I do believe I’ve done a pretty good job of making a sick day relatively boring, without crossing the line into comatose.

And let me tell you, it wasn’t easy.

Well, the sky is blue and the grass is green, so that must mean it’s time for Cora to get strep throat again.

The girls and I have had allergies for a few weeks now, showing mostly in an annoying post-nasal drip and a lovely cough morning and night. Totally livable, though, so we’ve done nothing about it until Cora had an especially sleepless night Sunday night (and that’s saying a LOT) and woke up Monday morning saying her ear hurt. Professional mommy that I am, I deduced she had an ear infection from all the drainage of the past few weeks and took her in to the doctor.

Nice clear ears, not even a red throat; but on a hunch, the doc (knowing Cora’s propensity for strep) took a swab and it was nearly instantaneous in its reading. Defeated, I scheduled Maddie for later in the day, and hers came back positive as well.

Wait a minute - I have to do the kindergarten thing all over again this week?

I don't think I can take this any more. I'm exhausted and worn out, and it's only the second week.

Maddie had a colossal meltdown Friday night, with the stress of the entire week finally catching up with her. She lost it on something totally unrelated, screamed for about ten minutes, and then out of the blue said, "I hate kindergarten and I'm not going back any more!" I held her, sobbing, for half an hour, simply rocking her and stroking her hair, before she calmed down. She said kindergarten was too hard, and she wanted it to be like preschool was, and preschool is plenty of school for Madeleine. Exhausted, she crawled into bed without brushing her teeth and promptly crashed.

Saturday morning she slept an extra hour, then proceeded to tear the house apart. Within thirty minutes of her waking, every single toy was out and played with. Maddie reveled in her freedom, wallowing in the unstructuredness of her time. The house looked like a Toys R Us exploded, and my wild child would not be stopped. We spent the entire day doing whatever she wanted - ice skating, sandwiches, hanging around the house, and going out for a salad for dinner. I found myself clutching her to me on the flimsiest excuse, stroking her hair when I didn't think she was looking.

Sunday night I realized my vacation was at an end - time to pack snacks and lunches and make sure forms were signed and school picture money in the folder. We picked out school outfits for Monday AND Tuesday (school picture day - have to be ready in plenty of time!) and discussed Maddie's motivation for going to school tomorrow: to hold the hand of a friend who specifically asked Maddie to walk in with her, since she's still nervous. I'm hoping it'll be enough to get her to school tomorrow.

Seriously - when's Thanksgiving break?

Maddie has entered the school by herself. And she has survived.

Yesterday, as I mentioned, was the first day parents were not allowed to walk children to their classroom. Instead, we got to hover around the front door while our babies walked in unescorted, dwarfed by their backpacks too big for their slender shoulders, marching off to seven hours of hard labor – that is, of course, unless they got permanently lost on the way to the classroom, or kidnapped by a hidden child molester in B hall.

Ok, so I had a few concerns.