Snow Day/Sick Day

What happens when a five-year-old finds herself home from school three days in a row? For my granddaughter Paige it was not a problem. On Monday she woke to find a light dusting of snow surrounding the large Frosty that sits in her front yard and news that school had been cancelled. This meant our Girl Scout meeting was also cancelled, but she ended up having a great day spending the first half with me (her Mimi) and the second half with her Aunt Vicki.

On Tuesday Paige woke up with a fever and sore throat. And to make matters worse, Fred the Elf was in the same spot that he landed on the day before. This posed a very serious question for Paige. Did Fred not go back to the North Pole during the night as he is supposed to do? Did he not report to Santa that she had been a good girl? Or did, as her parents insisted, Fred like the spot so much that he came back from the North Pole and landed on the exact spot? It was with relief and excitement that Paige showed me where Fred landed this morning which happened to be inside the votive candle holder next to the Nativity Set.

And although Paige was sick yesterday, she spent the day with her Grandma Gil enjoying her day immensely until the fever crept back up and the decision was made that she stay home from school a third day. I got the text last night and made it to her house at 7:30 a.m. I found her curled up on the couch watching TV. After a while and a little breakfast, we headed to her room to make her bed. Getting dressed was not an option as she was snuggly in her fleece PJ’s and I just didn’t have the heart to force her to dress. She asked me to play with her Lite Brite and I had a flash from the past. I didn’t even know they still made them.

She said, “You know Mimi the really cool thing about these Lite Brites is that you can do them over and over. You just push the lights back into the holes and use any color light you want.” We made a “My Little Pony” pouring a cup of tea and then an ice-cream cone. But she got tired and asked for a glass of chocolate milk and some “Scooby Doo.” We put in a DVD and two hours later she had watched seven Scooby Doo shows that she’d seen a hundred times and yet watched each as if it were the first time. Of course she told me who the villain was and the plot as we watched. You might think that was not good, but I like to know these things and she liked telling me.

Paige said she was itching all over and hot and sure enough her fever had come back. So I gave her some Ibuprofen as instructed and thought she would take a nap. She didn’t. Instead she went up to the bonus room and spent over an hour drawing, cutting out shapes, gluing and looking over all of her art projects. Occasionally she’d call me to come up and see something but I was cooking dinner and she was content so I stayed out of her way. And then it got quiet. I went upstairs and found her on the floor in the fort she had built sound asleep.

I had forgotten how much fun a snow day or a sick day can be. Paige reminded me and allowed me to share in her joy in resting, reading, playing, watching TV and pretending. Thanks Paige for reminding your Mimi what it is like to be five years old. Hope you feel better tomorrow.