This morning I am feeling extremely grateful for our flexible schedules. You may have heard details about the flu in Austin on NPR. We’ve been watching it go through Maddy’s class since last week – by Friday afternoon only Maddy and one other child were at school. It appears the flu may have finally caught up with her; yesterday her school called to let us know she was running a fever.

We both have several projects coming due so had mapped out our week on Sunday. As Rich headed to the school, we quickly recalibrated our day. Maddy is a voracious reader so she is currently a fairly easy kid to care for when she isn’t feeling well. Some of our projects could be completed while tending to her. Phew! We created a new plan, then Rich got the girls and I scrambled to adjust my arrangements for the next day.

On the way home, Keena fell asleep. Hard. She’s a light napper so this was very unlike her. You can see what is coming, right? By the time they got home, she was feverish as well. Even though it was the afternoon, we decided to let her sleep and she slept for more than three hours! Keena is younger so she hasn’t yet reached the easy-to-care-for-when-ill stage so we had to create a third plan for the day.

Was creating three separate plans for today a pain? Yes, I would have preferred to stick with the first plan. However, I’m so incredible grateful that we were able to be responsive to the girls’ needs. In conversations with other parents, I know how incredibly disruptive a child’s sick day can be. With no way to plan for them, very few child care options, and plenty of guilt, these days are one of the black holes of parenting. Developing multiple plans was a small price to pay for being able to treat the girls like the priority that they are for us.

Stay well!

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