Someone’s Watching Over Me
Somewhat inevitably, I caught Charlie’s cold. Jim did too; both of my guys seem to be on the mend—Charlie was awake at five minutes to seven on Wednesday morning and ran out the door to catch the bus—while I found myself spending Wednesday coughing, sniffling, trying (trying) to clear my throat and drinking Airborne (which makes me feel briefly better when I drink it, but then it’s back to the Kleenex).
While he still had a cough, Charlie, by his teacher’s report, sailed through the better part of the day and happily polished off a lunch of chicken, Tater Tots, grapes and watermelon. I taught my classes, with many students—aware that the middle of the semester is approaching—saying “tell us what’s going to be on the midterm!” and “I’m scared!”. I made it home to greet the bus and the bus driver nodding and smiling when I checked with her about no bus Thursday (Charlie has the day off for Yom Kippur) and back to school on Friday.
The sound of me coughing and blowing my nose has long upset Charlie. When he was seven, he’d cry, or scream, or hit his head when I blew it. This of course made having a cold or allergies doubly trying; I used to take a deep breath and hurry to the basement to cough. About two years ago Charlie started to imitate my, ahem, non-verbal sounds of sickness with his own approximations. He’d do “Mom clearing her throat” and “Mom sneezing”, grunt or growl intently, and then grin. So now, when I feel a cough rising, I warn him and Charlie puts his hands over his ears.
Wednesday afternoon, Charlie had his usual large after-school snack (I guess it’s more like another meal) and then asked for a walk. It really was a lovely, warm autumn day and I filled my pockets with tissues and off we went, Charlie running ahead, stopping at the crosswalk and looking back for me to give the “you can go.”
Once home, I felt more light-headed than ever. Charlie slumped in a chair with his shoes still on. I picked up his blue fleece blanket and spread it on my lap; Charlie smiled and asked for the blanket, and took it, and did the same when I tried to use his big yellow one. I found another blanket from my bedroom, settled in a chair with a footstool, pulled the blanket over me, and told Charlie, “I have to take a nap. I’m sick. 15 minutes.” Charlie was in the other chair and looked right at me.
I must have dozed off for awhile because it was dark outside when I woke up. Charlie was still sitting there, eyes still on me.
Watching over me?
You bet—that’s my boy.
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, disabilities blog, disability, Education, Health, motherhood, parenthood, schools, sick, students, teachers
8 opinions for Someone’s Watching Over Me
My Autism Insights
Oct 9, 2008 at 8:07 am
That’s quite beautiful. Sorry to hear you’re under the weather, and I wish you a speedy recovery. We’ve been sick this week too, Gus and I seem to have gotten it the worst. We curled up together on the couch on Tuesday, which was nice nose-blowing and coughing aside. :-)
Karen
Oct 9, 2008 at 10:41 am
Goodness, could he be any cuter? I love the fact that you can cough with warning now…I have similar things with Pete. I hope you’re feeling better soon. xo
Marla
Oct 9, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Charlie is such a sweetheart. I hope you are all feeling better soon.
Bonnie Sayers
Oct 9, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Hopefully you are on the mend. Matt had off today as wel, although they called it an unassigned day. Nick still had his homeschooling though. Looks like CAVA gives them a whole week at Thanksgiving, which is good since his warriors cat books come out that week.
Matt does not like it when I wear white cotton gloves on my hands and also when a towel on head/with wet hair.
this week the APA listed their top ten neighborhoos in the US and ours is the only one from CA. So maybe we will stay here awhile longer.
Storkdok
Oct 9, 2008 at 9:26 pm
So sorry to hear you’re sick. Glad you have an angel to watch over you! Very sweet!
My son will bring me water when I am sick, will “doctor” me with my stethescope, will make me lie down and cover me with a blanket! He has loads of empathy for people who are sick, is the first one on the playground to help someone go to the nurse if they get hurt.
I wish you a speedy recovery! And thanks for the message ;0) I’d like my own time out. I keep asking my kids for one!
Overseen on NJ Transit: Planning for the future
Oct 10, 2008 at 7:25 am
[...] my bag (front pockets well-stocked with Kleenex and the other matériel one needs to get through a bad cold) onto my lap, and shut my eyes, and hoped I’d be able to keep my voice going through the [...]
Regan
Oct 11, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I hope all of you are well on the mend, if not recovered, from your colds.
I remember when sneezes scared Eleanor and I had to reassure her that our coughing was not a sign of trouble. Now we laugh and say, “Bless You!”.
Funny how the cold season works–we try to be careful, wash hands, etc. and, darn it, it seems to be our turn to have the sniffles. Eleanor is tucked in bed with tissues and “Finding Nemo”, and I’m wondering about the tickle in my throat. But where it came from–who knows?
Takes a little of the mickey out of the weekend, but gives me an excuse to make miso soup :-).
Autism Vox 2008 in Review: August-December
Jan 1, 2009 at 5:06 am
[...] In October, I (former warrior mom that I am) was on a Science Blogs book club panel writing about a newly published book, I get a lot of hate mail”: Autism’s False Prophets by Paul Offit. (And I’ve not been feeling that I need beware Jenny McCarthy and her so-called angry mom-mob; I know that someone’s watching over me.) [...]
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: