last week, louisa was sick. or, at least, she said she was sick. and she played up that she was sick to the point that i finally caved and let her take the day off from school. she went to gma’s house (gma is short for ‘g-ma’ which is what the grand kids call my mom).  it worked out well, because gma put her to work cleaning, which actually made louisa very happy. she loves helping.

was she sick? i don’t honestly think so. i think she needed a gma day.  louisa gets in a certain mood every couple months and just needs a gma day. this stems from the fact that louisa was with gma daily for almost two years when i went back to work and her sisters were in school. louisa and gma have a very special relationship and it needs to be renewed every once in a while!

knowing that louisa needs gma days got me to thinking about how we all need days off. i very rarely take them, because i only get 8 pto (paid time off) days a year. i save those for actual trips and such. but there are many days i wake up and wish, sincerely, that i could take a gma day. i don’t even have to go hang with my mom, although that is an especially awesome way to spend a day!

when louisa was off, mia got quite upset. she said, “WHY DO I HAVE TO BE SO DARN HEALTHY???” which is quite ironic. she had missed school twice just the week before for actual health issues.  i know what she means, though. there are those times that illness is a welcome respite from ‘reality.’

a few days ago, mia asked me if she could take a day off from school. i told her that i would think about it, but that it was not going to be that day. i know she needs a gma day. weekends don’t give her much respite, because she has to deal with her sisters. as a child with autism, she needs a SOLO day. don’t we all?

schools take a dim view on days off. they want official blue excuse slips (at riverview, anyway) with extremely valid reasons why a child has missed the all-important school day. but here’s the thing…. you can’t tell me that those teachers don’t take gma days (or at least pray really hard for snow days). why should days of respite be limited to adults? while kids might not be dealing with the stress that we do, they DO have stress. they need breaks too.

so, as the weather starts to improve, i will look for an opportunity to give mia her gma day. maybe she and gma can even do something kinda fun like order pizza hut pizza and watch sprout or pbs kids all day long!  (forgive me, mom)