Today was MyItchyBoy’s first full day at school.
It should have been a happy, blissful day for me. The culmination of the last four and a half years. MyItchyBoy has enjoyed his half days so far and I have enjoyed getting used to some peace and quiet after the summer holidays.
Today the sun was shining and it was rather warm compared to last week. By the time I’d trudged up the hill, I was sweating buckets in just a t-shirt (well, I had jeans on…and shoes…and, well, not just a t-shirt). So, when MyItchyBoy came out wearing his sweatshirt, I was not best pleased.
I had to source a special (and much more expensive!) school sweatshirt that was 80% cotton, 20% polyester (as opposed to 80% polyester, 20% cotton) and have it logo’d especially so that MyItchyBoy wouldn’t suffer too badly with his eczema. He wears short-sleeved t-shirts underneath so only his lower arms are exposed to the polyester. So far, MyItchyBoy’s only worn cotton next to his skin as polyester definitely irritates him.
Last Friday I made a point of mentioning to the TA that his skin was not great and asked that unless it was actually cold in the classroom, could he please be ‘strongly encouraged’ to remove the sweatshirt once in the classroom. That didn’t happen. Today, a warm and sunny day, he’s also worn it all day, including whilst running around the playground in the sunshine.
Great.
Cue me and MyItchyBoy in a standoff outside the school gates: me refusing to move until the sweatshirt was removed, MyItchyBoy refusing to remove said sweatshirt. My reasoning for this was that after he’d walked/run home he’d be hot and sweaty and we’d end up with his skin getting worse. Sweat = itchy = worse eczema = itchy = waking in the night = no sleep = worse skin = itchy…..you get the idea.
After 20 minutes, MyItchyBoy gave in, took the jumper off, we had a hug and walked home. We had a nice catch up on the way and then he let me put cream on while changing him out of his uniform.
Unfortunately, at the last minute, he decided to make a slippery escape towards his toys. This resulted in cream on the carpet, my jeans and another 20 minute standoff. He refused to finish getting cream on and I refused to let him play until he did. Once he gave in (again), we finally got on with playing and enjoying the rest of the afternoon.
I tried not to get upset with how my vision of this afternoon would go was at odds with the reality. I know I have a stubborn child who likes to give in as much as I do. However, I also know that these standoffs come from me needing to protect his skin from getting worse right now.
Another time, if the eczema wasn’t too bad, I would have waited til he got too hot on the way home and then encouraged the sweatshirt to come off. Other times, I let him off having extra cream if he resists.
But, for today, for tonight, I need to stop the eczema getting worse and help us all get some decent sleep.
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