The Reality Show they need to make

....would be called "Is he fakin' it?"

On this show, the fretful mother would drag her five-year old son to this panel of pediatricians where they have to examine him and determine if the two hour crying spell where he SCREAMED that his ear hurt is a real medical issue or just an attention-getting stunt. IF the mother is right, and the kid is fakin' it (as she's SURE he is, since earlier that day, he was whining about the OTHER ear--and was even caught SLEEPING on the currently-suspect ear with NOT even a whimper--until he saw mom was watching him), then the pediatricians have to eat the co-pay--AND reimburse the mother for her unpaid time from work. IF the kid's complaints are proved to be true (what a shock!) than the mother eats her crow and her unpaid time and co-pay without a tantrum of her own.

Obviously, this was the scenario from last weekend--except that I did NOT take Keith to the doctor. My professional opinion as a mother (for what it's worth) is that he had a slight cold (oh, yes, it's making its rounds) and that his ears were a bit plugged up from it (he said it sounded as if people were talking under water to him). I think that it just felt kind of "weird" to him and that "weird" registered to him as "pain."

Of course, I could have been wrong..... Because I believe it was Saturday that when he got up from his nap, one of his eyes looked kind of gunky and RED. Not completely red, just a little bit. But his nose and face were completely covered in snot (hello--this kid is snotty ALL THE TIME and does NOT have the best nose hygiene. ewwww.). It looked to me as if he'd wiped his nose with his hand, and that it had smeared into his eye. So, I asked him to wash his face. When he came back "clean", his eye didn't look so red, so I thought maybe, just maybe, the eye got a little irritated from having all that snot in it...? And it never looked red the rest of the weekend.

Well, Izzy's eye looked a little gunky too when she got up from that same nap, but not red. This isn't new for THIS kid because she does get gunky eyes from time to time. But Monday, when John picked up the kids after the mini-van fiasco, our day care provider told him that Izzy had pink eye. Sure enough, the kid's left eye had a definite red hue--and gunk. Leona and I immediately agreed on the treatment (without even talking to each other--it's sometimes scary how we Moms can think alike)--give her Mary's drops from the big Pink-Eye Incident of last Christmas. I know, I know. I probably should have taken Izzy in. And it's a big no-no to give one child's prescription to another. But after all the talks with all the pediatricians and doctors during the big Pink Eye Incident of last Christmas (even Leona and one of her daughters got it), we both decided it didn't seem to meet the criteria of a doctor's visit. I figure, if she's whining and feverish and acting sick, THEN I will take her in to see if anything else is wrong: sore throat, ear infection, etc. So far, so good. The eye drops have cleared up her eyes, and she's acting like a normal two-year old. And my five-year old hasn't complained one BIT about his ear since the crying jag of last Sunday night--and his eyes have stayed red- and gunk-free.

(Makes me wonder how much of my wreck was due to sleep deprivation as I did not sleep well Friday night or Saturday night, and Keith kept us up late Sunday night. And I've been very frazzled lately. My other two wrecks were most certainly due to sleep deprivation and my frazzled-working-mother-of-three status. Perhaps another pursuit into working-from-home is in order again.)

Anyrate, I could have used the "Is she fakin' it?" show last Thursday when Mary's visit to the nurse's office for a COLD caused such havoc in our lives.

I should call CBS. (They could probably use a laugh.)