Haiku Friday #12: Definitely Winter

It is official:
Winter has come and all the
Kids are sick this week

Yesterday we were
Supposed to have ten total;
Three were at home sick,

Two more went home by
Lunchtime, and that made for an
Easy day, but I'm

Afraid I'll get sick
Too; don't want to pass it to
My husband and son.

Not a great day yesterday -- it started out fine, since we were down to seven kids when the day started (we have three teachers in each classroom at any given time for the 12 to 24 month age group).

But I had morning diapers, and every kid save one pooped by 9:30 AM. One of which had really messy diarrhea. We had to change her whole outfit -- it was everywhere. A few hours later, she threw up all over herself, the floor, and my fellow teachers (I escaped it because I was changing another diaper at the time). Her parents were called but we didn't know when she'd be picked up, or by whom. She threw up again at the lunch table. Her mom ended up being the one to come for her, shortly after the second incident.

While this was going on, another girl in our class was developing a fever of about 101 degrees. She didn't get picked up until after I left for my lunch break at 1:15; all the kids were already asleep by then. Meanwhile, another (perfectly healthy) child had five poopy diapers before naptime. Not diarrhea, just a lot of poop.

So it was quite the morning. The afternoon was decidedly quieter -- all the kids slept longer than usual, since there were fewer of them to wake each other up when they stirred. Our 7 AM to 3 PM teacher left early, as did I. Unfortunately, the kids who get picked up later (around 6) weren't the ones who were out (please don't misunderstand me here -- I don't want any of the kids to be sick, but I felt bad for the teachers that were there until closing time).

I washed my hands and used sanitizer all day -- I do not need to get sick. If I got sick, I would either be stuck at home with a healthy, active baby toddler, or I'd pass the germs to the boy and his daddy, in which case when I got home from work on Monday I'd be healthy but stuck with a sick husband and son. And you know how dramatic boys are when they're sick.

Better go get a good-luck charm to hang on my front door to ward off all the germs. . . .


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