Kid Amnesiac

I’m still trying to decide if this is good timing, bad timing, or given-what-is-not-bad timing. I’m thinking the third…

Sunday was Simon’s big kids’ birthday party at Sunny Acres Farm. We invited his first friends Sophie and Leah and his entire class to come out this barely commercialized farm to enjoy pumpkin painting, a hayride, a corn maze, a bouncy house, and a pull string pinata. This last item was Simon’s idea; he really wanted to have Halloween candy for all his friends.

Our turnout was marvelous. I happily watched 12 kids run around, get messy, crowd around a woolly caterpillar, scoop up candy, climb hay-bales, and pile on top of each other in the bouncy house (even Simon!). It was a sunny and unseasonably warm autumn day, and all the kids were pink-cheeked by the party’s end at 3:00.

Simon especially so. In fact, whereas at 2:55 he was jumping and screaming with joy in the bouncy house, at 3:00 on the nose all the light went out of his face, and by  3:10 he got into his car seat  and let the last few party guests climb in the car to say goodbye to him. I originally assumed that he was plain ole exhausted from the heat and two days of parties. But once we got home, I could tell that he was hot.

One hundred and two degrees hot, to be precise. Then the coughing began, which took on a bark-like quality by the next morning. Simon has croup. How he managed to develop symptoms the exact minute his party ended, I do not know. But I’m grateful, because it meant he got to have his party. I’m also relieved and grateful that (1) no other kids in his class have been ill this week*; and (2) that he’s starting to feel better today, so we can enjoy what should be the prettiest weekend of the fall.

* I’ve called KIP to check every day.  Can you imagine? Thank you for coming to Simon’s party! For your party favor, we have a pumpkin, a bag of candy, and disease to take home!