Sick Stephen

Poor Stephen had diarrhea again when he woke up this morning. He was running a slight fever, said his throat was sore, and seemed listless. We decided to take him to the doctor to be sure he didn't have an ear infection or strep throat, which is currently going around.

Ordinarily, Stephen would have been bouncing all over the examination room, opening drawers, climbing on and off the examinating table, and peeking out the door to look for the doctor. Today, however, he sat quietly beside me, affixing colorful stickers to the scrap paper I'd brought along.

Our favorite pediatrician in the practice, Dr. B., was on duty today. He has a kindly, homely face and a natural rapport with kids. The boys love him.

The doctor did a throat swab, which came back negative for strep, fortunately. He checked Stephen's ears and throat and reported no infection.

"He probably has a virus," Dr. B. said. "It's good you brought him in, though; we're seeing a lot of cases of strep, and it's always best to check."

He turned toward Stephen. "You've been such a good boy. How about a ride?" He was sitting on a wheeled chair and pulled Stephen onto his lap. Then he whisked them around the room, rocketing from one wall to the other. He spun around a few times before stopping. Stephen, of course, thought it was great fun.

Stephen seemed better in the late morning and begged to go to the playground after lunch. It seemed a shame not to be outside on such a glorious day, so I agreed to take them there. The three boys ran around the playground, laughing and playing for about an hour until Stephen suddenly dashed to the picnic table where I was sitting, a stricken expression on his face.

"Mama! I have to go poop! I have to go now!"

Uh oh. I herded the boys into the car and managed to get home before Stephen had a major accident. The poor little guy had several more bouts of diarrhea before he finally felt better.

"No swimming lesson for you today, Reno," I told him.

"Awww," he complained.

"Sorry, honey. You need to rest, and we don't want you to give this germ to the other kids at the pool."

So Stephen and I hung out at home. We watched Hercules, and I played a game of Trouble with him. Although I was sorry he was sick and that he had to miss swimming, it was kind of nice to have time with him by himself without Matthew.

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