First Sick Day

Erik is rarely ill. When he does get a cold, he has it for what seems like five minutes and moves on while it knocks me over onto the couch for a week. His type of severe gastroesophageal reflux has been known to cause horrible ear infections, but his only battle with a bilateral ear infection was bravely fought off without the use of antibiotics. We all had the stomach flu twice, and Erik was cheerful through most of it while I was face down on the bathroom tile for three days.

On the flip side, because Erik is never sick, I fret when he is. It's shocking to me to see his body turning on him. I'm guessing we picked up a virus from school this week. He filled one leg of his pajamas yesterday morning with what seemed like a bucket of poop. He was cheerful, despite his plight, and was simply thrilled to have an extra bath as I tried to figure out how to begin to begin the mop up process. I bet Billy Mays of OxyClean fame has never had the need to tackle the task of removing a bucketful of diarrhea from the leg of footie PJs before. Let's see that on an infomercial! Erik got sick this way a couple more times throughout the day in mercifully smaller amounts, but I still thought everything was okay. I took him to pool therapy, where he did well, and there were no embarrassing accidents.

When I picked Erik up, his therapist asked if I would be willing to allow him demonstrate pool therapy for the facility's open house in February. She explained that Erik is just wonderful in terms of letting her do whatever to him for therapy and that she would love to be in the pool with him. As she asked for my permission, she kissed the side of his wet head several times. Free therapy and fun in the pool for Erik. Hmmm. Twist my arm. This is my baby's first modeling gig!

I fixed Malt O Meal, Erik's favorite food that is easy on the stomach, for his dinner. He ate a couple bites at a time but seemed off. At 1 a.m., he began screeching with more of the same problem and a fiery-red bottom. At this point, I was thoroughly freaked out and had my nose in the dusty toddler care books in my office. Of course, there is nothing one can do besides offer sips of water and keep track of what is happening as you let the malady--uh, run its course. I am just no good at having a sick child. Again, these things make me realize how lucky I am to have a kid who has a much better than average immune system.

Today I will keep him quarantined at the house. I'm low on sleep again and will likely have no work, so I will don my favorite sweats and let myself have a sick day with Erik.

It's a sad day when there will be no snacking on cookies, but we will somehow survive.