Playing hooky

Okay, here's the thing.

I VERY rarely call in sick to work, and when I do, it is never because I am sick--it's always due to Zoey being under the weather. (The last time I called in sick for myself was in September 2006. All I remember is that I was pregnant...and probably exhausted.) And even when Zoey is sick, I most often scramble to find back up babysitters so that I can still go to work, and leave Zoey at home feeling crummy. So when she spiked her yucky Winco fever on Sunday, my mind automatically went in to scramble-mode and started making emergency plans for work on Monday.

But you know what? There was just too much stacked against me, and for once, I decided to do the easy thing and just call in sick.

While there is a part of me that feels guilty for doing this, here's what I was up against:

1. Sick child, running a fever, can't go to preschool.

2. Bryan doing a double shift at the clinic, AND taking his last final (hopefully EVER) at 6:45 that night, and wouldn't be home until after 8 p.m.

3. I was on call and wouldn't be home until who-knows-what-time. OR, (worse) I could get home, get settled in with Zoey, get called back to the hospital, and have to find some place for her to go. With a fever. Yeah, right. None of my friends would be dumb enough to take her when she's sick, and risk infecting their own kids.

So, as I was reviewing my options, I just couldn't come up with anything that seemed fair to my kid or cost effective for my checkbook. Asking the babysitter to come at 7 a.m. and stay until who-knows-when seemed, well, expensive. And it still didn't solve the dilemna of what to do with Zoey if I got called back to work after I got home. And let's face it--when you're looking at potentially paying someone half your daily wages just so you can go sit at work and wonder if your pager is going to go off at 4 p.m., the thought of calling in sick starts looking a LOT easier.

I am tired of doing the Daycare Scramble. I am tired of being on call and so often having to find a place to farm out my child if my pager goes off. I am tired of my husband's intense schedule, with all the hours he has to put in at the clinic just so he can get all his visits in and graduate on time. Add in all the hours he has logged fixing up our house in Puyallup, and I am starting to feel like a single parent. (NOT that I am blaming him for this problem, because I know it is temporary. In the back of my mind, I keep reminding myself that 6 months from now, these problems will be resolved and we'll be worrying about something else--what? I'm not sure. But Bryan will be done with school, I will have my old, peaceful job back, and our house will be finished. It's coming. I can see that light at the end of the tunnel, really!)

So anyway. I digress.

Zoey and I ended up playing hooky yesterday because it was the easiest thing I could come up with. And it was great.

She woke up fever-free (of course) but we still spent all day at home in our pajama pants. I discovered my daughter's love of glue sticks, and while she was napping, covered her kid-sized table with butcher paper and layed out all kind of things to glue together--different shapes cut out of construction paper, buttons, wiggly eyes, you name it. We spent HOURS sitting at her table gluing things together. We put together every puzzle she owns, read all her favorite books, and watched endless episodes of Mr. Rogers. And I accomplished something I haven't done in years--I read an entire book in one day. It was fabulous.

Of course, by 7 p.m. I had a raging case of cabin fever and Zoey was throwing one of her patented all-out-tantrums, but other than that, it was a very restful day.