Daycare

I love where Hayden and Tommy go for daycare. Danielle is her name and she has the patience of a saint. She has two daughters, Morgan (5), and Ava (1). She also takes care of Gage (4), Ellie (5), Isaac (3), and Quinn (1). Ellie and Isaac are the kiddos of my longtime pal, Rachel, who I roomed with in college. I love that our kiddos get to play together every day. Hayden and Isaac are only 5 months apart in age and they fight like brother and sister. Hayden tells Isaac, "I'm not going to be your best friend anymore," when she's mad. I secretly think it's a hilarious thing to say, but tell her it's not very nice. Hayden prays for Isaac, her best friend, every night. How sweet.

Being a teacher, one starts to hate certain things. One thing I hate is when parents send their sick child to school. I also am very leary of anyone named Dawson, but that's another story. One, they get all the other kids sick in the classroom, and two, I get sick or pass the germs onto my own kids. Ick! Now that Hayden and Tommy have come along, I finally get it. I get why parents send their sick child to school. It's actually the kid's fault. Ha.

Example:
Tuesday night, 12:30am, Tommy has been sleeping since 8:30---yipppeeee! We hear a noise coming from Hayden's room. Both Jason and I rush in and she has puked ALL over her bed and herself. She has the flu, I say to Jason, and that means he has to clean it up. After all, I am nursing and we can't risk Tommy getting the flu. Hayden says she doesn't feel bad and we take her temperature. No fever. We ponder for a moment and then consider that, well, she has had this cough for a couple of weeks and has the WORST gag reflex on the planet, and there was a ton of phlegm (ewwww) in the puke, so maybe she just gagged on her phlegm and that is why she puked. Jason cleans up the mess and sleeps in her room next to her in case she pukes again. All the while I am sitting in the bedroom contemplating sub plans, how many sick days I still have (0), and how I can get Jason to stay home.

Hayden never pukes again and so we chalk it up to her gag reflex. However, I am afraid that I am going to be "that parent" and send their sick child to daycare. I call Danielle. I tell her Hayden threw up at 12:30, and what she thinks about her coming today. Danielle figures it's the gag reflex too. After all, she tried to get her to eat peas once and Hayden threw up. Hayden didn't eat much for breakfast, but she's a 2-year old, she never eats consistently. She says she feels fine and acts like herself. (the good Hayden) So I send her to daycare.

Friday Morning:
I get a text from Danielle that Ellie and Isaac are staying home because they woke up in the middle of the night with the flu. I was that parent. I sent my sick child to daycare and infected them all. If Hayden had been able to tell me she had a slight tummy ache, I would have kept her home. That is why, in this case, it's not my fault.