he missed us

The plan was for Pook's friend to go to the mountains with him and Bug to spend the night with his brother, while CD and I went out to dinner with their parents and a babysitter watched over the two younger boys.  Except while Pook did go to the mountains, his friend did not.  He had strep throat and was stuck at home.  So then I was worried about Pook being away without his good friend.  And then, when at 8am Saturday morning Bug was already mentioning that he was bored, I began to worry about entertaining him.  I knew his brother would miss him, but I hadn't thought about how two sick parents were going to entertain an extroverted six year old for a weekend.  That was the hardest part of  having Pook gone!  CD wasn't sure he felt well enough to go out, I was feeling feverish and dinner out seemed seriously in jeopardy.  I phoned to cancel dinner and asked if they felt like having Bug for part of the day.  I know he was disappointed to miss out on the sleepover but he got to go to a movie instead, which worked best for all of us. 

Pook coped ok without his close friend and seems to have met some new kids.  He isn't one to elaborate much on his life, so I tried to pry gently.  Best sentence, to me, was when I asked if he'd want to go back, and if so, if he'd change anything.  He answered that yes, he'd go back but it would be better if Daddy or I went too.  He missed us!

When he climbed out of the car at the carpool location, he was very very pale.  I never decided if he was too hot, carsick, overly tired or all, but there was a where-to-throw-up-just-in-case issue for a bit.  He was a little pinker when we got home and I asked him to lay down.  He protested but cooperated, and was snoring within minutes.  I went to wake him an hour later and he was already awake but crabby as all get out.  It took another hour before he was able to be himself again.

Unfortunately, CD and I had a meeting to attend Sunday night, so we weren't with him to pry much more into the activities of the weekend.  We'll see what we can get from him tonight.

*****
He did an activity using flags and Morse code.  There was a foot of snow and he didn't have boots or long socks. They hiked and slid on their backsides.  They ate macaroni and cheese.  He had a top bunk and blue puppy fell out and the floor was cold when he climbed down to get Puppy.  That's all I'll hear about it all probably!

*****
Oh, and as an aside, in my sick and foggy state I decided since I couldn't even remember who I'd hired to babysit, she might have forgotten too.  I checked the calendar to see who it was... and there was no name on it at all!  Yikes!  I phoned two potential sitters with no luck, then tried a third whose cell number was scribbled in the corner of my sitter list.  After a conversation consisting of "uh huh, mmm, ok" I had a sitter.  I asked CD if he ever felt uncomfortable talking to someone who didn't talk back.  I told the boys who was coming and, a few hours later opened the door to... someone else.  With the same name.  Competent sitter, but very uncommunicative.