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Kids Coping--Beginning of School and Please Please Please Not the End Already

 First week--all three were fine. Remarkably, no tears at all. (I guess this is what 5 months of isolation gets you. They were positively desperate for anything outside the house.)

Monday morning of the second week hit James hard. All of a sudden, just about to walk out the door, he realized he'd rather stay home. He was crying buckets, wailing, "But I like this house! I want to stay in this house!"  We were both flummoxed, and desperate to quiet him before he threw the girls into a tailspin. Theo got them out the door and I stayed to cope with James. Nothing was working. Then, Theo came back to pick up some extra things to take in to school that morning. He was struggling with the door and James said,  "I can help!" We enthused. Our praise switched his mood and carried him all the way out the door--Theo letting him open the gate and car door. Turns out this is his job at school. As the Caboose of the Line (or "picoose" as he told me the first day) he's the door holder. Guess the poor guy just needed a job. 

Tuesday morning James again was starting to have a hard time and this time Kate was affected, too. The tears started down his cheeks and her bottom lip started quivering. I held and cuddled and reassured and promised cartoons and managed to head off a full scale eruption. Both made it to the car without breaking down. 

Tuesday afternoon, at pickup, James started to get teary-eyed when he saw me. He hugged me and told me, "I worried about you all day, mama, I thought you might miss me!" Oh my goodness, the sweetness of this boy! I assured him I do always miss him when we're away but I'm also glad he's having so much fun at school. That seemed to help him. 

Wednesday morning was fine. Then, at Wednesday pick up after school Jane finally showed some emotion. She walked straight to me and into my (surprised) arms. I sat down and she crawled into my lap, murmering against my shoulder that she'd missed me. She was cuddly all that day, as she sometimes is. This seems to be what she does. No affection for weeks on end, and then one intensely cuddly day. 

Today is Thursday. No tears at all. Maybe we're past the drama.....?

Hah! At 11:00 I got a call from the school that Kate had a runny nose and a fever of 100.5. We had to come get her immediately and she had to have a negative covid test before we could bring her back. Holy cow. Only 9 days of school and now this. 

I brought all 3 kids home and volunteered to keep the older two at home tomorrow, as well, while we await test results. Took Kate to the urgent care for the test. The doc says she has an ear infection so please, please, please lets hope that's all this is. She started antibiotics for it today. 

Due to Labor Day the kids now have a four day break. Please, please dear god let her not have covid and let us be allowed to go back on Tuesday. And, also, please don't let this 4 day break totally derail them. I want them to like school and want to go! 

P.S. The preschoolers technically don't have to wear masks even though they're in the same building as the rest of the K-8 school. I still put Kate in one (she doesn't mind) as do most other parents. But it's never on her when I go to pick her up, which kinda irritates me. Also, the preschool teacher ALWAYS has her mask down under her nose and has even pulled her mask down to talk to me. 

Well, guess who had her mask fully on when I went to pick up Kate today?? Hmm, maybe this will encourage her to follow the guidelines. Do we seriously want school to shut back down right after it opened? C'mon, put your damn mask on! Properly!

Also, the only place Kate could've gotten covid is at the school. So I'm a bit peeved. We aren't paying thousands of dollars to a private school for them to fail at their own guidelines, leading to a shut down and no school with, I'm guessing, tuition still due to hold our spot? Not happy about that at all.

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