7:00am Arise with the alarm without even fading back to sleep.
7:05am Roust the Boychild from bed.
7:15am Give Boychild, displaying moderate allergic symptoms common to him, some OTC allergy medication.
7:17 -7:46am Prod Boychild into getting ready for school.
7:47am Exit house. Release cat. Take Boychild to school.
7:56am Drop off Boychild at school.
8:05am Pull over and try to check email on phone. Not loading properly.
8:07am Attempt to reset phone by turning it off and restarting. Phone enters "loading loop".
8:10am Phone still in loop.
8:15am Phone will not respond to any commands. Phone = paperweight.
8:16 - 10:23am Proceed with chores. Shop at Staples. Shop at Target. Post 2 packages at Newbury Park Post Office.
10:25am Proceed up the hill to Scrapbook Blessings to continue work on party preparations for Boychild's birthday.
12:23pm Boychild vomits on playground. Goes to nurse's office.
12:29pm Nurse calls phone. Phone = paperweight. Boychild, yowling. Me, oblivious.
12:34pm School secretary calls phone. Phone = paperweight.
12:35pm School secretary calls home. No one there.
12:36pm School secretary calls Husband. His phone is secure in his car as per base security procedures.
12:36pm and 30 seconds Boychild breaks out into hives.
12:37pm Nurse calls home. STILL no one there. Me, blissfully oblivious.
12:38pm School secretary and School Nurse quietly consider what lousy parents we are.
12:45pm Nurse makes one last desperate attempt to contact me, requesting that I call her back. Phone = paperweight
1:00pm I begin to pack up at Scrapbook Blessings.
1:23pm Enter car and head back to school.
1:42pm Arrive at school and calmly enter pick-up loop with PLENTY of time before dismissal.
2:05pm Boychild enters car looking decidedly "blotchy".
2:05pm and 15 seconds Boychild's teacher and additional adult descend upon the car wondering where the heck I've been, announce that Boychild has vomitted, now has hives, cannot be sent to school tomorrow, and that I've been called multiple times.
2:05pm and 34seconds I proceed to feel guilty and show them my paperweight in my defense.
2:06pm Proceed to pediatrician's office hoping to be squeezed in.
2:34pm Doctor looks at Boychild and proclaims him "One Big Hive"
Yes, I DID manipulate this photo to make it look worse, but it WAS pretty bad.
2:46pm Exit doctor's office with prescription for antihistamine.
2:47 - 3:28pm Get antihistamine and Calamine Lotion. Proceed home.
3:37pm Dose Boychild with antihistamine.Wonder at the fact that his hives have all run together into one giant welt.
3:38pm Feed yowling cat.
3:39pm Send Boychild in for cool shower (cool, so as not to make the hives worse). Feel more guilty.
3:40pm Call Husband to tell him he can disregard the messages. He asks, "What messages?"
3:44pm Send Boychild BACK into the shower to wash his hair.
3:50pm Slather Boychild's entire torso, neck, and arms with Calamine Lotion giving him a ghostly patina. Let him sit and read.
3:52pm Email teacher with apology and update.
3:53pm Call and leave message for School secretary and nurse with apology and update.
5:50pm Inflammation is gone. Skin in "welt zone" is still red (pink if you count the Calamine Lotion).
6:00pm Listen to messages on home phone.
6:07pm Explain to Boychild that, while yowling may be a normal mode of communicating misery at home, it is considered extremely weird by most people and shouldn't be used as a means of communication outside our home.
6:20pm Boychild appears and acts perfectly normal
6:22 - 6.34pm Pet yowling cat who is desperate for attention and being neglected.
6:45 - 7:20pm Boychild eats dinner of curry over rice. Eats seconds. Asks for thirds. Is refused.
7:45pm Husband and I write up new procedures for contacting him in case of emergency.
8:00pm Boychild is put to bed with no signs of there being anything wrong with him but is banned fron school for tomorrow.
8:01pm Argh!
Why is it that the only day I've been called to pick him up in the 4 years he's been in school is the day the phone dies? REALLY, why?
