In the 27 months she's been around (yup, today is the 27-month birthday), she's gotten sick a grand total of five times. AND the first time wasn't until just before her first birthday. AND at least two of those bouts of ill health were over in 36 hours. I was beginning to think her mutant power was enhanced healing factor. If bone claws suddenly popped out of the back her hands, I wouldn't have been as surprised as you'd think.
So it's probably with no small amount of karmic payback that--after six weeks of daycare--the universe has seen fit to smack LG with her first, honest-to-god, nose-running, stuffy-head, hacking cough (sweet holy moses why don't they make nyquil for kids?), prolonged fight with a cold.
To my friends and acquantainces whose children have been sick more often than mine: I'm sorry. I didn't realize what you were going through.
To everyone else: this sucks.
So without further ado, here are the top 7 things I've learned in the last 10 days of having a toddler with a wicked cold.
1. Blowing your nose is a learned skill. Much like using the bathroom or tying a pair of shoelaces, a child doesn't know how to blow her own nose. And I don't mean she doesn't know proper tissue placement for maximum de-stuffification. I mean she literally does not understand that she can exhale forcefully through her nose into a tissue and make herself feel better. Hollie has walked in on me exaggeratedly breathing in through my mouth and exhaling through my nose in front of LG trying to make her understand. To her credit, Hollie did not find this strange. To LG's credit, she sort of gets it, but then forgets the next time I ask her to do it.
2. A toddler's hoarse voice, is simultaneously sad and really funny. I don't want LG to have a cold, but if she's going to have a cold, I prefer that she sounds like Elaine Stritch after a pack of cigarettes and two balloons worth of helium.
3. Toddler coughs in the middle of the night in a dark house are among the saddest sounds in the world. Probably second only to infant coughs, but we didn't experience that, so I have nothing to compare this to. Granted, fast forward a couple of months to LG inevitably infecting G2 with another one of these colds, and I'm sure I'll find out.
4. As much as you might think otherwise, you don't have to respond to every cough, sneeze or wheeze. Up until last night, at the cold's low point, LG coughed once or twice an hour overnight, and it didn't even phase her. Slept right through the whole thing. Kids: they're stronger than you realize, and they just don't care what's supposed to make them feel bad. (Granted, last night, the phlegm started waking her up, and consequently, me.)
5. Just cuz she's sick, doesn't mean she's going to stop moving. Along the same lines as my previous point, LG doesn't care that she's sick. She wants to run, spin, twirl, flip, climb and kick, and a little mucus isn't going to stop her. It's going to freak me out as I'm chasing her around with a tissue to wipe her nose, but then, that's probably half the fun.
6. Just because she's sick, doesn't mean that other kids don't have it worse. At least seven of her classmates at daycare were absent on Monday because of a stomach bug. So it could be worse (and it might still get there). I've got my fingers crossed the cold bugs are fighting the stomach bugs and winning.
7. Just because she's sick doesn't mean we have to stop having fun. It's Christmas for crying out loud! Runny nose or not, in the last 10 days we've: visited the Macy's Light Show and the Dickens Christmas Village; picked out a Christmas tree and decorated it; bundled up and walked around the neighborhood after dark to look at Christmas lights; went shopping for gifts; made presents for family and friends; and pretty much didn't let it stop us from celebrating the season.
 |
| Think of this as Santa's runway. |
So take that, rhinovirus. You're not the boss of me or my kid. (But please go away soon. I would like to get some sleep before G2 shows up and wrecks that whole thing.)
