Skate Week

We are celebrating another holiday: “Ski Week” (aka another entire week off school). Ski Week in Southern California makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. Having grown up in Colorado, a holiday made for skiing or snowboarding would have made sense—we certainly would have enjoyed the extra time to be on the slopes—however, being a stones throw from the beach makes “Ski Week” sound like another strange excuse for kids to miss school.

Though the children have absolutely no qualms about another week off school, I find myself panicking about the expense, entertainment, and availability of my therapist—knowing I’ll need a little extra mental assistance to get through another holiday.

This year I tried to prepare myself to not be such a pessimist. I refused to envy those going on extravagant vacations to snow country and reminded myself how much I hate the cold weather. I made some personal adjustments to the holiday, like changing the name to “Skate Week” to fit our lifestyle and keep Sandler from asking if we were going to the mountain. I also designed a little itinerary with a map of landmarks so that every second I was asked what we were doing and where we were going, they could see for themselves.

I was very impressed with my plan and it worked like magic… until about halfway though the first day. We were at our second skatepark and Sandler did something he has never done. He sat down next to me to take a little break and asked if he could be done skateboarding for the day. I immediately knew something wrong. He had never asked to stop skateboarding since the day he started. I tried not to look worried, but knew something was off and added a doctor’s visit to the itinerary.

We could not be seen until after hours, which he found quite adventurous since we were going out on the town in the dark. He even perked up a little bit once he got to race his sister to the office elevator. Sandler was still very concerned the doctor would tell him he couldn’t skateboard for the rest of the week. We walked into the waiting room and Sandler took one look at the extremely sick patients, threw up his hands and said, “I’m getting out of here! These kids don’t look very good.” I apologetically looked at the worried and exhausted parents, and was beyond relieved to be called back to see the doctor immediately.

Once we got situated, I explained that the doctor would just do a quick check of his lungs, ears and nose and I would have her look at a bump that has been bothering his toe. He did not like that plan at all, but before he could escape, the doctor entered the room. She peeked at his big toe and told us it was a little wart. She offered to freeze it off but it would blister. He adamantly contested “freezing off his toe” and proceeded to tell the doc that it was Skate Week not Ski Week, so it would not make sense to freeze anything. She looked at me for an explanation and I said we could take care of that a little later. Then she ruled out walking pneumonia and gave him a magical breathing treatment that seemed to just about cure him.  

After receiving confirmation he could continue skating, Sandler enthusiastically fist bumped her knuckles so hard I thought she was going to need a doctor. We left with some breathing treatments, an unfrozen toe, and decided we would stick to calling it Skate Week, not Ski Week, and definitely not “Sick” Week.

- Nikki