The Dark Side

It has been a long time since I have posted. My greatest apologies to the grandmas! We are struggling through some illness that keeps being passed around the family and life has not been normal or productive for the past week and a half.

Through this whole epidemic, I have once again been reminded of the dark side of my children. Now, don't get me wrong. They are great kids, and I love them dearly. However, even in sickness, you can only be truly sympathetic for a reasonable amount of time before those little "quirks" begin to make you a little crazy. Now you may be sitting there saying, "What quirks? They are just sick little boys."

Well, take Nathan for instance. When he is sick, he becomes the most demanding momma's boy you can imagine. He will not allow anyone besides me to touch him, help him or do anything for him, which makes for fun times in our happy little home. The first night that he became really sick, Brian and I were putting him to bed, and he threw up everywhere. While I was comforting Nathan and calming him down, Brian asked what he can do to help. I gave him the option of giving Nathan a bath or cleaning up the mess. Can you guess what he chose? The smart guy went with the easy task of the bath, at least that is what he thought. Nathan screamed his lungs out the entire time I cleaned up the room. Seeing that Nathan was refusing to even get in the tub, I told Brian that I would trade spots with him and asked him to find our little hand held carpet cleaner. As soon as I went into the bathroom, Nathan was all excited about getting a bath and jumped in of his own free will. (Just mildly frustrating to a somewhat edgy dad.)

So, I get Nathan changed and nestled into the big comfy chair in the living room in time to find out the carpet cleaner is leaking. While I am trying to reattach the hose, Nathan yells for some apple juice. I filled the cup, but gave it to Brian to take to Nathan so I could clean the carpet. That was a mistake. The small child began sobbing uncontrollably and yelling, "I want mommy to do it!" The sobbing started the coughing, which resulted in a close call to more throwing up, while poor ol' dad stood there helplessly saying, "Nathan, mommy filled the cup. It's okay. SHE made it."

David, on the other hand, plays up being sick for all it is worth and likes to be waited on hand and foot by anyone and everyone in sight. He has this "sick" voice. You know the one that makes you think he is using his last breath to tell you something. He will say, "I have such a bad cough. I need to see a doctor. I am very sick, and I don't think it would be good for me to ___" and you can fill in the blank with any thing that requires effort or is not fun. He wants to be held and cuddled and fed lots of milkshakes. However, if the illness interferes with anything fun like a birthday party, playing outside, or eating massive amounts of sweets, then the sickness is gone quicker than you can say cough syrup.

So, here you have it -- two little boys with two entirely different personalities in sickness and in health. And don't get me wrong, I did feel sorry for the boys because they were both pretty sick little guys. Besides that, they come by their actions naturally. After all, taking care of two little sick kids and not feeling so hot myself, all I can say is "I Want My MOMMY!"