After school today, the little little started feeling icky, and wanted to go to bed early. A quick temperature check, and he had a 99.8°F temperature.

Great, just great, right?

I dosed him with a little ibuprofen so he could be comfortable, got him in his pajamas, and started reading a favorite story. We got about 2/3 of the way through and he flipped over and closed his eyes. He didn't make it through the rest of the book before he started snoring.

There's never a good time to have a sick kid. Something's always going on, and having to put on the brakes for one or more parents to care for one or more of the kids, or one of the parents, is always a drag. There are some ever-so-slightly days that are better, like falling sick on Friday gives the whole weekend to recover. This can put all that stress on those weekend things put off during the week, though, but usually that stays in the family.

Getting sick on a Thursday kind of wrecks Friday, too. I have plans to go to the office tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday, in case the calendar didn't tip that off.

Since he has a fever, and has taken medicine to reduce it, he's not allowed back to school tomorrow. So he'll have to stay home. This isn't a real big deal, normally, as we're both working from home during the pandemic, and the kids usually sleep or zombie in front of the television or with their tablets. There are occasional interruptions, like they want a snack while we're in the middle of a meeting, but they're both old enough to mostly fend for themselves. Between meetings, we get to check in and make sure they're doing OK.

This week is the culmination of my company's annual review process. The process starts heavy in January, when everyone writes their self-reviews, and stays pretty heavy through February, when we leaders write reviews for our teams. The first week or so in March is when those reviews are due, and get combined with the performance and pay portion of the process, which is done at the same time. Starting tomorrow, we can start receiving and delivering reviews.

In the days before the pandemic, we'd probably assess if one parent could tend to the kiddo, and either pass on the workday or work around having the kiddo around while we work from home. During the pandemic, as mentioned, having the kids home while we work is an occasional and minor inconvenience. With the pandemic, though, the idea of having a sick kid at home and then going to the office makes it a different thing to consider.

It's not likely he has COVID, but it isn't impossible. The school board went with the state health department recommendation and moved masks for students (and teachers, I believe) "recommended" instead of "required." It's a subtle difference, but now the kids can opt out of wearing masks in school. Previously they were only allowed to take them off during lunch, and only while at their table eating. In the few days since, we've learned both kids abandon their masks almost immediately, even though they leave the house with new masks every morning. So, it's possible.

We did a COVID rapid test, one of those sent to everyone in the mail, and it didn't "turn pink," like it should if there's COVID. So it's probably not COVID. We are falling on the side of a positive is probably more accurate than the negatives, because maybe you don't have the "viral load" for the simple test to detect, or maybe we did something wrong. We'll likely do another tomorrow, and we have the PCR test already scheduled for Saturday, as we do every week. Then we'll be confident.

Still, everyone's been isolating and separating, so no one is prepared for a cold any more. Add to this that he decided I was the most comfortable place to rest before he decided it was time for bed. So as he grew warmer and sniffled and coughed, he was on my lap and leaning against my chest. I'm pretty sure I'm at high risk of exposure if not affliction. While I might not get sick, or at least have symptoms right away, I do worry about being a carrier.

So, I'll probably be passing on work tomorrow. I'm going to wait to see if kiddo wakes up just fine. And maybe risk it if it was the tail end of a nasty cold or sinus thing.

Except for that fever, everyone's healthy.