A quick trip to a daycare last week to see about fee schedules and visceral reactions resulted in one baby with a cold and two people posing as adults figuring out ways to break it to their own parents that the Babe? He will likely be an only child, because responsibility? We can’t afford it.
Dealing with Boh’s first cold had me thinking a lot about what makes me feel better when I am sad or under-the-weather myself. Logic goes out the window when you are dealing with a child, because babies don’t understand that the ability to pass oxygen through the nasal cavity is regained after you blow your nose to get rid of all the icky boogers temporarily camped there. All babies know is that, MOMMY, I CAN’T BREATHE, AND I AM SCARED THAT I WILL FEEL THIS WAY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.
It’s a feeling I can relate to, though thankfully not that often. And so in dealing with the Babe and his mean little virus I had to think hard about all those things that unconsciously lift me when I’m down in the dumps. Thing #1: Timeliness. When someone wipes my tears away before the salty wetness can get into my ears, I know everything will be okay. But if the tears make it to my lobes, it’s game over, at least for the next half hour, because all I can do then is whimper and wait. Thing #2: Hugs (of course), but the kind of hugs where the other person’s arms are wrapped so tightly around you that your world shrinks down to the size of a cocoon, and your hurt or sadness shrinks too, and becomes manageable, something you know you can deal with. Thing #3: Faith. Actually, this is one the Babe is teaching me. To put your head on hold and trust your heart. Trust that mommy’s hugs will be enough to make you feel better. Trust that everything will turn out okay despite logic and reason. Trust that logic and reason sometimes aren’t necessary - sometimes all you need are Cheerios.
(Turkey Monkey is doing just fine, if you’re wondering. A few coughs here and there but other than that he’s happy as a clam.)
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4 sweet nothing:
Poor Boh! I don't think Hunter hardly ever got sick until I went back to work - now he seems to be sick about 4 times a year (and has had pretty much everything going - chicken pox, rhoto virus, regular old cold, etc). You're so right - the worst thing is that you can't actually do anything for them that will take the cold away, just make them feel better while they're sick. It gets easier for you after a while though (as they understand it's short term more).
hi w.,
your motherly insights are helping me make it through adulthood, everyday. :-)
thanks so much for having us all over, and i hope boh is feeling better.
b-ridge
ahhhh poor Boh. I hope the little guy feels better soon. Lucas has been stuffed up at night ever since we turned the heat on...a humidifier has helped that but it was enough to make me hope he never gets sick...I know not exactly the most realistic of thinking on my part!!!
Regarding stuffy noses and colds -I have a friend who, when she was a toddler, her grandmother would SUCK the snot out of her nose. That's love.
Vn
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