crazy couple of weeks

Once again I'm behind. The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy. I want to soak up these final days of kindergarten (augh!) but I'm feeling ready for a break from the craziness.

Last Thursday Luke woke up with a red eye. Oh, you've fooled me before red eyes. I put some allergy drops in his eyes, gave him allegra, and sent him to school. A couple hours later I got a call from the school nurse that Luke had an itchy, gooey eye.

I quickly hurried to school to accept my mom of the year award for sending my contagious child to school. En route, I made an appointment with pediatrician. We headed straight there and got our expected pink eye diagnosis and prescription. We finished up at lunch time, and Sonic just happens to be next door to our pediatrician's office. So we savored a little lunch, and our respective Sonic favs: a large diet coke and a chocolate shake.

The pink eye cleared up quickly, but Friday night Luke started complaining of a sore throat and ear pain. We headed back to the doctor Saturday morning and after much drama over his strep test (which was negative), we learned Luke had developed an ear infection since Thursday. So we left with a new script for augmentin.

Luke then had 3 difficult, grumpy days. I'm now pretty sure he wasn't feeling well, but oh how he tried my patience those days. But I now know it definitely gets Luke's attention if I cry in frustration.

Tuesday night was Specials Night as school. Mimi and Papa joined us for dinner and visiting the special classes at school (Art, Library, Music, P.E.) We began our tour in art, but Luke was not interested in completing any crafts. Shocker. So we headed to gym for, in Luke's words, "dance lines." (a.k.a. line dancing). This definitely interested Luke.

Luke and friends cutting a rug to Cotton Eyed Joe.

We also stopped by the music room and Luke rocked it on the instruments. Before we left we also visited the library for a story, and then ultimately back to the art room for a craft, because we couldn't leave without completing every activity. After a few difficult days, Luke did well in the busy, over stimulating evening.

Luke and Daddy had a great time on the playground that evening. Shortly after arriving home, Luke broke out in a rash, kind of like hives. It happened shortly after his evening dose of augmentin, so we worried it was drug related. And so Wednesday we went back to the doctor for the third time in a week.

The rash of course was completely gone when we arrived at the doctor's office. Neither the doctor or I were ready to commit to a penicillin allergy. Luke's ear and eye were totally clear. I asked if we should try another dose of the augmentin as a test. The doctor was all for it, if I was comfortable with it.

That evening, more than 24 hours after his last dose, Luke broke out in a rash again.

The photo really doesn't capture the drama of the whelps. But at least he was still happy.

Benedryl cleared up the rash again (and boy did he sleep well), so I went ahead with my test in the morning. I kept him home a full hour after giving him the medicine and no rash. He was very glad we still made it to school before sharing time was over. He shared the details of his rash with the class.

So no more mystery rashes, and Luke seems to generally be feeling better. And he is much more agreeable and pleasant too. Funny how those seem to go hand-in-hand.

Friday was field day. I had no idea what to expect.



He was excited and full of school spirit.

My assignment was supervising the giant slide. Lamar was off on Friday, so he came along. We took turns as the inflatable police.

Luke heading up the slide. Lots of years (and $$$) of OT and a whole lot of prayer have him climbing on such an apparatus. He's still cautious and kind of slow, but he's not afraid to try.

The field day I remember from my child was lots of organized races and events, with winners and ribbons in each event. But Luke and his partner were free to wander among all the activities and choose what they wanted to do. And the point of all the activities was to have fun. Luke's buddy reported to me Luke did not want want to play any of the water games (which was most of them) so I took a walk with them to try and help.

Luke and C decided to try this one first.

The entire point of this game was to spray each other with water bottles. I anticipated this not going well.

Right after this friend sprayed Luke in the face, Luke began to cry and attempted to seek revenge. It did not go as he planned and he was a little worked up by the end of the game.


We moved on to other activities. Luke wanted desperately to win, even though all the games emphasized they were simply fun and no winners were declared.

In this event, the object was to crab crawl with a bowl of water on your belly. Luke found this position more effective.


Lamar then took a turn hanging with the boys. He convinced Luke it would be okay to get wet.

He did a really good job convincing him.

Before this game began, they let the kids soak each other. Big fun.

And here is the actual game. I doubt Luke was supposed to use his hand to hold the sponge between his knees, but no one was really enforcing that rule.

We stayed for a tasty school pizza lunch. And then I enjoyed watching Luke and his friends toss the 80 something water balloons my fingers were raw from filling and tying the night before. I have no pictures because I was busy guarding my precious balloons from getting stepped on or swiped by a kindergartner from another class. The squeals of delight when a water balloon burst on the ground were worth my aching back and sore fingers. Almost.

Luke and I rested this weekend. He now has what I guess is an allergy-induced cough. I am so ready for him to be well and fully enjoy his last few days of kindergarten.

More pics to come. Luke got a much needed haircut this weekend. He finally agreed to try the clippers and he did super. What a great mother's day gift!