, and the crying is certainly nothing new around our house. Preschools tend to get finicky about children with fevers, though, so I knew I needed to pick her up.

I loaded the boys into the car, and twenty minutes later we were at her preschool. The first thing I discovered was her building goes into lockdown mode shortly after the kids enter the building, and the only unlocked doors are the least convenient ones on the opposite end of the building next to the office.

After navigating that maze in subzero temperatures while pushing a stroller through partially cleared sidewalks, I found Abbie’s preschool room. I expected her to be huddled in a whimpering puddle, but when I opened the door she was playing happily. With another child even. She looked normal to me, but I readied her to go home. I had a quick chat with the teacher about how she was doing, and whisked her back to the car.

Before returning home, we stopped to see mommy working at the hospital. They listened to her, verified that the nasty cough that had lingered for weeks was still nothing to worry about, and we returned home. There she went about her day as normal.

Tonight was a little rough, so maybe she’s feeling sick. I’ll probably keep her home tomorrow just to be sure. Mommy and daddy are feeling a little sick tonight, so that’s probably a sign that something is going around.