Fake Sick

Yesterday Belle faked being sick so she wouldn't have to go to school.

I have mixed feelings about it though.

Typically she was going to latchkey (after school care at the school) every day up until this week. This week we began to have her take the bus home every day. I really think this has her really upset but it is so hard to pinpoint it.

Last week she was sick but I gave her medicine and sent her to school anyway because she really really really wanted to go. This week she is the total opposite. We did have a snow day on Wednesday and I had to stay home from work since I had no one to watch her but she was acting this way before that.

Since she exaggerated and lied about being sick yesterday I told her that she was not allowed to have any sweets since they would further upset her stomach if it was indeed hurting her. Plus due to lying she was not allowed to watch the disn*y channel last night and we still did some writing and math problems. Plus we practiced her no excuse words she should know.

She also had her dance class yesterday and I still took her because for me to not have her go (if you don't go to school you don't do anything mentality) she would have been ok with that. So I had to take the approach of if you fake being sick it doesn't mean you get out of having to leave the house. She is such a home body that sometimes getting her to the activities she loves is hard. Once she is there she is completely into it and that is why we still take her even when she doesn't want to go. When I ask her if she wants to quit going altogether the answer is always no.

Anyway, she didn't want to go to school again this morning but she is there. Hopefully this isn't an ongoing thing. Plus she has been very clingy and not wanting to leave me. I do think part of this is from when they sent her on the bus when she shouldn't have been and there was no one home but I still am trying to help her get past that.

Wish me luck next week. All I can say for now is TGIF.


***********Update**********
The school called me around 11am. Belle has been crying on and off all morning. Her teacher ended up taking her to the nurse's office. I talked to Belle and told her to try to get through the rest of the day. Even her teacher told the nurse that this is not normal. I hate not knowing what happened between last week and this week. I am so worried about my girl. I can't wait to get out of work to talk to her.

Just a Quick Post

I equally thought this was funny and upsetting.

Conversation with Belle after shopping at the Children's Place Outlet on Saturday.

Let me first set the scene. I am carrying a large bag stuffed with clothes to the car. The bulk of which are for her even though I did buy an outfit for my niece to put away for her birthday in July. I am trying to get Belle in the car and then put the bag in the trunk.

Belle, "Daddy is going to say oh shit."

Me, "What did you just say?"

Belle, "Daddy is going to say oh shit."

Me, "What???"\

Belle, " Daddy is going to say oh shit you spent too much money."

Me, thinking, "He better not because I work and make money also and grrrrrr that she would even think such a thing let alone say it out loud."

What I actually said was, "I didn't spend that much so he can't say anything at all."

Sick Times Three

Yes. It is true. I have been sick again.still. This makes 3 times since Christmas.

I am actually on the upswing of this episode. I was pretty bad the end of last week and the weekend.

And it really sucked to be sick this weekend.

I had a nice long weekend and was going to get stuff done. I was going to do fun things with Belle. This is my one funky holiday we get from work and I always look forward to Presidents day because of this.

But this year I only left the house for a family birthday on Saturday and that only took 2 hours tops. The rest of the day Saturday, all day Sunday, and all day Monday I was at home. In my sweats. Looking a bit scruffy but trying to get better.

Sadly, I think Belle is now getting sick. I hope she makes it through school.

Happy Valentines Day

I am giving thanks on this Valentines Day.

Yesterday... Yesterday my girl was in a bit of trouble. Not the kind where she was misbehaving but the kind where she could have gotten seriously hurt or worse.

Typically she goes to the after care program at her school. When we have had to deviate from that we send in a note to her teacher telling her to take the bus. And on 2 occasions to send her as a walker and we were there to pick her up. Soon she will be taking the bus home every day since my husband's hours are changing so we have been having her take the bus more often lately to help get her used to finding it on her own since they no longer have the older kids or a teacher helping them find the right bus.

Yesterday she was to go to latchkey after school and we would pick her up after work. We were both at work when school let out.

Next thing I know I have the school calling me. I thought they were going to tell me she wasn't feeling well since the sickness will not leave our house. I am sick again (which makes it pretty much constant since Christmas), my husband is sick so I really thought that is why they were calling me.

It wasn't that reason. Belle got on the bus yesterday and went home but nobody was there. She was all alone in the world. The high temperature yesterday was around 30 degrees.

Thank God for my neighbor across the street. Her son also takes the same bus and as she was watching him get off the bus and walk from the corner she noticed we were not there but Belle was. She saw her go to our back yard and then start walking down the driveway crying. Just typing this still brings tears to my eyes. She had her come to her house and then she called the school to get ahold of me to let me know what was going on. She is the PTA vice president so the school principal knows her well but all she had was my home phone number. After I talked to the principal I called my neighbor and thanked her profusely. I talked to Belle and told her that daddy was on his way to get her. He works closer to home than I do. She was ok by this point.

Needless to say I took my neighbor some flowers last night for resueing my girl. I keep replaying what could have happened had she either been left outside for at least 30-40 minutes or worse if a predator saw this young girl (she is only 6) outside her house with no adults around.

I am a bit upset with the teacher that she let her get on the bus without a note from us. I am going to address this with the school but I haven't quite figured out how I want to do it. I will be there later for Belle's valentines party so we will see.

Thank you, God, you kept my Belle safe! Thank you!

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For some fun news these are the cards we sent to family this year from Belle for Valentines Day.

And these are the valentine treat bags we filled with large and small conversation hearts for her to pass out to all her friends in her class.

Homemade

At Belle's dance class there is another mom who recently had twins. One little boy and one little girl. She delivered them about 2 months early.

The little boy was fine and home rather quickly but the little girl just came home this past week. She will be ok but had a tougher start to life.

I have been wanting to get a gift for this family and the babies. But time has gone by and now I am finally finished with our gifts to them.

I found an old bib of Belle's and used that as a template since I didn't have any patterns. I think the little girl one has a bit of a better shape to it. I also appliqued the star and monkey head on the fronts to add dimension.

I also made matching burp clothes and blankets. They are all made of flannel and chenille.

Here is the whole set together.

And here they all are nice and wrapped up. I just need to put them in a gift bag and finish my handmade card.

I really hope they like it. I know there were a couple of things I could have done better but hopefully they won't notice.

****Update: I gave her the gifts yesterday and she really seemed to like them. I also gave her a handmade card to go with it. Yay!!