When Audio got out of school two Thursdays ago, it was clear that she should have stayed home.  There was mucus running from her nose, across her lips and onto her chin as she said, “I feel sick.”  So, on Friday, we kept her home from school.  After fighting it off for over a month, my body finally gave in and I shared Audio’s cold with her on Friday, over the weekend, and right on through Monday.   

On Monday morning, I called the attendance line to report that Audio would be absent and then brought the girls over to the school.  Dee Dee agreed to make the walk to the front door of the school on her own and said her goodbyes to Audio and me on the sidewalk, near the street.  She looked back and waved once as she hustled away from us.  Soon, she was swallowed up by backpacks, hats, and jackets, and she was gone.  Before we could leave, the bell rang and one of Audio’s teachers came out to collect the Hi5ers.  We said good morning to the teacher, told her Audio was sick and then I carried Audio home. 

By Tuesday morning, both girls seemed just about healthy enough to make it through the school day.  Parent teacher conferences were scheduled for that evening.  So, I was hoping that we’d all be healthy enough to make it through the day and the evening, as well.  I gave each of the girls some daytime cold medicine and walked them to school.  When we got to about the same point in the schoolyard where Dee Dee separated from Audio and me on previous day, she asked if it was OK for her to go the rest of the way alone.  I was more than happy to let her to walk by herself to the door.  And, even though I knew she’d be fine, I still stepped a little off the sidewalk and into the grass in front of the school to get a better angle so I could watch that Dee Dee made it to the front door in one piece.  The bell rang as she reached the door.  Audio accompanied me off the sidewalk and onto the grass because the only other Hi5er waiting on the sidewalk was a mean boy who she didn’t want to be near.    

I was at the grocery store, later in the day when I received a call from the school letting me know that Dee Dee had been “referred” to the nurse’s office because of her cough.  The nurse informed me that Dee Dee was not running a fever and that her airway was clear, so I didn’t need to come get her right then.  But she wanted to make it clear that a coughing child makes it difficult for other students to pay attention and that it makes it more difficult for the coughing child to learn, because of their coughing.  

All of the information about Dee Dee’s disruptive coughing was delivered in short statements that the nurse was blurting out between her own coughing fits.  In the end, I let the school nurse know that we would look into getting Dee Dee to a doctor.  The nurse said something of the effect of, “OK.  But, to be clear, we aren’t asking you to do that.”  I thanked her for calling and went back to selecting a seasoned pork shoulder. The bag of the pork shoulder that I selected turned out to have a whole in it and as a result, most of the groceries that I brought home were covered in barbeque sauce. 

When I picked up the girls from school, they both said that they felt fine.  I asked Dee Dee about being “referred” to the nurse for her coughing.  She told me that she had been coughing during science and the teacher sent her to the nurse.  I asked if she had been coughing more than just during science and she answered that she had coughed for half the day.  Then, it changed to a quarter of the day.  I’m pretty sure that the adjustment was only made because she seems have gotten a grip on what a quarter is recently, i.e. a quarter is more than just the name of the big coins that she likes to collect from my desk, night stand, and car.  By the time we got home from school, I could tell that she was, indeed, ill.  But, with heading into a five-day weekend, it was fine timing.

By the time my wife got home from work, it was clear from all the coughing that we wouldn’t be able to go to the parent-teacher conferences as a family, as planned. So, when the time came, I walked over to the school by myself.  I was early.  So, I waited outside for a bit.  But, I figured I was just creeping people out by hanging around outside the front door.  So, when a girl from Dee Dee’s grade showed up with her mother and a couple siblings, I decided I should follow them in.  Unfortunately, my presence distracted the girl from Dee Dee’s grade, causing her to bump into her mother, making her mother to drop her cell phone, which bounced off the curb and landed a few feet behind her, in the parking lot.  After she returned from picking up her phone, we all went inside. 

The principal was sitting at the front desk.  I reported that I was early for a meeting in room 104 and she told me that there were chairs sitting outside the room.  I responded, “I’ll take them all.”  I’m not sure what I even meant by that.  But I was less sure about why the principal cackled uncontrollably over my comment.  I left the office and made my way towards Dee Dee’s room.  As I did, I walked past a room full of teachers, including Dee Dee’s teacher.  When I got to 104, Dee Dee’s teacher and the school’s art teacher joined me.  The art teacher explained that she just wanted to see how things were going in conferences and thought it would be nice to join mine because Dee Dee is such a good kid, or something.  It was clear that Dee Dee’s teacher had no interest in being alone in a room with me and either he or the principal thought that having the art teacher sit in would be enough to get him out of our conference alive. 

The conference went well.  Dee Dee’s teacher asked if I had any questions or concerns.  I just asked if there were any No Child Left Behind tests for second graders.  He didn’t seem to know.  So, I informed him that I was pretty sure that there weren’t any NCLB tests until third grade and that until then, I was just concerned with Dee Dee enjoying school and learning about what she finds interesting.  I said that we would start helping her work towards tests, once they mattered.  Dee Dee’s teacher let me know that if I had been curious about test scores, that Dee Dee did well on the one evaluation test that they had at the start of the year.  Then, he went on to call Dee Dee A “Rock Star” over and over.   

He said that she was a rock star because she asks questions, and she’s a rock star because she asks for help when she needs it, she’s a rock star because she has a depth to her understanding. And while I don’t equate any of those things with being a rock star, I understood what he was trying to say. Then, back to the test score, she ranked in the 98^th percentile on her reading test.  Her score on her math test “exceeded” expectations, but was a bit lower than the reading score.  I think that my lack of excited response over test scores left Dee Dee’s teacher flummoxed.  He thumbed through some papers that were for me to take home, looked at her 98% score and said, “Wow, a 98!”  I brought the conversation back to how I hoped that Dee Dee is working out how to be herself and fit in with others at the same time.  Her teacher talked a bit about how she is friendly with everyone and that from what he can see, all the kids want to be friends with her because she is kind, thoughtful, and fun. That’s a bit more like being a rock star, in my book. 

After the conference, I got up to go to Audio’s classroom.  The art teacher walked with me all the way to the High Five door.  She made it a point to explain again why she had been sitting in on our parent-teacher (singular) conference.  I assured her that I wasn’t concerned about her being there and made jokes about how I didn’t figure that anything bad or embarrassing was going to be discussed.  I didn’t have any interest in going into the why’s and how’s of how we arrived at a point where teachers don’t want to be alone with me.  

My conference with Audio’s teacher went well.  I was less interested in drawings and writings than hearing about how she’s getting along with the other kids in the class.  And, from what her teacher shared, Audio is learning how to avoid the “mean kids” and is making friends with the quieter kids in the room.  Academically, she is doing fine.  If anything, it sounds like she is catching up for lost time spent on the couch looking at a phone or a tablet over the past couple years.   

Overall, there were no surprises.  But I did feel good walking home from the school, knowing that both of my girls are doing a little better than just getting by. When I got home, I shared a few details of the conferences with my wife, we caught a bit of the debate between candidates for Governor, and had dinner. Then, the girls and I spent the five-day weekend being sick.