Another Mystery Solved

Tucker has been a mess lately. His behavior has been terrible, he has been grunting and whining instead of talking. Gentle reminders of "use your words" have been throwing him into tantrums and crying real tears. The only solution Chris and I have had to this behavior is to put him to bed early. His teacher's best solution has been correct him, try to distract him, and to wait until the end of the day and send him home. He has been obviously "off", but he had no fever, his ears were fine (he usually gets ear infections), and so I was very scared that this was just some bad behavior phase. Chris and I have been strict with Tucker, putting him in time out in his room, taking away priveleges.....raising our voices very loud to be heard over his screams. So last week Tucker had a hard time at school, but he was very well-behaved at home. His teacher and I talked, and we figured that something was off with Tucker, but he was comfortable enough at home, so he must just be tired or not feel good at school. Well on Sunday Tucker threw a two-hour fit, that ended when he finally gave up and fell asleep. After a one hour nap, our sweet boy came back. Then on Monday his school behavior was good, and he was good at home. On Tuesday, it went back to poor, and he was awful at home. On Wednesday, the same thing happened. My mom has Tucker after school everyday, and she said he was very well-behaved for her (of course! he is very good for his grandparents, haha). But on Wednesday evening it was another long, bad evening. Tucker cried and cried, and when we tried to comfort him he screamed.....when we ignored him he screamed louder. Tucker's teacher called me yesterday around 3pm, she said that Tucker's throat looked fine, but she had a feeling that he had strep throat. She had it on Monday, and her throat didn't hurt, so she came to school. Then she felt bad, and left to find out she had strep. No one else in the class has it, but it was possible that could explain all of Tucker's issues, as he has made so much progress and has been so good at school until lately. So once Tucker got off the bus, mom gave him pain meds, and he was so good and happy. Then Chris got home and took Tucker to after hours. I met them there, but by the time I got there, they were already out with a prescription for antibiotics, as Tucker had strep throat. Well I felt like the worst mom ever, I have to say. Looking back, Tucker has been poking at his neck, rubbing his neck, and has been hesitant to talk for days now. Instead of thinking logically "maybe his throat hurts, let's get this checked out" my thoughts automatically go to "oh no, his trachea is collapsing" or "he is regressing, maybe this is his autism and mito getting worse and he will never talk again." Seriously.....I need someone around to suggest "Mrs. Townsend, calm down, I think it's strep throat." Usually when Tucker is off like this for longer than a few days, we take him to the pediatrician. I think this time I felt like he would tell me if he was sick. Also, no one in our families is sick, so it didn't occur to me. His pediatrician told me years ago "Tucker doesn't tell you he's sick like other kids tell you, but he makes it obvious in his own way." Well, he certainly did make it obvious. So today Tucker stayed home from school. Mom spent the morning with him, and he was very good and played quietly. He also slept a little. Chris came home from working around lunchtime, and Tucker was tired of being inside. They played outside for a while, but I guess it was too much for him. He was very tired, but Tucker has this policy of NEVER napping when Chris is home. It's like Chris is just too amazing, he can't miss a minute with him. So Chris and Tucker played nap tug-of-war, aka Tucker screaming for hours while Chris tries to rock him. He finally got him to sleep at 3pm, and is likely enjoying a few well-earned beers right now..... We had a busy weekend planned, but I think we will take it easy tonight and tomorrow. We were going to watch our niece Kinley tonight. I borrowed a Bumbo chair and walker for her to play in when she comes over to our house. But of course we don't want her to get sick, so we are moving our playdate back, hopefully just by a few days. We have a birthday party tomorrow, but we may not make it. We have an early morning trek to the Global Wildlife center planned for Sunday. Tucker gets up at the crack of dawn usually, so if he feels better by then, he will love it. It's a local safari place, where we all ride in covered wagons, and animals come up to the wagon and you feed them buckets of corn. Molli has been working very hard at being good at school, so her parents planned an outing for all of us. Tucker loves Molli so much, he cried the other day when we didn't take her home with us! So he will really enjoy the trip, hopefully he feels good by then.