However, that came to a screeching halt at about 10pm last evening when the five-year-old decided to barf her way down the hallway. This morning we got the older one out the door to school, parked it on the couch for twelve rounds of Octonauts, and I've decided to add an extra sheet of stickers to the calendar. They're going to look like this:
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I've found it really important to note when they've been ill. There is the whole "stuff to review with the pediatrician" thing. It's really easy to lose track of the number of trips to buy Gatorade during the year. Keeping track of sickness also led to us understand that we were dealing with repeated ear infections or a stomach bug that followed a regular visit to a particular play place.
But their sicknesses are also an important way to mark the passage of time. My time. Right down the crapper. We're not grocery shopping today. I'm not getting to the gym. We might make another batch of Jello.
It sounds like an excuse, until it happens. Why didn't I get any of those Christmas cards sent out? Well, I've had to bleach the bathroom so this stomach bug doesn't pass from one monster to another. Or I've responded to another request for toast. Or I've had to clean up a blanket fort after someone recovered in the afternoon and is going stir crazy.
Sometimes running out of steam tending the snots falls into the same category as the overall exhaustion felt by staying with the kids. From an outside observer, there is no reason for me to be tired. All I did was play with the kids all day.
That is utter nonsense. Folks who make that kind of judgment have little or no idea what kind of effort it takes to care for someone besides themselves. And that's patently obvious in just their making the comment.
So that's why there's going to be a SICK sticker. Apply it to the day, and give yourself some credit for getting anything done. Including the thirteenth episode of Octonauts.
Octonauts!
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