You Know Your Child Is Sick When...

My 12yo son's usual morning routine is to get up, come downstairs (usually in pyjamas) with a comic book (lately the For Better or for Worse comics), get himself cereal or some other breakfast and sit at the kitchen table, eating while he reads. With Lent, he decided to give up comic books during the day (evening is okay), so he's been coming to the table with different science-related books, which has been lovely to see because it has led him to doing more of the kind of research he used to do on his own.

Today, that didn't happen.

I came downstairs and he was curled up in a blanket on the sofa. That sometimes happens when he's feeling tired and he'll curl up and read a book. There wasn't a book this time. Uh oh. Not a good sign.

Upon being asked how he was, he told me he wasn't feeling well and his head hurt. I noticed then that he'd taken the frozen magic bag out and had been using it on his head. Poor kid. My husband, who hadn't yet left for work, joked that he (12yo) should stay home from school today. No smile showed up on my son's face. Yikes. Another sure sign he's not feeling well.

Absolute clincher that he wasn't just exaggerating things was, after having watched some TeletoonRetro for a while, that he asked if he could watch some videos on the laptop. This is something he can do, and has done, for hours at a time. He set himself up in front of the TV, but it didn't last long. Within half an hour, he was back on the other chair, wrapped in a blanket, laying down watching the TV. He hasn't gone back to the laptop. Wow. He's also not hungry and not very thirsty. He was even told he could have a Gatorade to make sure he's getting some good fluids an electrolytes; he's barely touched it.

How do you know when your child is truly sick?