Pretty Little Germ Ball
After spending four days without being able to keep food down, I'm starting to look at my daughter differently.
I love her to death, truly. When she reaches up for me to hold her, my heart swells with love and pride unlike anything I've ever known. I am fulfilled as a woman. I am a mother.
And then she moves her precious, pudgy little hands to my face, and my mood quickly changes. There on those seemingly innocent little fingers drips the grimey remains of other children's bacteria, all mixed up and prettily packaged as my beloved toddler tries to shove her fingers into my mouth. It was a game we used to play; Alex points and Mommy chomps. But Mommy hasn't been feeling too well lately, and now I realize why.
I know parents have been swapping germs with their kids since the beginning of time, and I can see how easily it happens. Your child is sick and it is your natural instinct to console them. You kiss their hot little cheeks and stroke their fevered head. But if you don't wash your hands the SECOND you put your little monster down, then it's only a matter of time before you're knocked out too. But NOW, the little monster is feeling better, but you're not, making sickness twice as miserable as it used to be because you can't just lay around and be a slug anymore. Now you're a MOM. And MOMs don't have time to be sick.
Things used to be so simple. Now I have a host of exotic daycare diseases to dodge. It's like playing russian roulette. Maybe next time I'll miss the bullet, but this time, it caught me square in the middle of the head.
I love her to death, truly. When she reaches up for me to hold her, my heart swells with love and pride unlike anything I've ever known. I am fulfilled as a woman. I am a mother.
And then she moves her precious, pudgy little hands to my face, and my mood quickly changes. There on those seemingly innocent little fingers drips the grimey remains of other children's bacteria, all mixed up and prettily packaged as my beloved toddler tries to shove her fingers into my mouth. It was a game we used to play; Alex points and Mommy chomps. But Mommy hasn't been feeling too well lately, and now I realize why.
I know parents have been swapping germs with their kids since the beginning of time, and I can see how easily it happens. Your child is sick and it is your natural instinct to console them. You kiss their hot little cheeks and stroke their fevered head. But if you don't wash your hands the SECOND you put your little monster down, then it's only a matter of time before you're knocked out too. But NOW, the little monster is feeling better, but you're not, making sickness twice as miserable as it used to be because you can't just lay around and be a slug anymore. Now you're a MOM. And MOMs don't have time to be sick.
Things used to be so simple. Now I have a host of exotic daycare diseases to dodge. It's like playing russian roulette. Maybe next time I'll miss the bullet, but this time, it caught me square in the middle of the head.
posted by Kristie at 10:37 AM
2 Comments:
The first eighteen months in daycare was the worst for us as far as playing ring-around-the-family with various diseases; since then, either he's more resistant or there's less going around. I am really hoping for choice #1!
I always tell my nieces and nephews
It's baby throw up it doesn't count. Which is right about the time I get sick again.
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