The beauty in sickness
Categories: Preschoolers, Money & work
I spent Christmas night wedged precariously at the side of a toddler bed, a small foot digging persistently into my ribcage. I didn't mean to fall asleep there, but he'd been feverish and clingy all day, with a pleghmy cough. I've been trying to wean him off needing me beside him to fall asleep, but he was so fragile last night with his flaming pink cheeks and clammy hands. I fell asleep mid arm-tickle, still wearing socks and my gold hoop earrings,Nolan seemed to come down with the same illness Riley acquired yesterday. It got worse into the night, when he allowed me to tuck him under the covers during dinner at my parents, and sat limp in my lap the rest of the time. He didn't even want Unky, he wanted to be tucked in the space under my armpit and I was so grateful to be able to provide some kind of Mommy solace.
He woke up several times in the night last night, squirming uncomfortably, moaning.
"Help me, Mommy,"he whispered once, and man I wished I could crawl into his skin and extract the fever, heat, pain.
"Will you have a spoonful of this?" I asked, fumbling next to his bed,"It tastes yucky but it will help you."
He acquiesced. He must have felt rough.
He squeezed my hand, whispered that he loved me, and fell back into a disturbed sleep.
This morning my back is sore for too many hours on a too-small mattress. Nolan is cowlicked and sticky with lingering sweat, tucked into the couch drinking apple juice and playing with a new horse. But we'll both be OK, and as I kissed this morning I realized it's true: the best thing in this life is being needed. That was my favourite Christmas gift.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michelle 12-26-2007 @ 4:07PM
Sad, but true. My daughter (almost 7) has never been a cuddly kid so sometimes I don't feel needed. I hurt for her when she is sick, but it is sweet how she still just wants me to hold her. She had a fever last week too, and I just put my arms around her and let her lay with me until she fell asleep - that NEVER happens when she is not sick, even when she was a baby she would squirm if I held her for long! So I kind of cherish the time, though of course I would prefer her to be healthy.
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Nicole 12-26-2007 @ 4:43PM
Aw. We had the same thing here. Started the minute the Christmas Eve party started and just seems to be passing. Ours came with a stomach virus as well. Poor little ones... sick for Christmas! I'm glad Nolan is on the mend.
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Ethel 12-26-2007 @ 5:22PM
Ich, Nicole might be from our church - our oldest as well as two other toddlers and myself came down with gastroenteritis either Christmas Eve or Christmas morning after Santa dropped off presents. All these new toys and my almost 3 year old is too sick to play with them - and I am tired of the multitude of washes I have done. And I think if my husband gets puked on one more time he's going camping until its all over.
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Nicole 12-26-2007 @ 11:09PM
Well, it seems to be going around.
Both my 4 & 6 year old started vomiting around 3:00p.m. on Christmas Eve and kept going until this morning. We missed our Christmas Eve dinner at my parents home and the kids were too sick to play with their new toys on Christmas morning. All they wanted to do was be held. I was so bummed because I was so looking forward to this year. But, now as my children start to feel better and my husband gets ready to go back to work tomorrow and we start to get back to the usual daily grind, I reflect on the last 48 hours and I am thankful. My husband and I got to lay around the living room with our children by the fire and watch one Christmas movie after the next. No rushing out to relatives homes, no cleaning my house to make sure it was presentable just in case someone wanted to stop by. Nothing but just the four of us, relaxing, reading books, cuddling and bonding. What a blessing in disguise. Sometimes you have to take what is handed to you and make the best of it. No, I didn't particulary love having vomit all over me and having to continuously wash bed sheets, but yes, I did love the time that the four of us shared.
I hope that anyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas bonding with the ones you love most!
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GIA 12-27-2007 @ 3:53AM
That is so true. My 4 yr. old daughter, Katie, was sick on christmas eve with a 104.6 fever, leg pain and a slight cough. Even though it was kinda hard for me to help Santa to deliver the gifts between katie needing me and my other two children waking up every few hours for the excitement of what Santa left for everyone, it was really nice to be needed.
Its also refeshing to know that someone else calls their uncle "unky"
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Gia 12-27-2007 @ 3:56AM
wow. my katie didnt have the stomach thing. just a high fever and leg pains. i hope all your kids recover quickly.
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