cuddle them and love them, but don’t do it too much. how much is too much? i don’t know. when my son was sick i could cuddle him and love him and when he got better he was more or less back to his normal self.
my daughter, on the other hand, has always been my son’s polar opposite. where he was calm and mild mannered, she is all spit and fire. where he would lay down and watch tv in a fever induced haze when he was sick, my daughter will wander around the house, moaning in misery so everybody knows just how bad she feels.
my daughter has been sick since the thursday before last. well, i mark the thursday before last as where it began, because when i took her to the Y daycare, she had a mild runny nose but was otherwise okay. when i picked her up after Yoga class, she had another child’s pacifier in her mouth. *gag* i was hoping we’d never get worse than the runny nose, but obviously after that incident my hopes were dashed. naturally, she developed a nasty wet cough and horrible sinus drainage a few days later.
since then it’s been a fight to get her to eat and sleep. she’s been waking up multiple times at night (and not wanting to go back to sleep) as well as being miserable the entire day. we moved back up to 2 naps a day because she’s so exhausted. in my attempts to get her to eat, i’ve given her what she wants. crackers, yogurt, and the occasional cookie. i’ve also been sure to give her tons of snuggles and kisses, even going so far as to take a nap with her on my bed.
now she’s starting to get a little bit better. her mysterious fever hasn’t cropped up all day today, and she isn’t coughing at all. even her nose isn’t running like a leaky faucet anymore. naturally, i want to get her back on schedule. will she have it? hell no. she could run around like a terror screaming constantly while she was sick, and still get hugs to calm her down, so why shouldn’t she be able to do it while she’s healthy? she was allowed to eat nothing but crackers while she was sick, so why not when she’s healthy? why should she listen to daddy when mommy has a perfectly good leg to cling to? why on earth should she have to do all that stuff like be nice and eat healthy if she didn’t have to do it while she was sick?
oh, and her pacifier? typically she only gets it at night. it’s part of the weaning process, and she didn’t mind that arrangement at all. since she’s been sick, we’ve been letting her take it during the day so she has something to do with her mouth besides cry. now? she’ll stand at the baby gate and cry until i take it down so she can run to her room and snatch it out of her crib.
lesson learned.
when my daughter is sick, i can’t treat her any differently. i have to continue offering her the same dinner foods as everybody else. i have to make sure she gets her time outs when she is rude or throws a tantrum regardless of her state of health. if she’s healthy enough to throw a tantrum or be rude, then she’s healthy enough for time out.
*sigh*
my heart hurts when my children are sick, and i want to do nothing more than coddle them, but obviously i’m going to have to play a different game with this precocious little girl of mine.