Its 8:15pm - Do You Know Where Your Toddler Is?

I know where mine is. . . he is bouncing off the walls!

At 4pm I was asked to pick Noah up from daycare because he had a fever of 101.5. His cheeks were all rosy and he was definitely warm. So we went home. Noah had a power nap, some mac n' cheese, a dose of tylenol and bath. And then he caught his second wind.

First he ran around a house chasing his pink tennis ball. A tennis ball that his grandpa is too insecure to play with which explains why we have so many at our house. Then he played with his popcorn-popper push toy. And then Noah started climbing on the coffee table. At this point it was time for bed and mommy had had enough. So I put Noah to bed. About 45 minutes later I started hearing noises from Noah's room and lo and behold guess who was sitting up in his crib playing? So I took Noah into our room and we played on the bed with Elie. When he had enough of that Noah thought it would be fun for ME to chase HIM around the house. Mind you, this is a kid who four hours earlier had a fever and needed to be picked up from school. By 8:15 pm I once again decided enough was a enough and put Noah to bed for good. This time he even went to sleep!

I am not even convinced that Noah is 'sick.' He has no other symptoms and we also know that when he is teething Noah will run a low-grade fever. And right now he is teething. But you know, the more I think about it, the more I think that Noah's mid-afternoon fever was a big ploy. It was a carefully orchestrated and deliberately executed plan with two goals: to get Dan and/or I to pick him up early from daycare and while using the sympathy of his teachers to get his pacifier back for good. Two weeks ago Noah took a header on the playground and what happened? Mommy picked him up early and they gave him his pacifier (FYI, pacifiers are contraband except during naptime). I think he willed himself to have a fever on purpose. Noah is very smart and I would not put something like this past him. I think Noah also knows that the JCC has a strict sick child policy and despite this evening antics Dan and I would have to take time off from work tomorrow to stay home with him since you have to be fever free for 24-hours before you can come back to school. And he got his beloved pacifier back. Mission accomplished.