30 Miles For Nothing

This morning started out business as usual. Me constantly nagging WC to stop talking to CJ and get ready, brush his teeth so he can get a breathing treatment before breakfast. It's a real issue trying to fit something else in, mornings are hectic enough.
I mentioned in my last entry that WC's asthma cough returned
Sunday evening. If I had any sense I would have started him on his
seasonal allergy medication two weeks ago & possibly avoided this. He
only reacts when his allergies act up. Luckily the severity of
symptoms have diminished over the years. We spent his second year of
life carting him back & forth to the ER for chest x-rays.
This morning he was coughing pretty bad & had his nebulizer treatment
& I dropped him off at school. I wasn't half way to moms house to drop
off CJ when the cell phone rang & the school nurse informed me that WC was coughing up phlegm. I told her to give him a few minutes and see how he does. I hoped that he'd be able to go on to class once he'd gotten it out. Then when I was almost to mom's the phone rang again; this time the assistant principal told me that he hadn't quit coughing and was now throwing up. I told her that I'd just gotten into Nashville and had one kid left to drop off then I'd come back. I drop CJ off and let mom know that I had to go back for WC. She agreed to bring CJ back home after his afternoon nap for me. So here we go again. It hasn't been that long ago when I had to go back for CJ twice- once less than 30 min after punching in for the day and the second time upon reaching the door to the office.
I get to the nurses office and go in. She has an oxygen monitor hooked to his finger-even though she said his lungs sounded clear when she listened to his chest. His oxygen saturation was 97%. Of course his pediatrician had told me those portable oxygen monitors are pretty much useless for kids- so unreliable that they don't even have one in her office. The nurse and I had a couple of run-ins at the beginning of the school year. She's too quick to assume the worst and appears far more worried than need be. But I guess when you have the responsibility of caring for 900 kids and one slip up could get you sued to within an inch of your life...you have to be.
She had him sucking on a peppermint candy. A glass of water would have better. But whatever. The cough was pretty much constant. He really would have been a disturbance for the whole class. The constant bark begins to grate on the nerves. So home we went. Now I really need to finish up the laundry and clean the house but...
Since I have all those worksheets and pretty much studied the kindergarten curriculum, I decided to do it myself today. No point in letting him veg out in front of the tv all day & his brain turn to mush. He wasn't sick. And I've never taught him to let his asthma stop him. This is his normal and he has to live with it and thrive. Much to his dismay- we've been working. The "geography" lesson pretty much fell into my lap. Right before we started and tv was still on- the news ran a story of the coal miners who were killed in West Virginia and the president was going to speak about it. WC wanted to know what that was about, so I explained a bit of coal mining and it was in West Virginia. He wanted to know where WV was in relation to us here in TN and then in relation to PA, where Michele & Peter are. And where the president is. So, I pull out the atlas & show him close to where we are in TN then where WV, PA & DC are. Then we went over some color words, the sense of touch, built paper pizza's and put designated number of pepperonis on each, basic addition (numbers that add up to ten) & word recognition. The paper pizza project led us to ordering pizza for lunch. After lunch he wanted to ride his bike. It was twelve thirty and I wasn't sold that it was a good idea but I thought if he gets out there and can't then he wont. And I was right. The driveway was in full sun and he decided he didn't want to after all. So we sat outside for a bit and discussed bugs. I had to break it to him that bugs don't feel emotions like people. Back inside we went over the vocabulary words from two phonics readers and he read me the story and we went over the discussion questions in the teachers guide. He did well. Then he asked if he could watch an episode of his favorite cartoon. This time I said yes. He's in there hooked up to the nebulizer and I'm going to have to go release him...
So once I wrap up this entry I will be off to clean the kitchen. It's genuinely amazing to me that I go one weekend where I'm picking up constantly and the entire house is such a wreck. I'm not sure where all the stuff comes from.
My allergies are acting up too. I woke up with a sore throat and didn't get my exercise in. I'm sure that half an order of bread sticks for lunch was a real good idea.