What a Life!

Was Joey really sick last weekend? Or was he just teething?

Yesterday I discovered a second tooth – perhaps the reason for his lack of good naps and frequent awakenings during the night? He was fussy all day – either I was holding him or he was crying. Poor guy!

Then yesterday evening, I gave Joey some Tylenol, hoping he would sleep, and then went over to Julie’s house for some knitting, wine, and delightful conversation. As I was getting ready to leave, Steve called. Ben had just thrown up all over his bed and gotten the sheets and his jammies dirty. I told him I was on my way, and he asked me to stop for some Gatorade.

I stopped for Gatorade, and then again for some ice (I didn’t think about the ice until after I left the grocery store, and since I’d had to wait in line behind all these people doing their weekly grocery shopping at 9:00 on Friday night because there was no express checkout lane open, I decided to stop at a gas station near home for the ice). Right after I got back in the car with the ice (about forty minutes later), I got another call from Steve: he’d gotten Ben all cleaned up, changed his sheets, put fresh jammies on him, gotten him back in bed, and Ben had promptly thrown up and gotten everything dirty all over again. I told him I would be right there.

Oh joy and rapture!

Joey only got up twice last night, but we got up four times with Ben. A couple times with vomit. Then a couple times with diarhea. Poor kid! At this point, I don’t think there is much left in him that could come out so things have slowed down a little.

When your kid is sick, you ask yourself, “What could I do that would make them as comfortable as possible?” Some kids want to curl up on the couch and watch TV. Others want to be held.

Ben’s bed doesn’t happen to be the most comfortable place right now since the comfortor and every set of twin-size sheets we own is being washed (some things were washed during the night and put back on for another round, only to be taken off again – at this point, it’s a hodge-podge of whatever bedding we could find for him).

I got out the little radio Dad bought him while my parents were in town, and I been playing CDs for him. The radio is on the dining room table, and he’s made a bed for himself on the floor beneath it with a pillow and his favorite blankie (which was washed and hasn’t been soiled again…yet). The little things that bring comfort…

One note of progress from when he was sick back in January…at that point, we couldn’t get him to vomit into the toilet, much less a metal bowl, so I had to just hold an old towel in front of him. Well, this go-round, we have managed to get him to vomit into the toilet (that is, when we notice he’s about to throw up and catch it in time…). A bit of noteworthy progress, none the less…

And last night, during one of the times we got up with Ben, Steve waxed sentimental and asked, “Where would I be if I didn’t have a wife and children?”

His answer to his own question: “In bed, sound asleep.”

The things we do for love…