Too Smart...

...for his own good.  This blog post does not have any cute accompanying pictures.  It's just a story; one for me to let Caleb read when he is thirty years old and dealing with his own ill children.  (The Internet will no doubt be ancient by then, but perhaps this little diary will still be in existence and we'll still be able to access it!)

For the past three and a half days, Sarah has been running a fever.  Now, I'm no expert, but I know sometimes things just have to run their course.  There was no throwing up, no ear pulling, no...um, er...excessive pooping - other than fever and sluggishness, she was fine.  And then on Sunday, a couple of nice church ladies assured Josh (Sarah and I had stayed home) that there is a viral "thing" going around with the exact same symptoms that Sarah was showing, lasting 48 hours.  Okay, fine. 

Well, Monday morning comes around.  Well beyond the assured 48 hours and Sarah still is having temps of 102*, not as high as the consecutive days of 103*-104*, but nonetheless a temp and I call it time to visit the doc.  So we call, make the appointment and show up ten minutes early, like all the office ladies like.  Sarah gets looked over.  No ear infection.  Chest and lungs sound fine.  (All this I knew.)  Time to check the throat.  "Oh my," the doc says, "her throat is VERY red.  Let's test for strep."  Okie dokie.  So I pin Sarah into a bear hug and the doc swabs her throat.  After waiting for much longer than it seemed like we should have (which is okay - the doctor has other patients and I know there are times when other patients wait on me...its the way of life), singing every kid song I could think of, playing "I Spy" using every object in the examining room as "it", and wondering if I started feeling a sore throat coming on too, the doc came in with good news: the strep test was negative.  Well, sorta good news.  Good that there is no strep, good that we didn't expose all the daycare kids and church family to strep, and good that the rest of our family doesn't have it (YAY!); bad that it being not strep, its a viral thing meaning there is nothing to do but wait it out. 

The doc assured us that if things started getting worse, we could have another consultation and not be charged again.  Wonderful!  If things start getting worse, by that time it probably means something else is wrong.  So I ask about Caleb - if he starts feeling really bad, could we do the same thing?  "Well, let me just take a look at him now and make sure everything's fine."  Wonderful, again!  Keep in mind that, other than just a little runny nose Sunday night , Caleb has been acting and looking fine all along.  So the doctor peeked in Caleb's left ear and the doc says his ear drum is puffy and bright red!  That was shocking news to both the doc and I!  Then she peeked in his right ear.  Same thing!   The kid had been walking around for who knows how long with ear infections in both ears...never showing any kind of sign of fever, pain, fussiness or anything!  Poor little man.  So we left the doctor's office to get a presciption for the child we thought was healthy while the child we thought was sick was fine.

So, why does this make him too smart for his own good?  Well, Monday morning when Josh told Caleb that Caleb, Sarah and I were going to have to go to the doc to get Sarah checked out, Caleb had a total melt down.  He panicked, which is strange because he always goes with us to get Sarah checked out and he knows that it has nothing to do with him.  So why the melt down?  He wouldn't speak in the doctor's office (you know Caleb...), but as we were walking to the car afterwards, I asked him if his ears hurt.  He said "yeah, for a little whiles".  When I asked him why he didn't tell me, he said it was so the doctor wouldn't be able to look at him.  When he heard Josh tell him earlier that morning that we were headed in the doctor's direction, I think he had it figured that his cover was blown.  Little Stinker!

Anyway, Caleb is on an antibiotic (which is a whole 'nother story involving several phone calls back and forth between me, pharmacy and doctor, waiting two hours in the phramacy, an unpaid-for empty bag of Goldfish, unpaid-for half drank bottle of Sprite, and (hopefully) brainwashing Caleb into getting me a giant house plant for Mother's Day) and doing fine, reading a science book and wondering when he can go outside to help Daddy with chores.  And Sarah, "the healthy one", is restless, still warm and once again spending the day on my lap feeling miserable.

So, Caleb, when you're thirty and dealing with your own sneaky, sicky offspring, I'm going to show you this blog and prove to you that they get it honestly....from their sneaky little father!