6.17.2006

one of those nights

my poor boy is kinda sick. he was a little coughy and lethargic late in the week and his eyes were a bit bloodshot. i figured it was because the air is so dry, but i kept an eye on him for signs of a cold. sure enough, after an afternoon of play with his uncle (who is in town for a few days) he totally conked out early and woke up with a horrible-sounding cough and a fever. usually, even when he feels sick he goes to school. (i give him lots of warnings not to touch anyone, to cough into his sleeve and to wash his hands a lot, but you'd think if he has to do all that i should just keep him home from school!) i knew it was bad when he said he didn't feel well enough to go.

when his fever spiked in the afternoon i gave him some medicine, which really helped. he got his energy back and felt well enough to eat a cheeseburger (an early father's day dinner with my parents). but in the middle of the night he started coughing and you know how it is with little kids: once they get into a coughing fit it often leads to vomiting. sure enough, ian started throwing up in bed and lost everything he ate. fortunately, throwing up made him feel better so he was fine for the rest of the night. and he appears to be feeling much better this morning.

but that also means at 1:30am i had to clean up vomit (rupert does not do well with icky bodily functions), do a couple loads of laundry, keep ian cool with a cold washcloth, lie down with him, and when i was just dozing off, wake up to feed maya, and finally go to bed at 3:30am. on nights like this i realize i'm a parent. not that i don't usually put my children first, but when they're sick you really kick into do-anything-to-alleviate-suffering mode. you know?

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