Do the right thing, people

Cooper is the kid that if something is going around, he gets it.  And it's always worse for him than for other kids; a cold in a typical kid is RSV to Cooper.  So it drives me crazy when parents send their sick kids to school, takes them to an event/activity, or just in general gets them out and about when they have a fever.

Monday night, Semmes had a fever with a barking cough that made it pretty obvious he had croup.  So I informed all the moms that we had been around that day and cancelled our plans for Tuesday.  Early Tuesday morning, he woke up and was still warm and struggling a little with breathing, so we gave him an oral steroid and put him back in bed.  When he woke back up for the day, he was GREAT.  I mean, running around, full of energy, no fever, great.  But I did the right thing and kept him home.  Because one day of him being a little stir crazy at the house is worth not spreading nasty croup to everyone we come into contact with.  He's totally fine today, and we ventured out into the world this morning, confident that we weren't going to be spreading germs everywhere we went.

Yesterday was the first day of fall.  Along with pumpkins, gorgeous orange and red vistas, scarves, and boots comes colds, runny noses, and upper respiratory infections.  Brad says the ER is already full of kids with croup, so do the right thing!  Keep your sick kid home (and if you're sick, stay home).

Does this look like a sick kid (or for that matter, a BABY) to you?