Poo and working from home with toddlers

Apologies now for the tmi…we’ve had an awful lot of poo the week from N. As it’s predominantly the stink and colour that’s so vile I’m now tending towards the ‘teething’ poo theory rather than him actually being ill.  He’s been on normal form apart from not really eating anything (except potato for a couple of meals).

Of course it’s the dilemma for any working parent…do you take them to nursery and hope they don’t ring you to pick him up to to ‘loose stools’ or do you keep him off and pray that you can get some work done from home. In our situation like so many others, it’s always the mum who has to take the time off…there’s not even a discussion in ours as any suggestion would bring meet with incredulity because of course, one job’s more important than the other (OH being self employed doesn’t really give any choice in the matter).

Luckily I am able to work from home in desperate times although that’s easier said and done when you’ve exhausted every game or activity that a 20 month old can or is willing to do on his own.  Then his boredom sets in and you get whining, crying and clinging. Of course him not really being ill  means he’ll only sleep his normal nap time rather than mammoth hours and this week the weather has meant that it’s impossible for him to be out with dad on the farm…which is what he wants to do, play outside.

The one benefit of working from home is getting to set up and start work an hour earlier than normal which kind of offsets the having to make lunch and tea which wouldn’t normally be on the agenda on a nursery day.

Still he’s gone back today…much better in the nappy department although not strictly back to normal consistency so here’s hoping there’s no phone calls from them otherwise it’ll be a trek back from a London conference.

Hmmm, well he went back and got sent home again at 4.50pm!  Annoying as that’s another day at home, even though there’s been no more diarrhoea since Monday in my view. And N’s been perfectly fine today. It’s horrible to think how much money is wasted through childcare that doesn’t happen due to illness (or effectively quarantine). Working from home with toddlers isn’t very productive.