This morning as I sat in my office working I got a call from the school nurse. The call we all dread.
Nurse: "Jamie is sick, can you come get him?"
Me (not wanting to leave work): "But is he REALLY sick?"
Nurse: "He says his stomach hurts. He is sick."
Me (REALLY not wanting to leave work): "But there's sick, and then there's, you know, SICK...."
Nurse: "He is really sick. Please come get him." Hangs up.
Duly humiliated by the school nurse, I show up at school to retrieve my poor sick little 6 year old Jamie. I am prepared for the worst: he must have caught the nasty stomach bug that has been going around our town. As soon as I walk in, his whole face lights up. "Hi Mommy!"
He doesn't look sick to me.
We get in the car, and I suggest that when we get home he take a nap. Since, you know, he's not feeling well. His reply: "I'm starving! When we get home I am eating my snack AND my lunch, both at the same time!"
It does not sound to me like he has the stomach bug. It does not even sound like he has a stomach ache.
How did he outsmart the school nurse? Perhaps she is just so afraid of that stomach bug that she sends anyone home who even mentions their stomach.
So here I am, missing a day at work, while Jamie sits contentedly watching "High School Musical" and eating all the food I packed him for school today.
If there were a game show called "Are You Smarter Than A First Grader," it is clear now that I would lose.