So, did you know they clean school buses by raising up the front and then power-washing the inside so all the water and dirt runs out the back? Something new every day!
I learned this because yesterday William threw up twice on the bus on the way home, and the dispatcher called me to give me the heads-up, and so I went running out with towels to help clean up the bus, but the driver told me not to worry about it.
Of course, I AM worried about it. I am very, very worried that William will get on the bus next time and no one will want to sit next to him because he threw up. I’m worried someone will make him feel bad about it. Also, I’m worried about middle school and high school and car accidents and people breaking his heart. But right now I am focusing on the barfing problem in particular.
I took him to the doctor, not because he barfed but because he’s had an increasingly bad cough and he said he barfed because he coughed so much, and also because he could barely walk from the bus to the house, and also because he then lay on the couch pale and motionless for the rest of the day, and also because AFTER taking Motrin his fever was still 103.4.
It turns out he has a huge ear infection, so that the doctor flinched back and said, “Ouch!” and then said, “Buddy, you’ve got to COMPLAIN more.” But William said the ear hadn’t hurt him at all until the doctor poked it. We stopped on the way home and got him his antibiotics, and now he’s home watching cartoons in the living room and eating cinnamon toast. I picture the antibiotics going through his system now, popping the little bad guys: Pop! Pop! Pop!
As a habitual vomiter-in-public, (yet I don’t have an eating disorder, nor do I drink alcohol, so it’s a little weird)I sympathize greatly and hope he feels better soon.
Poor kid. Hope you sneak him a treat or two!
Aw…that whole “You need to complain more, buddy” got me. Poor dude. Hope he’s feeling better soon.
(As a kid, the diesel smell of the school bus always made me nauseous. I never puked on the bus, but spent many a day dry-heaving my way down our driveway to the house. And I was one of those last-on, last-off kids too, so my ride was nearly an hour.)
There’s always something to worry about with kids, isn’t there?
And yes, I still remember the name of the girl who puked on our table in Kindergarten, ruining my Weekly Reader, but I just remember feeling bad for her.
Actually, I did know that about buses. My babysitter growing up was the wife of a mechanic who serviced all the buses. He gave us kids $1 or something for windexing the seats of a bus when he did the back to school clean up. And let me tell you, an empty bus is a great place for hide and seek.
Twice I’ve puked in public. Once right as I was getting off the school bus (in front of the school) when I was 13, and once IN THE MIDDLE OF CLASS when I was 14. No one ever made fun of me or said anything about it. I think William will have the same luck!
“you need to complain more” is priceless!!
Poor kiddo – I hope he feels better soon. I know about ear infections from MANY MANY long nights of experience (before surgery).
Yes! Ear infection-induced barfing! I thought I was the only one! (Never barf from normal things like roller coasters or too many beers or the stomach flu, JUST EAR INFECTIONS. Well, and also once from bronchitis.)
When I was in fifth grade I spent an entire field trip throwing up. We were too far from home for the teachers to do much with me besides have me sit out and rest. I don’t remember any teasing or anything afterwards. At the very least, when he’s 34 he’ll have only a vague memory of it.
Better?
Aww, poor kid. I wish i were home watching cartoons and eating toast though. Hope he feels better!
Oh, poor William! And aren’t antibiotics the BEST THING EVER? Every time someone I know has to take antibiotics, I hearken back to the days prior to penicillin and think how unbelievably awful it must have been to have an infection then. People could DIE from strep throat! We owe you one, Alexander Fleming.
Poor little guy. I always worry about ear infections for my kids, they just seem so SNEAKY. Ear infections that is, not the kids (yet).
What a fantastic thing for a doctor to have said to your William. :) Some doctors just have a way with patients.
awww . . . poor little bug. hope he enjoys that cinnamon toast!!!
Poor baby. Sick kids are just pitiful. Cool about cleaning the bus, though…I had no idea!
Wow. It sounds like he has a high pain threshold. Good for him. I hope he gets better soon.
Growing up puking was always something of an attention getter, like fainting or having a cast. But it wasn’t a make-fun-able kind of thing.
Now, PEEING on the bus, that’s a different story.
