The Boy Who Cried Belly Ache

So...Tiny Boy has been dealing with recurrent abdominal pain.  This is a recurrence from years past but not actively a problem since fall 2021.  Last year's x-ray revealed nothing of note.  This year's revealed moderate constipation, which has been dealt with.  The GI also prescribed reflux meds (he'd been on them in the past).  And....given that there seems to be a psychosomatic component, he was also prescribed atarax (antihistamine with anti-anxiety properties; he's also on ANOTHER antihistamine for appetite stimulation).  All this is to say... Tiny Boy is on a ton of meds, which I'd like to avoid if possible, and also missing a ton of school.  Right now his grades are not suffering because he's there just enough to get assignments done, and books can come home.  But I'm sure his learning, as well as psychosocial development, is suffering.

And I'm going out of my mind.   I'm angry.  And being angry at a kid who isn't feeling great is, well, not good.  But I can't get work done.  Or, more precisely, I can get a minimum amount of work done but not everything I should be doing and want to be doing.  And I can't do the things that I have set aside for "self-care" because SCHOOL IS CHILDCARE.  Next semester I will be on campus regularly, which I'm not now.  And if this continues I will either need to go on FMLA or hire fulltime in home childcare.  Which is insane.

Okay....just needed to rant.  Gentle observations welcome.*

*Just not the one that says he's faking.  It's obvious he's not.  And I don't want to gaslight my kid.  But also....he seems to enjoy not going to school.  Sigh.

First Trip! (And other updates!)

• Well, I'm en route to my first conference travel, and first plane travel, since Nov 2019.  (If anyone is going to NWSA, send me an email [gwinne (at) yahoo (dot) com]! Maybe my actual self can meet up with your actual self!)
• Looking forward to: seeing people I have only seen via zoom! talking about all the big ideas! not being woken by cats/kid in the morning! a hot tub! 
• Although I am excited about the travel in general I am also somewhat certain I will inevitably get COVID, which I have managed to avoid thus far.  I know it's just a matter of time.  I am generally cautious but would prefer to eat in restaurants with other humans on this trip than in my room by myself.
• Anyhoo.  Of all the many good things that have happened lately, the one I am honestly most proud of is raising a kid who voted in the election, including for our local school board.  Amen, Gen Z.