There are days when you think, "it would be so nice to just sit and watch movies today." Perhaps it is a rainy day or you yourself are just under the weather, but it would be nice to not get up to much.
When you have a toddler, this sort of thinking doesn't go very far. It gets interrupted by "oh dear, not that! How did you even get that? Put him down! Just breathe, woman, you can do this, let's go outside!" You also notice how your internal dialogue has become an external one again. Wonder what Vygotsky would say to that!
So these days of idle slothfulness just don't happen. Or do they?
This past week, my two beautiful boys and I have been quite sick with a miserable head cold (Adrian has been amazing taking care of us when he can and still getting his work done.). It's the kind where sleep doesn't happen well, though you need it. It's the kind where the act of breathing feels like flames and bleeding on one's throat.
On top of this, our eldest (herinafter Bigfella) has been pushing through two molars (last count, three prongs of one, one prong of the other are through) as well as dealing with a mild reaction to an immunization. For a couple of days, all the poor kid wanted to do was sit and watch movies while cuddled up on my lap. While I'm all for the cuddling, the fact that he wanted to sit and do nothing was heart-rending. Seeing my active, happy little boy so uncomfortable and busted was bad. I found myself longing for a bit of his mischief. Pull the books down! I wanted to say. I missed his energy and his excitement. It hurt to see him so miserable and whingy. And the whinging did get to extreme levels. Atomic, you might say.
And while my antibodies are helping the younger boy (herinafter Littlefella) - and how do they do that anyway? How can my antibodies give him more immunization than they give me? - he was still coughing and grumpier than usual.
There were two yelling, upset, snuffling, grumpy boys. And when Bigfella started feeling better we had to have another conversation: Just because you're feeling bad, doesn't mean you should act bad. (Though come to think of it, I probably said be. Just another example of how I'm a bad mother. ;) )
It's hard being sick, but it's harder being sick when you don't get to stop and rest because people are depending on you. It's harder watching your kids in pain, and it's terrible when one feels grumpy at grumpiness. It's harder when the youngest is growthspurting too!
There was a time when Bigfella was 9 months old when he got hit by a really painful teething bout and we couldn't get anything into him - not even water for over 8 hours on a really hot day. We ended up using a medicine syringe to shoot water and milk down his throat. That was a bad day.
Teeth have been very difficult for Bigfella. He's cross cut a couple and he seems to have really tough, nervy gums because it's like pulling teeth (hmmm) to get these teeth through. The other day, Littlefella yawned and a saw a small white mark on the middle of his bottom gum. I said a bad word (I didn't swear, but was quite pleased Bigfella AKA Mr RepeaterMan didn't hear me) and pulled his mouth open to have a look. It was just a milk bit. I don't know if I could deal with two teethers.
The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day. We're getting better and can see sunshine from under this mean cold cloud and look forward to days of activity, running around and all sorts. It would be nice to get up to lots.