Sending hugs his way.
oh, poor william!! i hope he feels better :-(
i remember MANY a kid puking througout my childhood, and i don’t recall any of them ever being picked on due to the pukage :-)
Poor guy! By the time he gets back to school, someone else will have thrown up and it will be all but forgotten.
Hope your little guy feels better soon.
I threw up on the bus when I was 13 (tummy full of oatmeal + bumpy ride + heater running full blast = vomit). As if that age isn’t awkward enough. My mom made me ride the bus again the next morning and not one person said a thing about it. Thank heavens.
Hope William feels better soon. Cinnamon toast sounds like the perfect fix for such a situation.
Yes! The stealthy ear infection that has NO symptoms except for random vomiting! This happened with my infant daughter just a few weeks ago. I had NO IDEA that she was really sick but she indeed had a bad ear infection in EACH ear!
Hope your little guy feels better soon!
I did know they cleaned buses like that. I had the priviledge of working at the high school for a few weeks one summer. That’s what we did for the first 3 weeks after school was out…wash all the buses inside and out. Fun!
I sure hope William is feeling better soon.
Poor guy! My daughter was a bus vomitter for years but her friends never ostracized her. She always has a gallon sized ziploc bag and paper towels in her backpack, just in case.
If it’ll help, Williams can ride next to the new puppy. He seems to be a car vomit rocket as well.
Just blame the dog. All the cool kids are doing it.
In second grade, the girl sitting next to me barfed on my shoes. She’s been my best friend ever since. So, maybe a little vomit can help bring people together?
Oh poor little guy! I was always terrified of puking on that damn bus. I was convinced that it would be the end of the world.
It’s comforting to read these comments! It’s not the end of the world!
I was the college puker while I was preggers with my twins. There were two guys who always used to wait and watch for me because they knew I’d be barfing in this one trash can on my way across campus…that’s what I get for being married, preggers, and trying to go to college, I guess…lol.
Poor guy! I hope no one says anything mean, either. I doubt they will, if all of our experience is anything to go by. Here’s hoping he’ll feel back to normal really soon.
I’m sorry about him and I hope he feels better soon. I have puked in public twice that I can remember. The first time was in pool class my freshman year of high school. The room smelled so much like chlorine that it was amazing I didn’t do it more then once. The second time was at great america. When I was younger I could go on rides and not have any problems now I almost always feel sick after a few rides.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
I hope he feels better really soon.
(Thanks for going to bat for me today. You are my official hero!)
I agree with everyone- most kids feel sorry for the kid that pukes. Poor baby, I hope he feels better soon.
Poor little fella. I hope it doesn’t spread around the house!
I vomited on the school bus once. On the way to go skiing. Scrambled eggs all over the floor. Smelly? You betcha. The windows were thrown open, even though it was the dead of winter and we still had half an hour left of the drive.
And I puked on the breakfast table at camp. Oddly enough, it was the smell of scrambled eggs that time. Cinnamon Toast Crunch barf. Fortunately, everyone was pretty much finished eating at the time.
Although I was hugely embarrassed back then, no one wanted to stop being my friend because of it. (At least, I don’t THINK so.) And now? I have these great barf stories to tell at parties. See? It alllll worked out.
Hope your little guy feels better soon!
WHOA on the school bus thing. I had absolutely NO idea. And now that I do know, I feel like a better person.
My. This sounds exactly like my week last week. Except our puking just narrowing missed being on the bus! Oh and we ended up with bronchitis instead of an ear infection. Here’s hoping the antibiotics kick in quickly.
I think he will always remember the time he puked on the bus. twice. I did once in the third grade right after we moved to a new town. I was horrified, but not one kid ever made me feel bad about it..but they did steer clear for a few days.
You know, Patrick never once complained about ear infections, either, even when he was a baby. I don’t get it. Josie was screaming from the rafters every time, but Patrick I would take to the doctor thinking that surely his behavior meant that he had one, only to find out it was actually demonic possession. Funny.
Aw. My mom used to make me cinnamon toast when I was sick.
Which I loved.
Which she used to jokingly call: cimmamin toast.
Which I did not love.
But which I strangely miss.
I hope he already feels better. Michael is just getting over an ear infection and we wouldn’t have known he had it, if we didn’t take him to the doctor because his chest seemed so congested – he pulled at his ear once, just once!
Also? Cinnamon toast, mmmmmmm…