The final countdown

The days leading up to school (or preschool) should be spent getting in the last bit of summer fun. Kings Island, maybe? A last trip to the zoo while the weather is warm? The annual visit to Allen County's fair? Those are the things of kids' dreams.

Instead, we've spent the last ten days more like this ...

That picture accurately sums up the fevers, sore throats, whining and sadness which have brought us up to the eve of kindergarten. We managed to crack open four large bottles of Motrin in place of squealing on amusement rides. It's really been the complete opposite of the fun we could have been having.

Sickness in a house with four children is the gift that keeps on giving, as the virus moves rather methodically from one to the next to the next and the next. The sequenced onset of grumpiness followed by fever and rounded out with a lingering cough could all be diagrammed down to the hour by the time the third patient comes crying.

Somewhere between the second and third bottles of Motrin and around the seventy sixth temperature taken, but after two vomiting episodes brought on by the ever-present cough, I began considering a purposeful infection for Alena so as to squeeze her bout in and out before the first day of school. Alas, no worries that very day the germs struck and the fever was upon her, our final patient.

Fast forward five days, and with 24 hours to spare, she is well. Fever free, bus number memorized and backpack waiting at the door. Ready for school, ready for buses, ready for something new.