Flu report

Flu season has officially started at our house, with my son home the past three days with a fever and general upper respiratory yuckiness. He's probably been under the weather for about a week, which explains why he was so calm and subdued over the Thanksgiving break -- what looked to me like some newfound control and maturity was apparently only a pre-flu low-grade fever and head cold. There've been a fair amount of scary stories about this year's flu -- newspaper stories about children dying of the flu in Colorado, and word-of-mouth stories about the coughing and nasal nastiness stretching on for endless weeks. In some way, it's nice to have the suspense over and know we've survived at least the initial feverish burst of it, although I'm wondering if the rest of the family is in line for illness now that flu boy has sneezed and coughed and breathed all over us. If you're wondering if the flu's headed your way, too, check the map at flustar.com or plug in your zip code to get the good or bad news.