Poor Monster

Last Monday morning, my co-teacher told me the monster was at the hospital, and would be coming in late. In Korea, a kid going to the hospital doesn't mean much - they go for colds and minor ailments pretty regularly - but a 4-year-old with a fever is a kid I had hoped would be allowed to stay home. No such luck. The doctors found him to be 'not severely sick' and so he was dropped off just before lunchtime, and announced his arrival by crying. Actually, the first sound I heard was a petulant whine that I knew within half a second was his. I've definitely spent too much time with this kid.

After lunch, I politely inquired if our little charge had eaten any of his lunch, and was informed that no, he had not, and indeed he had vomited on the floor. But not to worry - "sometimes he makes himself vomit by crying too much." Lovely. So glad he wasn't 'severely sick'. Honestly, at this point I felt awful for the poor sod. He was obviously OBVIOUSLY a sick little guy and desperate for sleep. Indeed, within a few seconds of me turning around to get his favorite song ready on the computer, he'd fallen asleep at his desk and started drooling on his hand. No fake sleeping this time.

The next day was a holiday, and then on Wednesday he was kept home again. Turns out he had food poisoning. On Thursday he still couldn't really talk (I think he had mouth ulcers) but he'd been bored at home and told his mom he was going to school. He was an angel almost the whole day: he found creative ways to express himself through thumbs-up and thumbs-down, and managed to get through the same amount of worksheets as he usually does.

He's actually been good almost all of this week too. With the exception of that day when he decided he WOULD NOT go to the bathroom, despite showing clear signs of desperation. He held out so long, that he ended up peeing in his pants. I genuinely have no idea what triggered this behavior; he does sometimes 'hold out' on going to the bathroom, but had always given in pretty quickly. Whatever the cause, the embarrassment must have gotten to him because he could not have been nicer that afternoon. And he hasn't refused an offer to go to the bathroom since.