Oh, To Be Eight Again

2004-08-26
12:02 p.m.

Yesterday afternoon when I picked up Oldest Son at after-school care, I could tell he had a pretty good headache. By the time we picked up Youngest Son and got home, he was miserable. I dosed him with Tylenol, half a Coke on crushed ice, and let him lay in our bed and watch TV while I tried to throw some dinner together.

Within an hour he was up and in usual form, trying to boss Youngest Son. (Hell, WE have trouble bossing Youngest Son. That one has a haaaaard head.)

Oldest Son get headaches occasionally, almost always related to not eating. He often doesn't like the snacks offered at after-school care, so chooses not to eat anything. Since he eats lunch at 11:30, he's ravenous by 4:30 when we pick him up.

Yesterday was early release day, which is a program this school district uses for teacher workshops. The last Wednesday of every month students are released at 11:30 while the teachers meet or whatever they do.

Since Oldest Son's best friend's mom is a teacher, he got to stay at after-school care all afternoon with Oldest Son, and Oldest Son was delighted by this. We live a good piece from Jacob's house and this year they're in different classes, so usually Oldest Son and Jacob only get to play with each other on weekends.

Last night after Oldest Son was in bed I opened his lunchbox to get the ice pack out and quickly realized why he had had such a headache. Not only had he refused the snacks at AS care, he hadn't eaten his lunch, either. He'd taken maybe one bite of his sandwich, but hadn't touched his chips, yogurt, or banana. He drank the kool-aid, though.

When I asked him about it this morning, he told me he didn't eat his lunch because he was just too excited to play. Ahem. I have thought about it, and it's been a long, long time since I was too excited to eat. Man, what I wouldn't give to be eight again. Just long enough to lose weight, then I'd rather be 40 again.

After-school snacks have been a problem with Oldest Son since he started school. He is so picky an eater he's even picky about junk food. The child hates Hostess altogether. No twinkies or cupcakes or ding dongs for him. Nope. If it says "Hostess" he won't even try it. But there's many, many other snack foods he won't eat, too. (I seriously believe this child was switched with my real baby at the hospital. I LOVE anything Hostess makes.) And there's many, many good-for-you foods he won't eat, too.

I used to solve this problem by always putting a bag of Cheerios in his book bag. That way he had something he would eat, but not something that was so much better than what everybody else was snacking on as to cause a problem. Now he's decided he's too old to be carrying a bag of Cheerios to after-school care.

One thing's for sure: I won't be having this problem with Youngest Son. He is his mama's child. Sugar is his favorite food group, but he likes all kinds of other things, too. ______________________________________

In other news, I'm headed to Atlanta to the bead show this weekend. Hubby and I have gone over and over the options on this trip. Originally I was going to meet a friend there and stay Friday and Saturday night (Hi Cindy!), but she has family obligations that she needs to be around for.

We discussed Hubby and kids going with me and we'd all stay a couple nights, but Hubby doesn't really want to do that. (I don't see why. He could drop me at the bead show while he entertained the kids for four or five hours, then come back and get me. What's not to like about that scenario? :)

In the end, I think I've decided I'll just go on Saturday morning, stay a while, and then drive back home that night. Hubby said he really didn't care if I wanted to stay at the hotel anyway, and get a little beading time in away from the kids, but I've just been too down to do that. Sometimes you just know when you don't want to be alone that long, even though it would be quiet. I'd spend all the time on the phone, I'm sure, looking for human interaction.

I'm off to do an out-of-town job this afternoon, then try to race back in time to pick up the kids. Hubby really needs to work late, as there's a meeting today that can't even start till 4:00 because they have to wait for graveyard shift personnel to come in and attend. If he hasn't heard from me in time, though, he'll have no choice but to leave work and get the kids. Man oh man, this is when I really miss living where grandparents could help out once in a while.

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