The Bug That Dropped By

Every once in awhile, you get issued a day that you didn't order up.  Things happen that you didn't see coming.  And in this case, I'm not talking about the good kind of scenario, where you might have a surprise package at your front door or find out that you have enough of a balance on your Starbucks card to buy one more drink.  And it wasn't even the neutral kind of event either, which is still like, "oh cool!" but doesn't evoke much emotion.  You know, like cracking an egg open and finding two yolks, or seeing that someone (other than you) put a new roll of toilet paper on the spool.  Yesterday was a "Surprise, there's your fifth load of laundry for today!" kind of day. 

Poor Jackie got sick yesterday, and he had it coming from both ends.  We just couldn't seem to keep up with the messes.  It went a little like this: Hmm, I smell something.  FOUL.  I pick up Jackie and discover his diaper needed changing.  NOW.  If I'd known what I was about to unveil, I'd have laid down newspaper like for preschoolers about to fingerpaint for this kind of display.  Poor little guy.  After he was all clean, I put him in his swing so I could tidy up.  Not even 15 minutes later, Kayleigh and I are smelling it again.  And it somehow got worse.  I pick him up from the swing, and now I have to change the swing.  Shit, that won't fit in the diaper pail.  Take apart the swing, clean off poo.  Repeat diaper process.  Start washing machine again.  After the THIRD time, I just put him (clothes and all) right into the bath tub.  Later at dinner time, I gave him some rice cereal and squash.  About three-quarters of the way through, I saw a look I've never seen before on his face, and like a frog whisking his tongue out to score that passerby insect, I grabbed the nearest towel--not quite just in time, but almost.  All of it came right back up.  At 25 times the speed that it went down.  A day that started out as a quiet song was now in full crescendo. Serenity now!  I think I could actually hear the Southwest Airlines voiceover man saying, "Wanna get away?" in my head. 

Anyway, after all that and two baths later, he finally crashed for the night, and today he seems to be feeling much better.  He never had a fever, thank goodness.  But no matter what, seeing your child go through any kind of discomfort is difficult.  The happy little camper handled it better than me though.  Other than a little mild protesting from how often I was dressing and undressing him, he seemed to be in normal cheerful spirits.  And luckily, Kayleigh had the day off of school so she was there to assist me with our little bug (no pun intended). :) Thank you so much, Kayleigh!  I owe ya, big time.
*************************************************************
Jackson has been honing in on his skills and he's a real slick nickel when it comes to his dexterity.  He's been busy being Jack-in-the-box operator, piano player, and block tower tester.  He is definitely a "hands on" kinda guy. 

And just a little shout out to my mom...

Mom, now I get it.  I totally understand why you...

...kept a shoebox full of medicine in the cabinet. A novel idea.

...seemed to always have piles of miscellaneous papers/mail/junk on the counter. It goes into that "I'm-going-to-read-this-some-day-soon-just-not-today" pile.

...insisted on using Baby Magic. I know I looked at you like you were some sort of alien when we were shopping at Target that day. You told me it was so much better than Johnson's. Yep. You were right on that one. 

...got less and less sleep the more children you had.

...forgot your children's names sometimes. A lot of times actually.

...sang to us all the time.  It really does wonders to stop an impending fuss spell.

...talked on the phone to girlfriends for HOURS (or so it seemed) because that's what you have to do when you can't really get out of the house.

...read funny books like Erma Bombeck. Humor is so underrated and so necessary. P.S. No, I don't read Erma Bombeck books. Yet. But I see your point.

...reheated your coffee in the microwave. And then did it again. Too many distractions.

...used alternative words for obscenities while driving. Now I know what you were really thinking when you said, "Use your turn signal, turkey!"  (I should really see someone for my road rage.)